From Toile Hall to Paris Flea Market
On Friday, the designers for this year’s showhouse sale at the Animal Rescue Fund of the Hamptons Thrift and Treasure Shop were mostly getting started in their rooms and spaces, but the frisson of creativity was already palpable, as was their love of their dogs.
Set in two buildings on Montauk Highway in Sagaponack, the store consists of a former house and large shed. For this event, they are transformed into discrete spaces that reflect the vision of the designers, who are encouraged to incorporate some of the shop’s donations into them.
Melanie Roy, who had one of the most challenging spaces, a 5-by-14-foot entryway, transformed it into what she termed a “beach glam retreat.” She covered three of the walls with faux plant material, bringing the outdoors in, and placed an unusual botanical painting she found in the shop over a window. “There’s so little wall space,” she said.
The mirrored desk that she found at ARF sparked her vision for the space, but she was also inspired by the way part-time residents use their home office spaces in the summer to stretch out the weekend or spend all of their time here. “The season is short, I think everybody wants to come and work here as much as they can.” The remaining pieces came from her firm, Melanie Roy Designs, and from Garnet Hill.
On the opposite wall was a credenza of sorts filled with shells, books, coral, and doggie treats. She had dog toys made with her logo as favors. It is the kind of playful and witty space one would expect from the daughter of Rodney Dangerfield. She said she loves to design family and dog-friendly spaces using fabrics and even rugs designed for the outdoors. “There are so many wonderful materials now you really can design something that looks elegant and sophisticated that is also completely durable.”
Richard Mishaan’s room was also mostly complete on Friday. It was originally titled Mixology for the blend of contemporary and traditional styles culled mostly from objects he collected for his New York City store, Homer, operated in two different locations over 17 years.
On Friday, he said Paris Flea Market might be a better description for the gathering of high-quality and eclectic pieces of furniture and accents he had amassed there. These include a large and relatively inexpensive screen livened up with Tony Duquette fabric painted to look like malachite, Chinese lacquer tables that could work both inside and outside, Forestier hurricane lanterns, hand-blown Italian vases, and a Safavieh rug with a pattern and colors perfect for a beach house.
The space assigned to Jack Deamer, of JED Design in East Hampton, was just taking shape with a pretty powdery yet rich blue that was inspired by a bolt of Manuel Canovas toile. Toile Hall will be the name of his space, which will have picture frame molding suggested by wall paint, a mirrored screen, a center table, a Syrian bench, a console, and lots of gessoed white objects and fresh flowers arranged by Arthur Golabek. “We’re going to fill it up!” Mr. Deamer said.
Tom Samet is planning a seaside living room with “a large Anglo-Indian desk, a sofa covered with Madeline Weinrib fabrics and rugs, and a 1940s bamboo tiki bar.” He found a nautical-theme lamp in the form of a carved wooden anchor among the available ARF objects. Almost all of the rest is coming from his own inventory. He will also be using flowers from East Hampton Gardens and Diane James.
Brian Brady of Brady Design is creating a Doggie Den, or a dog sitting room, next to Mr. Mishaan’s Paris Flea Market, “and then filling up the room with dog treats, bowls, things like that.” The inspiration was a collection of six dog silhouette paintings. Mr. Brady found most of the pieces he is working with at the thrift store. “It all has a traditional English flow, to feel like an English sitting room.”
The room will be painted the same blue found in the dog silhouettes, which will be grouped together on a feature wall. The rest of the room will stay eclectic, with the objects left to make their own connections to each other with “carpet that will tie it all together.” Window treatments, trays, and throws will give it the designer’s finishing touch.
Blue Carreon’s Treillage Foyer was still in the early stages on Friday. He plans to mark off his 8-by-11-foot space with lattice work. It will feature pieces from his own home decor collection and donations by Tory Burch and others as well as a signed rendering by Jeremiah Goodman, an illustrator of interiors who died last year. If you miss his ARF space, his collection can be found at a new store opening this weekend in the Red Horse Market shopping center.
Everything in the rooms is for sale and the proceeds directly support ARF’s rescue and adoption efforts. The showhouse opens Saturday with a 5 p.m. preview hour for $250. It is followed by a cocktail reception from 6 to 8 p.m. for $150. The store will open to the public on Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. with a $10 donation for admission. All of the objects in the two buildings will stay in place until Tuesday, when buyers can pick them up.