1stDibs

The first thing to know about this year’s Kips Bay Decorator Show House is that somebody’s been smoking. Not actually smoking, presumably. But loose cigarettes appear on bathroom counters; vintage ashtrays turn up in lounges; matchboxes are everywhere, many free for the taking. There are Marlboro collectibles, snuffed-out butts and even a space conceived as a smoking room.

A former chocolate factory in Downtown Manhattan might seem an unlikely site for an interior inspired by a Scottish country house. But when the husband-and-wife owners of this 2,000-square-foot Soho loft approached Brooklyn-based studio General Assembly, that was a central part of the brief. The wife, who is Scottish, loved the colors, patterns and comfortable clutter of old houses in Britain. At the same time, she and her TK-born?

Artists who enjoy a certain degree of commercial success during their lifetime are often disdained by art-world elites. Think of Andy Warhol, who was seen by some critics, curators and collectors as too commercial, too ubiquitous and too ambitious to be taken seriously. The same might apply to the artist Peter Max, who died on September 21 at the age of 88.

1stDibs 50 interior designer Molly Kidd and her eponymous firm recently created a South Dakota home on the range for a young family. Top: A Rose Tarlow fabric covers the living room’s custom couches, which Kidd arranged with a pair of vintage shearling chairs she found on 1stDibs. All photos by Tim Lenz Most people hope their home will feel like a refuge from the outside world.

Photos of sleek kitchens and bathrooms clad in book-matched marble slabs, honed or polished to perfection, are irresistible eye candy for the design inclined. But no less beautiful are the offcuts, the leftover hunks of marble that might be the wrong size for a backsplash yet nevertheless have their own undeniable appeal. Daniel Fintzi not only recognized the unrealized potential of these remnants but saw in them a business opportunity as well.

Washington, DC–based designer Melissa Colgan sits on a Christian Liaigre sofa in front of a Cecily Brown painting and Donald Judd sculpture in the living room of a Georgetown home she designed for clients Elizabeth Miller and Dan Sallick.

The galleries of an art museum aren’t the only places one can see the work of Victor Vasarely, the grandfather of Optical art. His dizzying pieces grace the halls of many prestigious institutions, and the facades of a select few. In the late 1990s, Fendi even immortalized his signature style in a bag. Well, not just a bag — a Baguette.

Founder of the Chicago- and New York–based studio Craig & Company, Joan Craig has worked with the owners of this Gold Coast Chicago apartment for years (portrait by Aimée Mazzenga). Top: In the living room, as throughout, the designer mixed traditional and modern furnishings in the classical interiors of a 1929 building conceived by Rosario Candela. Photos by William Abranowicz Even top-notch interior designers sometimes lose out on a coveted commission.

A chair’s shape can reveal surprising information about when and where it was crafted. Among the many types of antique chairs, five silhouettes are the best known: Queen Anne, Chippendale, Windsor, wingback and bergère. The same terms can help you identify related types of vintage chairs, including revivals. An antique is at least 100 years old; although vintage furniture is younger, it’s still highly collectible. Style and age don’t always match, however.

Left: Ben-Sylvester Strautmann and Princess Alexandra of Hanover, seen here at the F1 Grand Prix of Monaco Gala in June in Monte-Carlo, Monaco, are engaged. Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/WireImage. Right: The engagement ring, which features a 4.8-carat yellow diamond, was purchased on 1stDibs from Antinori Fine Jewels.