It’s Official — The Country’s Most Prestigious Decorator Show House is Coming to Dallas

The blockbuster news that designers have been buzzing about for months is finally official: Kips Bay Decorator Show House, the country’s most prestigious show house, is launching an annual show house in Dallas in September. “I’m over the moon about it,” says Dallas designer Jan Showers, who is chairing the show house with Veranda’s Steele Marcoux, Christopher Peacock, and vice chairs Jean Liu and Chad Dorsey.

This fall’s show house will likely take place in an estate in Preston Hollow (a final decision had not been made by press time), and will be open to the public September 25 through October 25, with opening night Thursday, September 24, during Texas Design Week Dallas. Having a Kips Bay annual show house is a game changer for the city’s growing design community, drawing national press and thousands of visitors.

Kips Bay Decorator Show House, founded in 1973 as a fundraiser to benefit Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in New York, each year draws dozens of the most celebrated designers and architects to transform a townhouse on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. The deans of decorating all did up rooms in their time: Sister Parish, Albert Hadley, Mark Hampton, McMillen Inc., David Easton, Irvine & Fleming, and Mario Buatta. And today’s design stars make a good show — Bunny Williams, Jamie Drake, Alexa Hampton, Peter Dunham, Victoria Hagan, Jeffrey Bilhuber, Thomas Britt, Martyn Lawrence Bullard, Nina Campbell, Alessandra Branca, Alex Papachristidis, and Ken Fulk, to name a few. The career of an up-and-coming designer with a strong portfolio can be launched with a dazzling room at Kips Bay.

The Manhattan show house attracts about 15,000 visitors each May and has raised more than $24 million for the organization. It’s been so successful that three years ago Kips Bay added an annual Palm Beach show house, which is open throughout February, and is now adding the Dallas show house. Kips Bay Dallas will benefit The Crystal Charity Ball, Dwell with Dignity, Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club in New York, and other children’s charities. Kips Bay, both the nonprofit and the show house, will be honored at the Dallas PaperCity Design Awards, Tuesday, September 22.

About 25 designers are selected via committee to participate in Kips Bay, and once they accept their room assignment they will have about 10 weeks to complete the transformation. For the Dallas show house, designers will be selected from Dallas, other major cities in Texas, and across the U.S. by a committee that includes Showers, Peacock, and members of the Kips Bay Board in New York. Nazira Handal, director of special events and sponsorships for Kips Bay, has been seen in Dallas over the past five months by eagle-eyed designers, talking to showrooms and sponsors. Handal’s unofficial visits have stoked excitement around town, and Showers has gotten a flurry — no, an avalanche — of queries.

Veranda magazine takes the lead as national media sponsor, with PaperCity and D Home serving as local media sponsors.

Kips Bay Decorator Show House Dallas ticket and event information: Opening-night tickets (Thursday, September 24) $250; show house tickets (September 25 – October 25) $40, at kipsbaydecoratorshowhouse.org.

To apply and be considered for Kips Bay Decorator Show House, submit a single PDF of 6 to 12 images, with single-page bio to nazira.handal@kipsbay.org. Deadline is May 1, 2020.