A musicians gallery becomes an Italian loggia, a wool felt and Astroturf carpet transports the outdoors into a whimsically decorated sitting room, “Hollywood Glam” is the theme for a Gentleman’s Dressing Room, a Gilded Age bedroom is decorated authentically inspired by an original inventory list, willow trees hand painted on canvas and encompassing an entire room creates the illusion of serenity and a place to meditate.
These and other creative schemes by top Berkshire interior designers, antique dealers, artists and artisans have been realized for the Berkshire Designer Showcase at Ventfort Hall. The Showcase is open daily until January 15, 2012, weekdays from 10am to 5pm, on Fridays until 7pm and weekends from 10am to 3pm.
Fourteen restored rooms and halls on the second floor of Ventfort Hall Mansion and Gilded Age Museum have been transformed by the skill and artistic flair of Valerie J. Winig, Wingate Ltd.; Vivian Kimmelman, Berkshire Home & Antiques; Allison B. Crane, Places + Spaces, and Carol Newton Rumph, The Comfortable Home Interior; Barry Webber, Marlborough Cottage Arts and Interiors and The Source Collection, Inc.; Kate Morris, Morris House Antiques & Interiors, LLC; set designer Carl Sprague; Evan Hughes, Evan Hughes Design, LLC; Cecil Pollen, Designers Furniture Showcase, Ltd. DBA Kitchens & Interiors; Karen Beckwith, Karen Beckwith Arts & Interiors; Thomas and Kathleen Tetro, Corner House Antiques; Karen Cedar, Interior Design, Decoration & Display; Eric Hilton, Eric Hilton Ltd.; and the Lenox Garden Club 100th Anniversary Display Exhibit “Then and Now”.
Ventfort Hall is one of Lenox’s largest Gilded Age mansions, a 28,000-square-foot summer cottage built in 1893 for George and Sarah Morgan, the sister of legendary financier J. Pierpont Morgan. Nearly demolished in the mid 1990s, Ventfort Hall has undergone massive restoration at the same time that it has become one of the county’s major cultural venues offering tours, lectures, theater, exhibitions, concerts, children’s programs, dances, a gift shop, Picnics on the Porch…and now a Berkshire Designer Showcase.
