Kips Bay Decorator Show House 2011
Alexia Rossetti Friday, April 29, 2011 at 9:00AM 
Kemble Interiors - LibraryIf you want to peek through an interior designer’s eye, the best place to go is to a designer show house. The Kips Bay Boys and Girls Club is hosting their annual fundraising Decorator Show House and it promises to be a visual treat for the senses. This year’s Show House is located in a neo-Federal mansion in New York’s Upper East side neighborhood. Its original owners included clothier, Maurice Brill, and John Hay Whitney, former US Ambassador to the United Kingdom and financial titan. Current owner Disque D. Deane - a real estate investor and philanthropist - has generously offered his home as the site of the 2011 Kips Bay Decorator Show House.
The mansion interiors boasts of deep golden Norfolk-pine paneled rooms in its original design. Designer Celerie Kemble envisioned for the library a lighter mood and updated it to more contemporary tastes (see photo above). Using a bright spring palette, she added bursts of color around the room. Above the fireplace is British painter Hugo Grenville's Still Life with Equestrian Figure, suffused with a sunny glow. The tête-a-tête seating is custom-upholstered in vivid pink and the surrounding armchairs and sofa in cream fabrics, creating an airiness of what would have been a somber library. Crowning the room is a stunning skyscape in verre eglomise by Miriam Ellner, made from gilded glass of gold leaf and blue tones.
