Bunny Williams created a one bedroom apartment in the Kips Bay House this year and it is just gorgeous. Over the top, ok, yeah, maybe – but this is more along the lines of what I’m expecting when I hear someone is an interior designer. I want a space (a tad less ornate) that is filled with brilliant ideas and sets my mind on fire.
Thank you to House Beautiful for the photos
Kips Bay is a show home – so it’s understandable that the design would be highly ornate.
I love the mix in this room – the 60’s modern red wing chair popping out of such a bright light blue room, the mix of the colors and patterns on the chairs, the orange cushions on the chocolate brown sofa. I’m now obsessed with the blue on the walls – and want that exact color for my bedroom. With the white the look is so crisp.
The horns on the fireplace mantle is a bit much.
The carpet is especially interesting – because you could make it at home. Take a coir rug, tape, and paint – voila!
This is good interior design – it inspires, fills your imagination, and makes the most of the space. It may be busy for the average Israeli’s taste – but I’ve seen enough clean spaces which have been created here and elicit the same response.
I’m wracking my brain for what to call that amazing blue! Swedish blue?
Notice how the cushions on the dining room chairs match the pillows on the chocolate brown velvet sofa?
Many of the pieces that Bunny used chairs were from her Beeline Home collection.
Keep in mind that Bunny is higher end. (In other words, yes I’m sure that she’ll ship to Israel, but it will cost you.)
The regale arm chair, above, is similar to the ones in the Kips Bay room, but the upholstery has been changed. You can find similar shaped goods at antique dealers. To get a look like she uses in the room for a lower price go to nice upholstery shops and ask for some remnants. All you need is a yard/meter square each (probably much less in reality) for each section – find complimentary colors and patterns to make the chair more interesting.
The bottoms-up drinks table is $770 – which seems ridiculous to me – but I’m sure that they are handmade and the top is something incredible and exclusive. Don’t care – seems like a silly high price for something that’s only big enough to place a single drink on. They’re cute though. They would have to be made out of something quite heavy though – or else they would fall pretty easily when bumped. My youngest would kill it by trying to climb it…
The chicken feather pottery lamp has a terrible name. And I’m not nuts about the shade either. Like the base though.
The copper lotus hurricane isn’t my style. Ok, I actually think it’s pretty horrible. I’d probably like it without the copper, but then they’d have to change the name.
Another piece I didn’t like much. No real reason – just not all that crazy about it. It lacks the delicate touch that her other pieces have in my opinion.
No one is ever going to love everything a designer creates – and we don’t have to. But a good interior designer provokes a response to your imagination. Too empty a space is not minimalistic – it’s just dull.
Shira Abel is the CEO and founder of Hunter & Bard, an award-winning public relations and design agency that works with scale-ups and enterprises on building their brand, awareness and thought leadership.
As CEO of Hunter & Bard, Shira oversees a team that manages public relations, marketing, design, and brand development for clients across multiple industries. She develops strategies for organically growing companies through sincere digital engagement and the application of behavioral marketing.
Clients include JELD-WEN, Benchling, Sixth Continent, Totango, Folloze, Radix DLT, Axa Tech, Allianz, and many more. Shira is also a sought after corporate speaker and marketing mentor, and has spoken at events such as Confluence and Content Marketing World, and taught at institutions such as Kellogg School of Management and S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research in Mumbai.
Read more about Shira’s company Hunter & Bard at https://www.hunterandbard.com
The rooms are interesting, for sure, although the room in the first picture is trying too hard to be cool for my taste. For some reason I think great design should look a bit effortless.
In any case, I agree with you about bare spaces. They don’t equal minimalism. I think a bare space actually requires a lot more artistic rigour than a busy one. Every single piece counts, and you have less ‘tools’ in which to make a statement.
I also think many Israelis love the bare look but don’t know how to do it well.
Love the blog, btw, even if personally I am of the school ‘if you have nothing nice to say, don’t say anything at all’ (in other words, I could never criticize as directly as you do!) But I do love reading it..
Tammy
Tammy,
I’m happy you like reading it – even if you aren’t of the same school of thought 😉
-s
“The Regale Arm Chair” above in this article would take 2 yards material. 1 for the seat and 1 for the inside & outside back cut adjacent to each other. This would allow for most matching if needed but if a large center pattern then repeat of pattern would probably increase yardage requirement. Hope this helps.
It’s a bit too much for my taste, but I far far prefer it to the bare and cold stuff that is stuffed down our throats over here. One of my design teachers had a theory – all the virtual apts marketed here by contractors are done using imaging programs, which are obviously limited – designers creating the 3D spaces won’t take their time on an elaborate lighting piece or even a vase of flowers. And the consumers simply copy the look, one for one. The result is, like I said above, cold and bare and just sad. I have some amazing friends who live in such spaces that show not one tad of their personalities. There. Rant over 🙂
I was at the show house on Thursday.. The photograph does not capture how disturbing and unpleasant this room is. Actually, this year the house as a whole has a weird hostile edge. Each room was in its own way –creepy. The goal seemed to be to make one uneasy.. I now we are going through uncertain times…but the house made me want to run outsdie…which eventually–I did