Mark D. Sikes' "Sleeping Beauty" and Changes

Mark D. Sikes has done it again with his beautiful and elegant design for this years Kips Bay Showhouse in a bedroom he's dubbed: Sleeping Beauty. I'm sure you've seen this on other blogs, perhaps even his, and for some of you - you may have seen it in person. But today, I wanted to blog about not only the Sleeping Beauty bedroom, but also how it relates to some of the sneak peeks Mark gave us yesterday to what's happening in his own home, as he works to redo it for the third time.

Settle in, this is a long one! 

First, let's all take a look at the Kips Bay room before Mark got his hands on it. The 15,000 square foot, $51 million dollar mansion has 8 bedrooms total, on 7 floors - all accessible by elevator. While it follows the style of a century old Lennox Hill mansion, it's actually relatively new construction (2012) following Robert Couturier's design.

Sleeping Beauty is a relatively small bedroom on the fourth floor. It has a small vestibule, an attached bath, and access to a Juliette balcony.

Mark took the vestibule, which really acts as a closet for the room (many of the bedrooms are void of closets entirely) and turned it into a tented entry.

The walls were upholstered with Ojai Stripe, in Prussian Blue, a fabric of Mark's own design printed by Schumacher. This fabric must be Mark's personal favorite at the moment, because he's used it in the new design at his own house, too! Who could blame him? It's gorgeous. 

Atop the console, jade lamps and fresh tulips, along with a jade and bone box and Chinoiserie bowl filled with Mark's business cards. How often do you think those have to be replenished?

The bathroom was also done in blue and white fabrics from Mark's collection with Schumacher. Ojai Paisley and Palisades Floret. 

Moving into the bedroom. Mark commissioned custom Gracie wallpaper for the space, with a gorgeous green background. 

More fabric from Mark's collection here, along with a stunning sapphire blue velvet on the chairs. I absolutely love this space. The blue, the wallpaper, the gilt bed. There's an unspoken comfort to the room, while being intently luxurious. 

The chairs are slipcovered in Santa Barbara Ikat from Schumacher. Mark was no doubt inspired by Pauline de Rothschild when he designed this room: 

Mark has come to have his staples. Every room he designs has his specific touch. Chinoiserie wallpaper and antiques, along with beautiful finishes and textiles. But one thing I've noticed that Mark has used over and over again in his showhouse rooms are these wall sconces, or brackets as he calls them: 

Here they act as pedestals for Vladimir Kanevsky porcelain potted flowers. But at his grand ballroom hallway at the Greystone, and in the dining room he did for the 2015 Kips Bay Showhouse, they were the perfect perch for blue and white porcelain jars:

There are so many wonderful pieces in this room, all of them playing a huge role in the overall look, none of them taking away from the gorgeous wallpaper.

That bed, am I right?! Every last detail is thought of in the room, including a small console on the left of the bed with stationary and a corded house phone.

The room has gotten some amazing press, including acting as the cover for the Architectural Digest online feature. Blogs have blown up with pictures of the room, including the ones where I found these: Mark D. Sikes, Quintessence Blog, Pretty Pink Tulips, and  The Neo Trad. Instagram photos of the space have been trending, and I'm sure that Mark's phone is ringing constantly with questions from prospective NYC clients. Yet, more than 2800 miles away in West Hollywood, Mark is busy working on his own home, redecorating for the third time, and it turns out that the room at the Kips Bay Showhouse is a sneak peek at the direction things are going. 

When Mark's house was first featured by House Beautiful in 2012, everyone went crazy for his Gracie wallpapered dining room. 

In fact, it spurred hundreds of blog posts, and even a few DIY copies of the space. However, when he redecorated the house for the second time, the wallpaper was removed and replaced by antiqued mirrors. It was featured in Veranda in 2014. 

Mark had the chairs reupholstered in a beautiful caramel colored leather, finished with twill tape and nailheads. The leather settee that had been in the niche was moved to the living room, and an antique gilt rococo table with a marble top was moved to its place, acting as a bar for the room that was turned from dining room to library. 

I loved the change, but knew that he'd probably switch it up in time. Sure enough, 4-years later, gone are the mirrors. Mark gave a little look at the things that are coming together for the new spaces yesterday on his instagram. 

You might remember a post I wrote about his changes here, way back in July of 2017, when I first picked up that he was in the process of a redesign. 

These renderings were created from then images of his dining room with the mirrored walls with his Schumacher fabrics and Merida rugs. Renderings created from photos don't really change much of the details, but you can see here that the idea for the room centers around Mark's favorite color: BLUE!

I'm not 100% certain, but I actually have a guess as to what's happening in this room, thanks to an instagram story he posted long ago. The open fretwork chairs that Mark has used as his captains chairs went blue ... 

A familiar blue, right? 

And his settee, which had been covered in leather and used in the living room has now been recovered in a beautiful floral, with a coordinating blue velvet pillow:

Mark's living room set up had been inclusive of this antique settee, paired with two English roll arm chairs:

But I don't think that it's going to live here in the 3rd vision of the space. I could be wrong, but I think it's going back to where it had been in the dining room. 

What takes it's place? Wicker! A large wicker sofa paired with these newly reupholstered English roll arm chairs with gathered skirts:

It was back in August of 2017 that Mark posted this image to instagram:

Pieces of the puzzle scattered on the floor, including a tear sheet for a bench seat wicker sofa with three back cushions and a blue velvet swatch attached. Immediately to the right of it, the tear sheet for his English roll arm chairs, and the white linen they've been recently reupholstered in. The gathered skirt is something we've not really seen from Mark before, as he tends to have a more tailored approach to his designs. But I'm excited to see this all come together! The banquettes on either side of the window in his living room were a new addition to the space for the second redecoration.

They're not going anywhere, but have been reupholstered in a narrow blue and white stripe. The next big peek into changes was in his library/guest room. The room was gorgeous when featured in House Beautiful in 2012:

Then, for the second version, the room was a vision in neutral stripes. 

But there are some big changes happening in this space. Those leather chairs have been reupholstered, this time in a beautiful robins egg blue:

The daybed has been covered in his Ojai stripe in prussian blue, the same fabric he used for the bed at the Kips Bay Showhouse. Here you can see it's waiting on the cushion, but behind you can see that the walls have been stripped of their Carolina Irving fabric. Will Mark mimic the last look, using one fabric throughout the space? Would he replicate the Showhouse room even further and have some gorgeous Gracie wallpaper in here? 

A beautiful slipper chair may be the answer to the question of having one fabric will be the design decision. Looks like this room will be a variety of pattern, all in blue! 

Mark also had three bookshelves designed with square cubicles instead of rectangular shelving to house his magazines, although it's not clear whether or not they'll be living in the library.  

Some rooms look like they're going to largely stay the same, including his guest room with upholstered walls in Pierre Frey fabric. 

While it appears the walls and curtains will stay the same, there might be a few more additions: 

Mark's also got new blues in the garden:

These brighter blue cushions replace his old Robins Egg cushions. Without a doubt, I think we can expect the new look to be beautiful and bright, and far more colorful than the second redecoration, which was mostly neutral. It looks like there's been a lot of things delivered for the new project, and I'm sure that Mark will keep posting these sneak peeks until the final thing is ready for professional photography, certainly to be used in his new book which will feature several other projects he's kept a secret! 

For more on Mark, check out his website here, or his instagram here, and you can always buy his book here: