If you want to see great decorating up close and personal, no destination is better or more inspiring than New York’s legendary Kips Bay Decorator Show House . It has been a staple of the city’s style calendar since 1973, typically staged in a glamorous early-20th-century townhouse—Manhattan’s most desirable housing stock and therefore a perfect venue for making interior design statements—and transforming its timeworn rooms into earthly paradises. All proceeds benefit the Kips Bay Boys & Girls Club, a nonprofit that has supported, encouraged, and mentored underprivileged children in the Bronx since 1915. The singer, actress, and fashion icon Jennifer Lopez is even an alumna.

This year’s Kips Bay extravaganza is one of the best. Located in a freshly renovated, six-bedroom limestone mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and open to the public from May 12 through June 9, it is a panoply of posh ideas blending comfort with chic. The participants are 23 top American firms, including AD100 superstars Victoria Hagan Interiors, David Kleinberg Design Associates, Alex Papachristidis Interiors, , S. Russell Groves and Suzanne Kasler Interiors . Seductive statements abound, from lacquered walls in moody shades of green and blue to contemporary decors jolted by atmospheric antiques (check out David Kleinberg’s luxuriously chic living room) to eye-opening custom-made furnishings (such as Olasky & Sinsteden’s towering, attenuated canopy beds) that make one long to toss out everything in one’s house and start over.

Through June 9 at 19 E. 61st St., New York; kipsbaydecoratorshowhouse.org