Kimberly Schlegel Whitman is part of an illustrious Dallas family that takes its decorating—and entertaining—seriously. When she phoned Jan Showers for the first time, she was all of 23, a debutante fresh out of Southern Methodist University and about to move into her first “itty-bitty” apartment. Showers, a top-drawer Dallas-based decorator who works all over the world, took on the apartment with relish.
“She bought absolutely beautiful pieces,” remembers Showers, who immediately nudged Whitman toward sleek 1940s French furniture. “When she later moved into an apartment in [luxury high-rise] the Claridge, we were able to reuse every single piece.” Over the next two decades, Whitman, now 43, wrote eight books about entertaining; started a party rental business; married Justin Whitman, son of actor Stuart Whitman, in a wedding Dallas won’t soon forget; and had two children, a boy and a girl. Every time she moved into a new apartment or house, she called on Showers to decorate it.
“We’ve always been on the same wavelength,” says Showers. “I’m a lot older than she is, but Kim’s an old soul.”
Kimberly Schlegel Whitman House Tour
They also make arrestingly pretty rooms together, if their sixth and latest project—this roughly 10,000-square-foot manse on almost two acres in Dallas’s Preston Hollow neighborhood—is any indication. Chic, comfortable, and sublimely colorful, it’s an ingenious place for parties that befit a nationally recognized hostess who practices what she preaches.
At first, the late-1990s house struck the Whitmans as stark and imposing. Yet Showers never wavered. When Justin expressed concern over the family room’s height (which felt a bit cold) and dark walls, she smiled and told him, “This will be your favorite room.” And, of course, it is.
Dallas architect J. Wilson Fuqua added custom crown moldings and other architectural flourishes for graciousness and even playfulness—some of the moldings depict tassels and latticework. Showers painted most walls a warm, silky white, creating an airy canvas for the Whitmans’ colorful modern art collection as well as collected furnishings—signed pieces from Arbus, Maison Jansen, Serge Roche, Gilbert Poillerat, and Yves St. Laurent among them.
This time around, these exquisite works would get a dazzling spin. “I wanted this house to be wild and free with color and pattern,” says Whitman, who told Showers she wanted her dining room to look like the inside of a cantaloupe. The designer painted it Benjamin Moore’s Persian Melon in high gloss, then composed an impressive mix of furnishings, including a set of 14 prim and lovely George III dining chairs at the one extreme and a pair of madcap Hollywood Regency white lily-pad lamps at the other. A 1940s French cherry sideboard originally bought for Whitman’s second apartment artfully bridges the gap.
In the living room, a vintage Oushak carpet patterned in eye-popping blue, pink, gold, and red; a fearless Schumacher floral linen on the sofa; and a jazzy Lee Jofa stripe on two Continental chairs add more high energy and high style. In a corner, Showers devised a banquette upholstered in an intoxicating Kravet velvet in a color aptly named Versailles—“a complicated blue,” she calls it. “Everybody is attracted to that corner,” Whitman says. “It feels like you should be sitting down, holding a drink, and having a life-changing conversation.”
“The flow of the house is wonderful for entertaining,” says Showers. It even came with generous storage, much of which is occupied with Whitman’s ever-expanding antique tableware collection. One of her favorite pastimes remains composing new and lyrical tables for parties, mixing her patterns and colors the way a couturier composes an outfit.
“It aggravates Justin so much because it’s coming out of every cabinet, but it’s my passion,” she says with a sigh. “Then I play with linens. It’s a lot like getting dressed!”
Featured in our November/December 2019 issue. Interior Design By Jan Showers; Architecture By J. Wilson Fuqua; Photography By David Tsay; Styling By Jimmie Henslee
