Inside the San Francisco Decorator Showcase 2026: Shades of Blue, English Accents, and Statement Lighting Abound
This year’s San Francisco Decorator Showcase takes place in a stately Queen Anne–style house perched high on a hill in Pacific Heights with stunning views of the Golden Gate Bridge. The property looks destined to become home to the annual philanthropic project, which has raised more than $21 million for the San Francisco University High School Financial Aid Programs. So, it may come as a surprise to learn it’s the first Victorian to play host to the city’s show house in its 47-year history. Originally designed in 1897 by architect Moses J. Lyon, the property’s nearly 10,000 square feet of space provided a blank canvas for 18 interior and landscape firms that contributed designs.
Feeling the blues
Of the almost 30 spaces in total, there is hardly any wall or ceiling that hasn’t been limewashed, lacquered, clad in Venetian plaster, wallpapered, or upholstered within an inch of its life. According to organizers, the home underwent more interior construction work (including the addition of a second staircase) than any other project in San Francisco showcase history.
Blue was a standout color in many of these spaces. The third-floor game room conceived by Aly Gay Design was one standout. Known for playfully mixing color and pattern, designer Alyson Gay took inspiration from the renaissance of mahjong to create the space, which features gemstone sconces and Nick Mele’s playfully chic image Mahjong by Night mounted above the custom sofa, upholstered in Thibaut’s Avalon fabric in Spring. The walls, meanwhile, are bathed in a glossy pale blue—“our firm’s signature color!”—that seems to meet the expanse of sky visible through the room’s 14 (count em!) windows.
Designer Kendall Wilkinson’s entryway and foyer offer an equally airy welcome in a similar palette. Having recently spent time in Paris, where she was impressed by La Galerie Dior, The AD PRO Directory designer says she reimagined the connecting spaces with a decidedly French sensibility. The walls here are limewashed in a pale blue-green, forming a vintage-feeling backdrop for the custom furnishings upholstered in Schumacher and Fabricut as well as the designer’s own modern lighting collection with Iatesta Studio. Other striking uses of blue palettes in the show house include the upstairs bedroom by designer Chantal Lamberto, a cozy coastal cocoon wrapped in blue-and-white Schumacher ticking stripe, and the living room by Sindhu Peruri of Peruri Design Studio, who plastered the walls and ceiling in a powdery periwinkle lifted straight from Monet’s palette. The room also pays homage to the AD PRO Directory member’s Indian roots with details like hand-cut thikri work (mirror mosaic tiling) applied along the crown molding, and perforated latticework known as jaali.
