When James Huniford founded Housing Works’ annual Design on a Dime benefit two decades ago, the ELLE DECOR A-List designer had no idea that the event would quickly become one of the marquee affairs in the New York design calendar. During that first year in 2005, says Huniford, “a small handful of designers came together at Housing Works' Gramercy Thrift Shop to create modest but wonderfully chic displays made up of donated décor treasures—all sold for a dime.”Courtesy of Housing WorksDesigner James Huniford (left) and Billy Cotton at the 2017 Design on a Dime opening night. The dimes added up quickly and the money raised (over $24 million to date) goes to a crucial cause: New York City-based Housing Works is a nonprofit dedicated to ending HIV/AIDS and homelessness. “It was a small first step,” says Huniford, who after two decades remains the event’s chair. “But evidently it was a strong one, because Design on a Dime grew stronger every year.” This spring, Design on a Dime is celebrating its 20th anniversary with its biggest celebration yet. The 2025 event kicks off on April 23 with a gala dinner and awards ceremony honoring designers Nate Berkus, Jeremiah Brent, and Alessandra Branca, along with Bloomingdale’s and journalist and longtime Housing Works supporter Tamron Hall. Design on a Dime’s opening night is the next evening, with a VIP hour from 5:30-6:30 pm, and general admission and sale from 6:30-9:30 pm. The free public shopping days are April 25 and 26. Courtesy of Housing WorksRayman Boozer of Apartment 48 created this vignette for Design on a Dime in 2024. For design devotees (and anyone in search of unmatchable décor deals), the April 24 sale and party are not to be missed. That’s where some of the top interior designers in the business—including ELLE DÉCOR A-Listers Mark Cunningham, Redd Kahoi, Yellow House Architects, Ghislaine Vinas, Danielle Colding, Robert Couturier, Nick Olsen, Leyden Lewis, and Richard Mishaan—will be creating model rooms filled with donated merchandise (marked up to 80 percent off retail prices) from companies like Ralph Lauren Home and Bloomingdale’s. Gary GershoffThe line for Design on a Dime in 2019. The event is held at New York’s Metropolitan Pavilion. Over the years, the vignettes have become all the more elaborate as designers try to outcompete one another. One year, Ken Fulk reimagined the Housing Works Bookstore as a Downton Abbey-esque library, complete with a living Adonis at the threshold. Another time, Eddie Lee created a scene in wood veneer and cinnamon velvet inspired by the French decorator Francois Catroux. Meanwhile, the duo behind Pappas Miron whipped up a Bordeaux-colored salon that conjured a 1920s speakeasy in Left Bank Paris. “The vignettes are Design on a Dime’s heart, genius, and joy,” Huniford says. “Designers coax blue-chip décor donations from dealers, galleries, shops, showrooms, and brands. Then, like sorcerers, they forge incredible interiors. They are like museum-worthy design dioramas but much better because you can shop from them!” Courtesy of Housing WorksAlessandra Branca created this back cushion in Schumacher fabrics for Design on a Dime’s 2025 Pillow Talk auction. This year will feature the debut of two new offerings. First, Pillow Talk, a collection of pillows in an assortment of Schumacher fabrics, by 50 designers, including Sheila Bridges and Billy Cotton (available in an online auction ending on April 24). There will also be a Brunschwig & Fils Bazaar, with five rooms draped in the fabric house’s textiles and designed by Robert Couturier, Sarah Vaile, Roxy Owens, Isabel Ladd, and Nick Olsen. For Huniford, Design on a Dime showcases both the creativity of the design community and its generosity and sense of caring. “AIDS perseveres as a hideous menace locally and certainly globally,” he notes. “And for people of my generation working in fields like design—that were previously literally decimated by AIDS—we'll always be compelled to remember —and love—who we lost, while looking out for organizations like Housing Works who have served and are serving still on the frontlines on so many critical causes in addition to AIDS.” Ingrid AbramovitchExecutive Editor, ELLE DecorIngrid Abramovitch, the Executive Editor at ELLE Decor, writes about design, architecture, renovation, and lifestyle, and is the author of several books on design including Restoring a House in the City.