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Above: The home office by Chad Dorsey at the 2026 Kips Bay Decorator Show House.
On a leafy block just west of Manhattan’s Washington Square Park, 22 top designers have come together to present their best work inside a Greek Revival townhouse. They each decorated a room in honor of the 2026 Kips Bay Decorator Show House, which is open to the public from September 16 through October 13. The show house benefits the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, a nonprofit group that provides educational and developmental programs to underprivileged youth in the Bronx.
Now in its 51st edition, the annual design showcase moved from uptown to downtown last year for the first time. This year, it returned to Greenwich Village, taking over a 19th-century brick residence that was once home to composer John Philip Sousa. Among the talents displaying their work are Carrier & Company, Marmol Radziner, Chad Dorsey, and Peter Dunham.
With no clients to cater toward, show houses generally afford designers a rare moment of freedom, where they can let their imaginations run wild. They can also be on the cutting edge of design—an indicator of what’s to come in interiors. Such was the case this year, as the home packed unexpected moments into nearly every square foot. We wandered through the space and chronicled the elements we feel are indicators of where design is heading.
Below, find five trends we spotted during the preview.
Pleats Please
Nick Johnson
Emily Del Bello’s powder room.
Tented ceilings are a smart solution for introducing warmth and character to a blank space while still making a theatrical statement. For her intimate powder room, dubbed “In Bloom,” New York–based designer Emily Del Bello dressed the compact ceiling with a pleated canopy of sheer bouclé by Rosemary Hallgarten. The end result is not billowy or flowing but tailored. The effect adds both texture and much-needed depth to the petite enclosure.
Smoke Show
Sargent Photo
Andrew Torrey’s smoking lounge.
If the abundance of ashtrays and bowls of cigarettes are any indication, smoking might be on the upswing—at least aesthetically. Reinforcing that idea were several spaces where cigarettes and ashtrays held prime billing: Andrew Torrey crafted an actual fumoir, or smoking room, with bold splashes of red and Marlboro-themed art, while Chad Dorsey’s library utilized a Hans Wegner drop-leaf dining table as a desk, complete with an ashtray filled with spent cigarettes.
Nick Johnson
The Velvet Hour Lounge by Dunnam Zerbini Design.
In that vein, smoky color palettes seemed to permeate the show house, too. For instance, Arthur Dunnam and Kelly Zerbini of New York studio Dunnam Zerbini Design crafted a soaring living area filled with high-octane furnishings that they’ve dubbed the Velvet Hour Lounge. Lining the room are squares of hand-dyed tea paper by Fromental that have a metallic, shadowy effect most noticeable when light pours in. (Above it, the frieze and ceiling’s golden mica Kravet wallpaper also shines when lit.)
Elsewhere in the house is a lounge by Armando Aguirre painted in a Benjamin Moore cool gray hue, as well as Atelier CV’s celestial-inspired wine cellar filled with hushed pewter tones. There’s also a moody aerie by EZG Design featuring a bespoke tent by Roomworks made with 200 yards of hand-screened chocolate fabric with metallic highlights, created in conjunction with Tillett Textiles. In their dressing room, Carrier and Company’s Jesse Carrier and Mara Miller complemented a patinated steel fireplace with a metallic Winfield Thybony wallpaper from Kravet on the ceiling, as well as furnishings in dusky hues.
Fringe Benefits
Nick Johnson
Peter Dunham’s guest room.
Elaborate trimmings are making a comeback in 2026—but with a twist: designers are ordering them extra-long. In his fifth-floor guest room, Peter Dunham sourced a two-piece vintage sofa, upholstered in a mossy green velvet from Kravet and paired with floor-sweeping fringe from Samuel & Sons. For her jewel-box powder room, Emily Del Bello deployed custom brass sconces by Artistic Frame adorned with Rapunzel-esque tumbles of ivory tassels—so lengthy that they pool on the floor. She calls them the “earrings of the room.” The effect is a soft, delicate way of making a dramatic statement.
Flower Power
Nick Johnson
The Secret Garden by Aamir Khandwala Interior Design.
Statement light fixtures are all the rage right now—and it seemed a new one was lurking around every corner of the show house. Many took the form of exotic plants and flowers, most noticeably in “the Secret Garden” by Aamir Khandwala, which featured a bold acid green chandelier evoking the shape of an Angel’s trumpet in bloom. The kitchen, designed by Bilotta Kitchen & Home, features a collectible floor lamp by Jake Coan that includes two spindly brass stems growing from a rock topped with an illuminated red-paper leaf. Eva Jean’s boudoir has a mirror flanked by Visual Comfort sconces by Kate Spade New York that comprise individually cast blush-tinted glass flowers set in soft-brass frames. And a Studio Drift chandelier made of petrified dandelions added flair to Megan Grehl’s bath sanctuary.
Square Roots
Nick Johnson
The mezzanine by Ten Plus Three.
Rugs with architectural heft add structure, visual intrigue, and a (literal) grounding presence to any space. For proof, look no further than the mezzanine by Ten Plus Three, where a gridded Tai Ping rug designed by the international firm takes color cues from the exposed brick walls and wood-framed windows. New York–based John Ferguson, meanwhile, utilized a custom silk and wool carpet by Edward Fields to add an underlying sense of order to his primary bedroom. With its repeating rectangular motif, the rug establishes a continuous visual link between the entrance hall and bed chamber.
Geoffrey Montes is an associate editor at ELLE Decor with a serious love for all things real estate and design. Before that, he worked at Architectural Digest, Galerie, and Preservation magazines, covering everything from jaw-dropping listings to world-famous architects and design events like Salone del Mobile and Homo Faber.