Kips Bay Palm Beach 2020
Veranda included our Bamboo Hill bath + closets in their Kips Bay Palm Beach 2020 coverage.
The show house — 260 Palmetto Lane, West Palm Beach, 8,751 sq ft, South African + Dutch inspired, owned by Lars Bolander — had 19 designers. Ours was the master dressing area and bath with Tom Kirchhoff of Kirchhoff and Associates Architects, Jupiter.
Veranda wrote it as a collaboration between Tom and me to reconfigure the existing bath and closets. That's exactly what it was — Tom handled space planning, I handled color and pattern.
The challenge Veranda didn't see: what we started with. 1980s layout, built-in tub, two rooms with zero windows, toilets blocking flow. And just under 3 months to finish.
I told Kitchen & Bath Business at the time: we moved toilets to open access to the men's dressing area, removed the built-in tub, reworked the shower into a glass pass-through to borrow light, and added lighting everywhere because we had no windows to work with.
Our concept was different from the other Kips Bay rooms. Tom and I wanted to keep the mid-century vibe of the house but add a colorful twist that still felt liveable. Better flow between his and hers, but each side keeps its autonomy.
That meant the men's side goes black, gray, navy. Women's side goes medium-bright to orange and lilac. They connect through color, but they don't match.
Lead element was not tile — it was paint. Benjamin Moore Kiwi Green lacquered vanities. Once we had Kiwi Green, we could add gray-lavender Kohler Iron Plains sinks and a lilac marble wall. Then the freestanding Kohler Abrazo tub with Ceramic Matrix mosaic behind it made sense.
Then 11 wallpapers from F. Schumacher & Co. Not one feature wall — walls AND ceilings. Leafy, stars, polka dots, muted animal prints. I wallpapered ceilings because white ceilings feel unfinished to me. Wallpaper makes windowless rooms feel cozier and softer.
In Palm Beach Daily News I said we wanted one side more feminine, one more masculine, with color transitioning bolder as you move through. That's how you do 11 patterns without it feeling like a circus — khaki pants rule — black/gray anchors the men's, leopard anchors the bathroom.
Final layer: Pioneer Linens custom-embroidered towels and garment + travel bags sewn to match the wallpapers.
Show house visitors remember that detail — it's why our Cypress Grove Boca Raton clients found us there.
This project was all architecture first, pattern second.
Tom is a master with space planning.
Thank you to Veranda, Kitchen & Bath Business, Palm Beach Daily News, and sponsors Kohler, Schumacher, Benjamin Moore, The Shade Store.
Kips Bay Palm Beach 2020 Bamboo Hill — Master bath + closets — Veranda, KBB, Palm Beach Daily News Feb 2020 — Architect: Tom Kirchhoff — Sponsors: Kohler, Schumacher, Benjamin Moore, The Shade Store, Ceramic Matrix, Pioneer Linens
Read the full article: Veranda