New England Designers at the 2025 Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Palm Beach

A pair of Merle Edelman midcentury Serge Roche-style torchieres from FS Henemader bring the drama in the dressing room portion of designer Kristin Paton’s space. Vaughan’s Persian Lantern hangs from the ceiling.

Paton set the mood with Benjamin Moore’s high-gloss Van Buren Brown and Mark Alexander’s Grid Chestnut wallpaper.

A tiki bar and director-style chairs are tucked into a corner of the balcony.

Glam abounds on the balcony, with its swan console from Palm Beach Home Style and a pair of peacock chairs from Circa Who.

Dress Up
The design team at Kristin Paton Interiors cleverly met the challenge of decorating a pair of unusual spaces, transforming a primary closet into a dressing room (The Jewel of the Nile) and an adjoining balcony into a bar (The Gentleman of the Jungle). Paton settled on a British West Indies feel. “I’m familiar with antiques of the period, and the style is one I very much relate to,” she says. The Boston designer describes her vision: “The lady of the house puts on her jewels, while her partner takes in views of the Intracoastal as they prepare for a night on the town.”

Her inspiration was “an amazing white console with elephants on it,” and she opted for a chocolate-brown-and-white palette. “It’s kind of like color blocking,” she says. “I wanted to keep it graphic.” Paton stayed true to her show house mantra, too. “Do what you do,” she says. “I tend to be a classical designer, so I wasn’t going to do something that wasn’t me.”

Project Team 
Interior design: Kristin Paton Interiors
Builder: Lemanski Construction
Photography: Nick Mele

The gentleman’s retreat is replete with designer Mally Skok’s own patterns, from the wallcoverings and window treatments to the side chair fabric, the headboard, and the bed skirt.

The designer repurposed her own desk as a bar; the painting by Lynn Sanders was sourced from the Gregg Irby Gallery.

Echoing the bedroom’s wallcovering, the bath features Shantaram Mini by Mally Skok Design.

Tailor-made

Blue notes prevail in A Gentleman’s Retreat, the en suite bedroom Mally Skok decorated. The Palm Beach designer and textile artist, who also has offices in Concord, Massachusetts, imagined it with a young man in mind, yet it’s still in sync with her style. Inspired by a trip to Tangier, the space features hand-painted fabrics and wallpaper from Skok’s winter 2025 collection. She describes the room as personal and “totally unglitzy.”

Skok set the scene with her Shantaram wallpaper, framing it with turquoise trim. She layered the space with colorful prints and baskets. The headboard is upholstered in Skok’s woven South Ken fabric. She chose elements with a distinctly masculine feel, including a bed bench and rattan chandelier from Made Goods. The adjoining bath features flooring from Artistic Tile. Skok says she“channeled a gentlemanly world view,” but this well-appointed suite has
universal appeal.

Project Team 
Interior design: Mally Skok Design
Builder: Benitz Building
Photography: Carmel Brantley

A wide swath of green leads the way in the Bierly Drake & Steele dining room—from the Fernery wallcovering by Sanderson to the custom Benjamin Moore paint color on the coffered ceiling. The painting by William Skilling is from Solomon Treasure.

The designers chose to create two intimate (and versatile) dining spaces. The glass-topped tables are from the Bierly Drake & Steele private collection, and the skirted table is from Arma Interiors. The Chaddock settees are upholstered in Thibaut’s Ming Trail.

A Chaddock side chair and custom-painted console table from Theodore Alexander add to the versatility.

Garden Fresh

Show house designers can go down one of two avenues, says Will Steele: “They can design a room they’d actually live in—or do something for shock value.” When he and his partner, Chris Drake, were assigned the show house’s twenty-five-by-twenty-foot dining room, they chose the former path. “With no parameters, and green being my favorite color, this room is everything we do and how we live. It’s very reflective of our personal style,” says Steele, whose firm, Bierly Drake & Steele, has offices in Palm Beach, Boston, and Nantucket.

Le Jardin Botanique is anchored by Sanderson’s dramatic black-and-green Fernery wallcovering; emerald tones and carefully curated fabrics enrich the space. The designers leaned into the detailed moldings on the eleven-foot ceilings, enhancing them with custom coffers and insets painted a bold lacquer green.

They didn’t just use color and pattern to tell the story, though. They played with the space itself. “When you walk into most dining rooms, you expect to see a long table,” says Steele. Instead, the designers separated the room into two identical seating areas with a skirted sofa table between. “It works for any
occasion—even a couple just sitting down to breakfast together,” adds Steele.

Project Team
Architecture: Daza Designs
Interior design: Bierly Drake & Steele
Builder: Otis Construction
Photography: Carmel Brantley