Author Tom Wolfe designed his dream writer’s study–complete with plaster sheep draped over the radiators because, he says, “fat white radiators have always reminded me of sheep.” Movie designer Richard Sylbert produced a Dick Tracy-inspired boudoir for Madonna. There’s a black lace bustier on the dressing table and an artfully unmade bed. Architect Robert A.M. Stern covered the walls of his library in aluminum leaf and framed the room with huge plaster swags.
These are just a few of the unorthodox touches that make Metropolitan Home magazine’s showhouse, which opened last week, more than just another eye-numbing collection of fringes and furbelows from job-hungry decorators. The creators of this showhouse–including fashion designer Geoffrey Beene and cookbook authors Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins–all have steady work. But for the last few months they’ve been remaking a five-story town house at 115 East 79th Street in Manhattan. It’s all for a good cause–AIDS patients’ care. The magazine hopes to raise $1 million before the showhouse closes at the end of March.
For the admission price of $15, visitors get to see designs that are frankly meant to be more fantasy than reality. Artist Kenny Scharf’s room is the most shocking, with its graffitilike canvas walls and curved iron chairs that look like Martians guarding their turf. There are also a few tidbits for those philistines who insist on practicality. Chef Alice Waters ordered up a kitchen that is deliberately low-key and homey. The wooden floor is stained beet red and the amber lighting casts a warm glow over the copper sink, the wood cabinets–and the pizza oven. Every kitchen should have one.
