This year, steal these 09 brilliant decorating ideas from designer showhouses.

 Designer showhouses offer an insightful peek at the decorating ideas that are now enticing interior designers in addition to the next big interior design trends. Inside their walls, participants create interior designs that subvert stereotypes and stretch the creative envelope. These incomplete spaces foreshadow future directions in design because they are essentially empty shells with minimal to no guidance.

As 2023's showhouse register comes to a conclusion, it's time to think back on the imaginative interiors. Some rooms placed a strong emphasis on design and utility, while others gave greater attention to charm and whimsy. View the 12 designer showhouse moments below that will live on long after this year.

Kitchen at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in New York, designed by Wesley Moon, Inc.

(shown above) In rethinking the River Mansion’s kitchen, AD PRO Directory designer Wesley Moon paid homage to the historical home’s past while embracing its future. As a nod to the space’s Edwardian origins, for example, he worked with Hyde Park Mouldings to create an out-of-the-period custom moulding. He then integrated more contemporary fixtures, such as the hand-painted cabinetry by LaPolla Designs and Top Notch Millwork, as well as a textural Ann Sacks backsplash. The existing fireplace is refinished with a modern frame to blend more seamlessly with the surroundings.

Dining Room by Alexandra Kaehler at the Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens 

Chicago-based designer Alexandra Kaehler’s dining room at the Lake Forest Showhouse & Gardens makes great use of the ceiling—or the fifth wall, as designers often dub it. Whether it was through a coat of contrasting paint, a boldly patterned wallpaper, or an added architectural detail, many showhouse interiors this season drew eyes upward. Kaehler uses a plaster ceiling medallion as one part practical solution, one part sculpture. “Imagine blowing a dandelion puff. I wanted the ceiling medallion to read [as though] the petals are flying everywhere,” says Kaehler. When the light fixture is illuminated, the installation shines against the ceiling, painted in Tranquilly by Benjamin Moore.

Bedroom by Eneia White Interiors at the Kips Bay Decorator Show House in Palm Beach

 These days, creating moments of privacy throughout the home is proving to be relevant as ever, and we’ve loved seeing the creative ways in which designers are concocting spaces for solace around the house. A recent favourite? New York-based designer Eneia White’s shutter-wrapped cabana bed in this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House Palm Beach. “Pulling from childhood memories, it feels somewhat fortlike [but] in a mature and modern way,” she says of the escape, which is coated in a quiet Prescott Green by Benjamin Moore.

Home Theatre by Indigo Pruitt Design Studio at the Southeastern Designer Showhouse & Gardens

 Glistening geodes, tumbled rock spheres, and slender obelisks have long been chosen as sculptural styling accents, and the surge of wellness in the home has made these fixtures even more in demand. Marie Cloud, founder of Indigo Pruitt Design Studio, proves crystals are more than just accessories in her home theatre design at the Southeastern Designer Showhouse & Gardens, where she employed light-filled natural stone pedestals as bases for busts. “This generation of homebuyers is particularly intentional about wellness, well-being, and spirituality,” Cloud tells AD PRO. “Because of that, designers will gravitate towards geodes and natural stone [beyond countertops and flooring] to give clients their desired look.” Fellow participants at the Southeastern Designer Showhouse and Gardens agree: Wyeth Ray incorporated a stunning light fixture featuring hundreds of pieces of quartz in her dining room design, and along the stairwells, designer Evan Millard chose a rose quartz installation.

Study by Coy & Company at the San Francisco Decorator Showhouse

 Knowing how to determine just the right balance between contrasting elements can be the difference between a good designer and a great one. In his study at the San Francisco Decorator Showhouse, Geoffrey Coy juxtaposes curves and lines harmoniously, namely with the arched doorways, curved wood desk, and linear millwork ceiling. The latter is a “custom oscillating ceiling detail inspired by millwork from the 1800s,” he shares. Matte limewash paint in Colour Atelier’s Seine is a tranquil choice for the room, resulting in an organic yet sophisticated space.

Playroom by Shelley & Company Interior Design at the San Francisco Decorator Showcase

 In the game room, designers are going all in. For her playroom in the San Francisco Decorator Showcase, Shelley Cahan, principal designer at Shelley & Company Interior Design, created a plush playground off the full-scale mural of Christian Lacroix’s “It’s Paradise” wall covering. Pillow trees appear to grow from the scene, as do handmade kites by Tulu Textiles. Over at the Southeastern Designer Showhouse, Elizabeth McKay of Venture Games had the same colour-packed MO in her game room, where a custom magenta pool table coordinated with a rainbow of artworks and sculptural toys throughout the space.

Covered Terrace and Side Porch by Danielle Rose Design at the Hamptons Designer Showhouse 

Blending the indoors and outdoors at the Hamptons Designer Showhouse was Rockville Centre, New York-based designer Danielle Chiprut’s Jewelled Veranda, which she describes as “a transformative response to a tech-paradise era we’re currently experiencing.” This covered terrace, with its trio of hammered brass Arteriors pendants and playful CB2 hanging chairs, was centred on custom Calacatta Capraia marble tables from MD Tile and Granite that were rife with emerald, indigo, and berry veining. Farrow & Ball’s Brinjal paint, an alluring warm purple, sheathes the ceiling that extends to the side porch, another relaxed lair for entertaining amid Four Hands furniture.

Entry by Ware M. Porter & Co. at Ivy House, the Flower Magazine Designer Showhouse

 Welcoming visitors into the 6,000-square-foot Georgian-style Ivy House in Baton Rouge was Ware M. Porter & Co.’s striking entrance, for which the New Orleans designer embraced pieces like a hand-knotted Patterson Flynn rug and a duo of striped Christopher Spitzmiller lamps. Most notably, the designer aptly wrapped the walls with Check, the geometric pattern from fashion designer Christopher John Rogers—a native of the Louisiana capital—for Farrow & Ball. Part of the Carte Blanche collection, the staircase-spanning wallpaper was a “sophisticated and whimsical backdrop for fine art and period antiques,” as Porter puts it. “The space told an honest story, melding fashion and interiors.”

Primary Bathroom and Closet by Arianne Bellizaire Interiors at Ivy House, the Flower Magazine Designer Showhouse

 For her elegant primary bathroom and complementary walk-in closet at Ivy House, Baton Rouge designer Arianne Bellizaire pulled from English gardens, weaving in products from the likes of Currey & Company, Lee Industries, Marmi, and Waterworks. A freestanding bathtub juxtaposed with dreamy artwork from decorative painter Connie Harris elicited a dramatic air that carried over to the Farrow & Ball-swathed dressing room, with its 1970s-reminiscent mirrored vanity, icy blue and white carpet from The Rug Company, and colourful blooms arranged by locally based Hummingbird Floral Studio.