Oct. 14
SO NOW: Designer Darren Henault at the Kips Bay Showhouse (and Everywhere Else!)
By Lynn Byrne. Here in New York, interior designer Darren Henault is most definitely having a moment.
My readers outside of the NY tri-state area might not have heard of him yet, but locally you can’t miss him. His New York apartment is on the cover of the current New York magazine’s Home Design issue, New York Spaces magazine did a spread on his country house last June and just this morning, the New York Times reviewed his space (with photo) in the annual Kips Bay Showhouse.
I will bring it all to you today, just so you can stay in the loop.
What’s funny in the odd sense is that lawyer Larry (my hubs) is the guy who first brought Darren to my attention. Love Larry (of course!) but he is not a design guru to say the least. Yet, it was Larry who kept telling me about his law partner who had an amazing designer as his life partner. So you never know where your next tip will come from.
First Kips Bay, since it opened this morning and I will be featuring spaces from the showhouse over the next few posts.
Darren got assigned two teensy bedrooms that he turned into fabulous his and her dressing rooms.
Here is the entry. LOVE how he carried the rug pattern unto the hardwoods with stencil. Sort of a yours, mine and ours concept. 
In both rooms, Darren removed the closet to create a niche for a daybed. The closet doors that you see are actually dummies (quite fabulous dummies as I will describe in a moment), but they don’t open.
Here is “his” side. The gray trim is all hand embroidered. 
A fabulous cabinet in the man’s side. 
On “her” side there is more hand embroidery on the walls, fabulous furniture and artwork.
The New York Times reports that Darren spent 1 million dollars in furniture and artwork for these 2 small spaces. He told me that the closet doors in the woman’s side were $8000. They were given a special paint treatment known as verre eglomise, or painted glass on the reverse side. Whoa. 
A close up of the embroidery. 
A close up of those closet doors. The painting is done in the same pattern as a fabric used in the man’s room, as a device to unify the spaces.
As for Darren’s homes, they have been dubbed with a new “trend” label : “Family”.
The New York magazine piece is one of the most charming articles I have ever read; It seems that Darren and his partner are daddies to 2 adorable twin girls. As a mother of twins myself, I know how special that is Click here to read the article.
Both homes are way more glamorous than the teenage boy cave I maintain in my own home, but maybe you can do that with girls.
Here are some shots of the amazing apartment, all via New York magazine. 
One of the cutest little girls’ rooms ever. 
So sweet. 
I saved the best for last. Darren’s Millbrook farm is certainly my idea of a warm, comfortable and elegant space. These images via the June 2010 New York Spaces.
New York magazine suggests that Darren’s little girls may be the luckiest girls alive. For sure. But from what I can see, Darren’s clients are pretty lucky too.
Kips Bay photos by Lynn Byrne for Decor Arts Now.
