Celerie Kemble

Home design for NYC families

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  Tiled in kelly-green faux leather designed by Kemble for textile company Valtekz, the graffiti-proof walls of the siblings’ bedroom have stood the test of magic markers. Rascal and Zinnia occupy the bunks of a double-decker, Murphy-style bed by Resource.

  Photograph: Dan Hallmancelerie.1.again.jpg820011
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  Beneath a framed antique educational chart portraying the digestive system as a “human factory,” the kids snack on oranges sent up from Florida by their grandpa. The Otto table by Bloom also doubles as a spot for arts and crafts. Twin storage trays tucked inside stow their works-in-progress.

  Photograph: Dan Hallmanceleries.2.final.jpg820032
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  The kitchen’s clear glass cabinets serve as natural frames for Rascal and Zinnia’s artwork. Best of all, the motley gallery of paintings, drawings and collages doubles as a distraction from what lies behind them—dishes, glassware and more. Says Kemble, “It’s a great way to hide the clutter.”

  Photograph: Dan Hallman64.ft.celeriea03.jpg820053
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  Rascal and Zinnia take most of their meals in punchy, height-adjustable high chairs by Canadian company Age in a nook just off the kitchen. Cleverly covered in chalkboard paint, the space is currently scrawled with the poem “Behind the Zinnia” by Grace Paley, which Kemble just discovered.

  Photograph: Dan Hallman64.ft.celeriea04.jpg820074
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  Kemble had a 100 percent hand-me-down policy with five-month-old Wick. She received the Bloom Alma mini-crib from a friend whose baby had outgrown it. “Everything he has
  was originally owned by someone else—except for his John Robshaw baby blanket [pictured].”

  Photograph: Dan Hallman64.ft.celeriea05.jpg820095
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  Kemble’s sizable collection of framed decorative vintage party hats, amassed over the years on eBay, covers the walls along the apartment’s foyer.

  Photograph: Dan Hallman64.ft.celeriea06.jpg820116
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  Like much of the decor in the kids’ room, the painting with the words lettuce, beet and onion on it is an antique repurposed from Kemble’s former West Village bachelorette pad. “Boykin gave that to me while we were dating,” says Kemble.

  Photograph: Dan Hallman64.ft.celeriea08.jpg820137
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  Kemble sits with Rascal and Zinnia among the gorgeously layered textures of furniture and textiles in the family’s living room.

  Photograph: Dan Hallman64.ft.celeriea09.jpg820158
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  The annual crop of holiday card photos from family and friends lives on the inside of the door to the kitchen’s spice cabinet year-round as a reminder of loved ones.

  Photograph: Dan Hallman64.ft.celeriea10.jpg820179

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Tiled in kelly-green faux leather designed by Kemble for textile company Valtekz, the graffiti-proof walls of the siblings’ bedroom have stood the test of magic markers. Rascal and Zinnia occupy the bunks of a double-decker, Murphy-style bed by Resource.

Photograph: Dan Hallman

"Whatever they're spilling on, I've already spilled on it before," says Celerie Kemble, rolling with the inevitable punches of life with three kids under age five. Head of the New York office of Kemble Interiors (kembleinteriors.com), the celebrated Palm Beach design firm started by her mother in the '80s, the decorator, whose work has been featured in Elle Décor and The New York Times, shares a three-bedroom, midtown apartment with her husband, Boykin, and their children Rascal, 4½, Zinnia, 3, and five-month-old Wick.

An elegant patchwork of richly textured surfaces and furniture, witty artwork, decorative relics and the occasional Bumbo seat, the apartment toggles seamlessly between a pro aesthete's lair and a raceway for the kid's mini-scooters. "Teaching kids to respect nice things is a lesson more important than protecting the object." But just in case, Kemble's strategic use of endurance fabrics helps guard against stains and other mishaps.