A Look at the Austin Designers Featured in This Year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas
A French Renaissance–style Turtle Creek mansion gets a fresh, room-by-room redesign by talents from across the country
Participating in the Kips Bay Decorator Show House is a chance for designers to pull out all the stops. This year’s sixth annual Dallas showcase brings together 26 of the country’s top talents, including several familiar faces from Austin, to reimagine a sprawling French Renaissance–style estate in the posh Turtle Creek neighborhood. It’s the second year the event has occupied the 25,000-square-foot property, which challenged designers to approach its architecture with fresh ideas and new perspectives.
For design lovers, touring the show house is equal parts inspiration and philanthropy. What began more than 50 years ago in New York City has grown into a national tradition, with expansions into Palm Beach, Dallas, and previously Miami. In North Texas, the event supports the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club, which provides essential enrichment programs to more than 12,000 young people in the Bronx. It also benefits two local nonprofits: Dwell with Dignity, which furnishes homes for families transitioning out of homelessness, and the Crystal Charity Ball, which raises funds for children’s organizations across Dallas County.
“Every designer, partner, sponsor, and guest contributes to our mission of empowering young people to reach their full potential,” said Daniel Quintero, executive director of the Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club. “The talent showcased here is nothing short of extraordinary.”
The nostalgic Listening Room
For Austin designer Avery Cox, the inspiration behind the Blue in Green listening room was personal. She drew from the “wonderful robin’s egg blue entryway, a color signaling comfort, joy, and creative freedom,” of her childhood home, a backdrop for what she describes as countless formative memories. Named for the iconic Miles Davis track, the room channels the improvisational nature of jazz, a reinterpretation of the “American chic, seen through a modern lens.”
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The room features olive green silk drapery, a patterned custom sofa, a luster-glazed lamp by Dallas ceramicist and friend Paul Schneider, a barley twist pedestal from Studio Marchant, and accessories sourced from Jean Marc Fray and Antique Swan. Cox also loved the community aspect of the house. Working alongside Studio Eckstrom of Omaha and Bureau Interiors of Nashville created, in her words, “a group that had so much fun.” Someone always had a hammer, a spare set of hands, or a creative solution to an inevitable on-site challenge. “The friendships that have come out of this experience are the best part,” she says.
The romantic Evening Lounge
Just as Cox’s listening lounge invites intimate conversation and immersive sound, the Evening Lounge from Autumn and Marcus Mohon of Mohon Interiors sets the tone for unwinding. The designers envisioned a room to close out the day with warmth, depth, and personal meaning. “Whether sharing a nightcap with your spouse, watching a movie with your kids, or hosting friends for dinner, we wanted it to feel warm, layered, and deeply personal,” they say.
Their room includes Hill Country finds from Carol Hicks Bolton in Fredericksburg, pieces on loan from David Sutherland, EC Dicken, and Culp and Associates Dallas showrooms, a custom Mohon-designed chair, velvet drapery, intricate lighting, and a rich gallery wall. For the Mohons, the show house itself holds magic, with the experience akin to a designer summer camp “where every participant races the clock to accomplish the impossible, then celebrates together for three fast, joyful weeks before dismantling it all,” they note. “The process is energizing and collaborative, and even more meaningful knowing the funds raised support an important cause.”
The surreal last room
The final Austin contribution comes from Sarah Stacey, whose distinctive eye leans into spellbinding motifs, surrealism, and history inspired by “curiosities and what that might look like as a design style,” she says. The room channels everything from Medieval Bavaria to Schiaparelli runways and antique-rich havens with silver, leather books, and hand-painted beams. At its center is a 3D-printed fireplace surround with a Hell’s Mouth motif, custom-designed by Stacey, imparting theatrical impact.
The room includes a Victorian desk from the Austin-based antique store byCloudia, vintage artwork from Gillian Bryce Gallery, Schumacher window treatments, a custom mohair sofa trimmed with Samuel and Sons fringe, and a folk-painted ceiling by Anne Meredith Design. A nod to whimsy and craftsmanship, it captures her ability to compose enchanting spaces.
The show house is open through Nov. 23.