Celerie Kemble
If you could have a second home anywhere, where would you live? I’m lucky enough to spend lots of time in Palm Beach, so my next answer would be L.A.
What are three words to describe your style? Sentimental, Colorful, and Pretty.
Tell us about your childhood bedroom? I grew up in a gazebo style room in an old deconsecrated church. My bedroom is octagonal and shingled from floor to peak ceiling.
What’s the first investment piece you ever bought for your house? It was an investment of love and effort, for $99 at a flea market, I found a tomato red trunk that was too heavy to carry and too tall for a car so I rode around in the back of a delivery van until he could drop me and the trunk off at my West Village walk up. It is still in my living room!
In the history of design, if you could hire any designer other than yourself, who would it be? Tony Duquette
No room is complete without a plant.
People think of me as blonde of hair, but I am really blonde of mind.
Things you omit from:
A flower arrangement: Baby’s Breath
An hors d’oeuvre platter: Sun dried tomatoes
A bar cabinet: Nothing
A song for:
Dinner at home - Lucinda Williams or Lana del Ray songs
Working at your desk - Old Frou Frou and Sia
Going for a run "I’m a Queen" by Sofi Tukker is my anthem of the year or "Talking Body" by Tove Lo
Biggest Vice? Cheese
If you were on an Ambien high and internet shopping, what would you buy? Easy, Vaseline glass.
Do your clothes reflect your design sensibility, if so, how? Not at all, in clothing there’s a huge spread on what is attractive and what is comfortable. It’s often an either or, that’s why there’s heels in my backpack and flats on my feet. I aspire to have more vintage in my wardrobe!
Who is your star crush? Liam Neeson or Gabriel Byrne. I also have a weird crush on Kate McKinnon which I can’t explain.
What is the thing you would never do on a project, but don’t detest when you see others do it? Beth Webb’s all white everything is something I admire. I don’t have the restraint to do it myself, but it pleases me immensely!
If there were a fire, and you could only keep one design book, what would it be? Alain de Botton's The Architecture of Happiness
A Few Favorites
Movie: Parenthood
Book: Captain Corelli’s Mandolin and A Fine Balance by R. Mistry. A new one is Calypso by David Sedaris.
Scent: Orange Blossom or Grapefruit
The fabric you always come back to: Anything by Rose Cummings, I am crying as I write this
Dream project: A cottage anywhere
Meal: Some form of pasta
Drink: Tequila on the rocks with a twist of grapefruit
Hotel: Playa Grande in the Dominican Republic
Travel Destination: Anywhere I’ve never been
Artist: I have to go back to my old high school favorites, Edward Hopper and Matisse
Thing to collect obsessively: Vintage metal flowers, weird and wonderful wickers, and primitive flower paintings
Era in the history of design: I love any era of Anglo fetishism of Asian influences, for example Brighton Pavilion
Museum: The Harvard Museum of Natural History, specifically their glass flower collection
Paint Color that always look great: Icy Moon Drops by Benjamin Moore
Favorite person to follow on Instagram: Jessica Yellin
Dogs, Cats, or No Pets? In NYC no pets, but if I lived elsewhere, all of the above
