Before: Irwin's Study

A detail from Irwin's study before he began to decorate. Irwin did not like the rounded window on top of the two large front windows so his design called for the elimination of that window, covering it up with some blackout material and a series of four canvases that he painted and framed to mirror the architecture of the sloping tray-and-milk-carton ceiling.

Before: Window Challenges

Irwin's design also had to consider the uneven height of the windows. The front windows had a generous height, but the side windows were small and unimportant. His design goal was to make it visually look like the side windows were the same size as the front set.

Upstairs Study

Irwin is interviewed in this scene by former New York Times design columnist Wendy Moonan, reporting on the showhouse for 1stDibs. This view from the doorway to the space shows the beginning of the transformation of Irwin's design. Originally designated as a bedroom, he could had added a bed as the largest piece of furniture and called it a day. But the conversion to a study required some different elements, including the addition of a Chesneys stone fireplace mantle along the dominant wall of the room.

Note that his hand-painted canvas above the front windows completely eliminated the dreaded half-round window and a chandelier fills the high ceiling volume with a dramatic "wow" effect when you first walk in. Also note the subtle two-tone paint treatment on the walls. You'll see a soft lilac on two walls meeting a soft stoney gray on the other two (look at the right corner of the ceiling to see where the two colors meet).

Irwin's Favorite

Irwin filled the upstairs study with many of his favorite things, from artwork to accessories. Here he's showing Wendy Moonan a gold porcelain vase that's based on the butch Mack Truck hood ornament, a friendly nod to the Jeff Koontz sculptures.

DIY Light

Kudos to Irwin for doing several things that weren't done in the rest of the showhouse. Here's one big one - a do-it-yourself lighting project. For about $120, he achieved a stunning look with an $80 fixture from Home Depot and a paper-engineered shade that he designed and made. This elaborate origami project was inspired by a vintage Italian glass chandelier, but he added more folds and ripples to create a wider-volume treatment that hangs like a cloud in the study. Materials used: stiff white, ribbed craft paper from Michaels; staples and a stable gun, a hole punch, and string.

DIY Touches

Irwin's origami light shade, dressing a humble Home Depot hanging bowl fixture is shown to good effect in this shot along with the multiple-canvas that Irwin painted to hide the half-round front window.

For the canvases, Irwin joined several different-sized canvases together with metal brackets screwed into the back of each frame.

• He painted bands of solid orange and blue across the canvases, let that bottom coat dry, then painted over it with a thick white coat of paint.
• While the top coat was still wet, he took a round-edged metal kitchen spatula and gently gouged lines and patterns into the paint, exposing the bands of color beneath.
• When the top coat dried, Irwin took a Sharpie fine-point marker and added black lines on top of the white.
• He measured the edges of the canvas, cut out thin framing strips, painted them black and white, stapled them to the outer edges of the canvases, and created a DIY shadow-box frame.

Fireplace Scene

Irwin's study boasts a faux fireplace. The simple, elegant Chesneys three-piece mantel is attached by industrial-strength Velcro to backer boards screwed into the wall. A large glass wine bucket serves as a mod wood holder and mid-century fireplace tools and an 1800s British caned burgemeister chair, a nod to Dutch design. The 3D metal wall sculpture above the fireplace is by a former Sotheby's employee, Nyack artist Rodger Stevens.

Floor Story

The colors in the upstairs study came together beautifully in the hand-woven South African mohair rug from Sacco Carpet. Different small-loom pieces were stitched together beautifully to create a room-filling extravaganza.

The coffee table in the study is a showstopper, too. Fashioned in the early sixties by a farmer in WI, he embedded rocks he collected in his world travels into a frame and poured a lucite tabletop mold. Irwin took the original base off the table and put it on a steel-framed Memphis style base from the eighties. The white marble Valas Bowl on the table is from Brooklyn's DESU Design and is available for sale in the Design2Share Home Goods Store on OpenSky. A collection of poofs tucks under the table.

Study Details

Irwin Weiner's room ideas continued onto the wall. Inspired by Italian painted frescoes in Montova of draperies on the wall, he created a fabric wainscoting, attaching Schumacher printed linen panels  to the wall with decorative nailheads.

The mohair story from the room's Sacco Carpet rug continues on the windows with elegant, yet inexpensive Schumacher mohair blend curtains. Instead of having sheers, the mohair is a dressier look. The curtains, fabricated by the drapery workroom Yes Dear, could not be run through machines to sew in the usual hem. The Yes Dear solution was to unravel the stitching on the edges and bottoms of the material to leave a soft side frayed edge and more dramatic tassle fraying at the bottom where the fabric puddles on the floor.

Sitting Room

The sofa in Irwin's upstairs sitting room is a Dunbar sofa, designed by Edwarm Wormley, and recovered by Irwin in a punchy orange striped, buttoned fabric. Its long, low profile accentuates the large expanse of front windows in the room.

Screen Trick

To solve the problem of the too-short side wall windows, Irwin built a four-paneled screen to conceal the bottom portion of the windows under the sill. He covered plywood panels with padding, then attached ikat fabric (but he switched the usual vertical run of the ikat to make them horizontal stripes) and piping.

The driftwood glass-topped side table is a nod to the Hamptons design vernacular, but the dramatic lucite-and-aluminum "Bat Light" from the seventies is from a planet all its own. The colorful Murano glass snails complete the tablescape.

The charming carved wood chair is from G. Evans Antiques and is probably a Scandinavian nursing chair.

Corner Study

This corner of Irwin's upstairs sitting room shows off the fabric wainscoting well, along with an antique metal elephant sculpture from G. Evans Antiques in Lambertville, NJ, a Pace Collection lucite and chrome chair from the seventies, and a photograph of a Hong Kong high-rise construction site.

Back Wall

The back wall of the sitting room has the door to the closet adorned with a WPA-era woodcut strung from monofilament (use cushions or Velcro tabs to keep hung frames from banging the door when opened), a Victorian burled walnut toped aquarium stand, oversized decanters and goblet, and a red buoy.

Purple Bath

Irwin Weiner let out the color stops in the small sitting room bath, going for strong purple on the walls and stripes of orange in the window and shower draperies.

Big ideas here:

• Frame old Polaroid photos for an instant gallery grouping. Irwin's source is foundphotographs.com.
• Use a large clear base to hold and display all those hotel soaps and shampoos that you collect on travels.
• Fill decorative decanters with $1 bubble bath. Irwin found mad colors like bright pink and vivid orange, blue, and purple.
• Irwin used an inexpensive Home Depot outdoor spotlight and inverted it into a simple and elegant uplight over the Dorothy Draper inspired plaster mirror.

Shower Power

Irwin's tub area was spruced up with bubble bath-filled decanters and two wire sculptures from Nyack, NY artist Rodger Stevens (who did the piece over Irwin's fireplace mantel). Stevens' metal works are inspired by pre-Columbian jewelry.

Navy Wall

It's daring to use a dark wallcovering for a basement room, but that didn't deter Manhattan designer Bradley Stephens. He used Phillip Jeffries Ltd. Lacquered Strie wallcovering as a backdrop to room treatments that ranged from coffered ceilings to limestone floors covered by antique rugs. He rose to the occasion of designing a huge basement space in the showhouse featuring overlapping areas for billiards, card playing, drinks, and lounging.

Pair of Chairs

These antique chairs are fantastic additions to a clubby liquor/wine nook in Bradley Stephens' basement space.

Drinks & Talks

Stephens designed a lounge area with antique rugs and a handy full-service bar for basement libations.

Indoor Pool

Stephens' billiard table is an antique from the collection of Blatt Billiards.

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A stylish sconce is mounted on a Bradley Stephens fabric screen. Nifty treatment.

Pool Lounge

At the end of the showhouse basement are large doors and garden-level stairs that walk up to the side yard and swimming pool/spa area. Mabley Handler Interior Design took the wheel and steered the pool lounge towards mod with bright orange and white decor.

Geometrics

Bright patterns dominate the Mabley Handler pool lounge, and their furnishings had a high-gloss lacquered glow.

Black & White & Mod

The lower level wine room was a posh, mod surprise from Nathan Egan Interiors. Their eclectic use of vintage furniture - like the Pucci-style print sofa - worked well with the black and white blinds and other floor and wall details from Paris Ceramics and Christopher Peacock Home.

Flower Power

The mad floral fabric of the sofa popped against the black background and set up a strong visual counterbalance to the rest of the wine room decor.

Sofa Wall

The wine room from Nathan Egan Interiors used black and white banks of Venetian blinds to coordinate with the b&w supergraphics on the walls and floors.

All-Over Pattern

The Paris Ceramics custom black-and-white floor sets the stage for the daring design in the rest of the wine room.

Stunning

Beautiful lamplit view of the wine room floor and walls.

Wine Room

The wine room features Christopher Peacock cabinetry and wine racks, plus wine from the Terlato Family Vineyards.

Hail Britannia

In a tongue-in-cheek design detail, the black stone inlay Union Jack provides the backdrop to the blue-stained wine bar.

Home Theater

Barbara Ostrom designed the Sea View marquee, ticket booth, and overall design for the lush home theater in the showhouse's lower level.

Refreshments Are Served

The home theater starts with a long bar/serving area for guests to enjoy snacks and drinks while watching state-of-the-art movie action.

Showtime

Audio Command Systems created the home audio, video, lighting control, and automation systems for the impressive showhouse home theater.

Home Screening

View of the comfy seating in the home theater.