The Great Room designed by KA Design Group at the Hampton Designer Showhouse was also one of my favorite rooms. I think mostly because the design is what I wish we could have done to the Hamptons house I worked on last summer. It's full of really great textures and colors that act as a wonderful backdrop to the drop dead gorgeous art! According to the designers Kenneth Alpert and Andrew Petronio, they designed the Great Room in a style that is the "softer side of modern." 
I really love the center table in the room that seems to anchor the room and can be used for meals or games as well as display. 
The color scheme is chocolate brown and white with pops of pink. The walls are a beautiful Venetian plaster that reflects the light while the chocolate brown upholstery on the chaise chairs has a great nap that absorbs light. The pink curtains are a hot pink taffeta that help set the stage for the "eclectic blend of modern antique furniture." 
Here a small Julian Opie sculpture perches a top a marble topped side table. 
My absolute favorite aspect of the room are the three large Bing Wright photographs that extend the room like windows. The wicker furniture also reminds you that you are near the beach. 
The designers were able to borrow an amazing collection of art from Salon 94 including two Marilyn Minter photographs, one of which is seen in this vignette. 
You can see an example of another natural and traditional material used in a novel way in this room. The grass cloth was cut into squares to cover the cover ceiling and is juxtaposed with a very modern light fixture. 
This room is probably not what people would immediately think of for a beach house but it illustrates that there are different styles for different people. I like to think of this room as what an art collector who lives in Manhattan might want live when they are away for the weekend. And you can certainly take a lot of great ideas from this room for your own home. Bon Weekend! Photos by Heather Clawson
We interrupt our Hampton Designer Showhouse coverage to update you on what 's been going on with my bachelorette pad. I was there today to accept delivery of the new faux-bamboo etegere that I found last week at Elizabeth Bauer. The original plan was to replace her existing short bookcase with a taller one and we discussed the Oly Stella Shelf but this one was less expensive and works perfectly with the artwork. Sometimes it pays to wait until you find the right piece.
bachelorette pad before
Sometimes it is the smallest rooms in a showhouse that make the biggest impact and that is definitely the case with designer Katie Ridder's butler pantry and bathroom in the Hampton Designer Showhouse this year. She is lucky that she had her own great line of wallpapers to choose from but how many people would really wallpaper a butler's pantry in real life? Usually they are such a small room that they get overlooked in the design process but with this bright cheerful paper, it becomes a jewel box. 
One of the other designers in the house mentioned that she at first felt sorry that Katie Ridder got such small rooms but clearly she managed to do a lot with the wallpaper and accessories.
When you walk down the hall, the room makes you smile as you walk past it. 
It's hard to photograph powder rooms well but you can get a sense of how cute the sailboat paper looks in a house by the beach! Small rooms are great places to make a big impact with wallpaper and take chances with pattern because there is less of a chance of a homeowner getting tired of the design since they see it in small doses. 
The dining room at the Hampton Designer Showhouse is directly to your right when you enter the house and Marshall Watson has created a fabulous room to greet visitors! According to his description of the room, his firm decided to take the architectural details of the room down a notch by adding "rustic textures and natural linens, accompanied by both vintage and antique furnishings that command a strong presence."
There were a lot of wonderful details in this room including the English oiled walls, the monogrammed slip covers/place cards on the Spanish chairs, and the natural edged table. 
I often see dining rooms in real life that look unfinished because no thought was ever really given to them since they are rarely used but this room doesn't leave any wall empty. The art and furniture around the sides complete the overall design wonderfully and make it look like a room you would want to use everyday!
There were a lot of lovely flower arrangements in the showhouse.
The most unique element in the room is the light fixture that lighting designer Mark Figueredo (MF Custom Lighting and Design, 631-329-5033) created from "bee skeps." It adds that natural element that any house near the beach should have to make it feel a little more casual. 
At first I thought the wired flatware was part of the design until I remembered that sometimes showhouse visitors think they should be able to take home a souvenir. That happened to designer Garrow Kedigian at the Kips Bay Decorator Showhouse this year and he was very upset because the item taken was a sentimental object picked up in Paris. So this is a good time to remind everyone that the designers who participate in showhouses often borrow items from showrooms or their own homes and they must be returned so please do not steal anything! If you need a fix, you can always buy something at the gift shop!Photos by Heather Clawson
