For nearly 20 years, designer Celerie Kemble has brought beauty, wit, and effortless charm to interiors across the country. Alongside her mother and Palm Beach-based partner in Kemble Interiors, Mimi Maddock McMakin, she has also been widely featured in top interiors publications.
Now you can shop a gorgeous array of Celerie’s designs for both indoors and outdoors, produced with top manufacturers including Arteriors, Lane Venture, and Schumacher, on One Kings Lane—including exclusive bedding and outdoor furnishings you’ll find only here. Each piece reflects Celerie’s signature flair, steeped in the sunny sophistication of her Florida hometown.
To mark this exciting debut, we chatted with the in-demand designer about the inspirations behind her collections, her ideal Palm Beach day, and her tricks for easy outdoor entertaining.
In hues of celadon, lemon yellow, and sky blue, outdoor furnishings from designer Celerie Kemble will turn your backyard, porch, or patio into a Palm Beach-style oasis.
The Kit Chaise in celadon makes a perfectly stylish (and perfectly comfy) poolside perch.
What makes your outdoor collection for One Kings Lane special?
“The collection consists of outdoor furniture and pillows and comes from the mix in my head of Caribbean breezes, Palm Beach punch, and New England classics. The colors remind me of sun-faded bathing suits and vibrant gardens. This collection is comfortable, colorful, and fun. In time for summer, these are fresh, ripe garnishes for a sunny day.”
What inspired the color palette?
“For these collections, I found inspiration in the nostalgia of a childhood spent mostly outdoors. The color palette shows the range of the Florida sky as it shifts from a brilliant midday blue to splendorous evening colors. While I am not the tree-climber and free-range child that I once was, now the outdoors are about rest and appreciation. You can find me on my towel or in my hammock as I keep an eye on my own children playing outside.”
What do you love most about Palm Beach?
“Aesthetically, Palm Beach is a bounty of inspiration. It is a town of travelers, collectors, and the design indulgent. The homes and gardens are a showplace of style. What I love the most is that I still live in the home I grew up in, which was a structure my great-grandparents built, originally as a church.”
How does classic Palm Beach style come through in these designs?
“The collection was intended to draw you outdoors. The cast-bamboo fretwork is plucked from classic island Chippendale motifs. The tassels on the outdoor pillows and other whimsical details evoke the playful but elegant Palm Beach.”
The Kit Sofa, Kit Lounge Chair, and Kit Round Pouf, all by Celerie Kemble for One Kings Lane, make up a chic and inviting outdoor seating area. The cheery lemon print is a dose of pure Palm Beach sunshine.
What’s the most important element to consider when designing an outdoor living space?
“The fact that you’re out in the proverbial elements is arguably the most important element to consider. The variables of sun, wind, and rain are essential to consider when you’re decorating outdoors. I also approach decorating outdoor spaces just as I do interiors—I set out to combine pragmatism with beauty. I want to know how my clients will use their space: Are they sunbathers, or are they wrinkle-phobic people who want to sit in the shade? It is a game of shielding the sun, managing water runoff and drips, and ensuring durability.”
Any go-to tips for outdoor entertaining?
“There can never be too many candles outside, and these days I’ve been enjoying the ease of good battery-operated ones sprinkled around in hurricanes. Also, don’t make the mistake of setting the table too early, because it’s never pleasant to arrive and find leaves have fallen from overhead onto your plates and into the water glasses. I recommend serving the food indoors and having the guests make their way outside with their plates piled high. I also collect trays to help with the float from the kitchen to the back-garden table.”
What does a perfect Palm Beach day look like to you?
“I would hope to see the town from my bike at some point, then I would fit in a game of tennis with my children or maybe some savage mixed doubles. To end this perfect day, I would go for a walk with my mom on the bike path that winds along the Intracoastal as the Florida sunset does its most audacious tricks.”
A pair of Kit Outdoor Bolster Pillows top two Kit Chaises in celadon.
The Kit Lounge Chair (here in white) boasts a striking fretwork frame. We love it topped with the tasseled Liz Outdoor Pillow.
Aesthetically, Palm Beach is a bounty of inspiration. It is a town of travelers, collectors, and the design indulgent. The homes and gardens are a showplace of style.
What’s your secret to balancing sophisticated style with a laid-back vibe?
“I think bringing in natural materials like rattan or sisal both elevates a room and makes it feel laid-back at the same time. I also love vintage pieces because they are unique and are usually inexpensive or imperfect in some way from the very start, so you don’t feel too precious about them.”
How do you approach layering pattern?
“Layering patterns is all about varying the scale of the prints and geometrics with organic forms, and catching some colors—but not all!—as you flow between the elements. The goal is coherency, not matching.”
Atop two Kit Outdoor Box Pillows rest an array of outdoor throw pillows (Maddie, Milly, Liz , and Kit) from Celerie’s collection for One Kings Lane.
The collection was intended to draw you outdoors. From the tassels on the outdoor pillows to the wavy skirt on the rattan furniture, the whimsical details evoke the playful but elegant Palm Beach.
A bedroom dressed in designs by Celerie Kemble, including the exclusive April Duvet and Sheet Set and a pair of woven Parasol Table Lamps. Above the bed, Farmers Market Flowers III and Farmers Market Flowers I help bring the outdoors in.
What’s essential for a beautifully made bed?
“A beautifully made bed needs pillows that are epically downy and perfectly soft. A bed that looks inviting but has rigid or crinkly pillows and duvets is the cruelest lie. I’m a big believer in long-staple Egyptian cotton for the sleek, soft sheets. I also love to use a triptych of large pillow shams to make an imperfectly made bed look tidy when lined up.”
What do you love about floral artwork and botanical motifs?
“There is an instant mood lift when I see flowers, even if they are two-dimensional. I love that floral and botanical prints in art and decor pull colors in from the outside and incorporate fluid and organic shapes into a room. Bonus: They aren’t going to wilt.”
What excites you most about designing a new collection?
“I am excited about the idea of seeing how other people will take something that delighted me and I found beautiful in a particular way but use it so differently that I feel only the faintest sense of déjà vu when I see it.”
Designer Celerie Kemble photographed by Stephen Karlisch.
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