Jib Door

Alexa Hampton’s room at the 2014 Kips Bay Show House.

If you are going to walk the walk, you should talk the talk.

What is a jib door?

JIB DOOR:  A now you see it, now you don’t entry.  A type of hidden door that is flush with the wall, and disguised by giving it the same treatment  as the walls surrounding  it.

They were a favorite at the 2014 Kips Bay Show House. In addition to the one in Alexa Hampton’s room, I spotted two others.

Hidden behind the floor lamp. Tony Ingrao-2014 Kips Bay Showhouse

Disguised with paint. Gideon Mendelson–2014 Kips Bay Showhouse

Icons

Horst’s photograph of Pauline de Rothschild is perhaps the most famous image.

David Hicks is the designer most closely associated with jib doors.  In the image below, his son claims that the small vitrine in front of the door moved with it.

David Hicks

They are even in the oval office.

Oval Office by Michael Smith

Kips Bay photos, my own.  David Hicks   Oval Office by Doug Mills/The New York Times  Horst.