This Seaside Victorian Is a Lesson in Layering Textures

A crisp white color scheme in a beach getaway is one thing, but when designer Celerie Kemble’s clients told her they wanted to live in their Hamptons house year-round, she knew it needed to shift in a seasonless direction. “The goal was to make things bright, textural, and warm but still hold up to beach house life with children and dogs,” Kemble says.

To give the minimalist interiors an eclectic spin, she and designer Kristen Blood put texture and color at the forefront. Woven and patterned wallpaper now cover the walls in nearly every room, and flatweave wall-to-wall carpeting and custom rugs, suitable for any weather, pad the floors. The inspiration for the rich color palette came from the family’s art, with its “cobalt, beet, olive, turmeric, and coffee,” Blood says.

Every surface in the house has a strong materiality, whether it is faux suede chairs, Madagascar grasscloth, tessellated shell, or Moroccan berbers…. There is just so much to feel.
—designer Celerie Kemble

ENTRYWAY

The “cavernous” area needed to feel cozier.

“Our objective was to create a space that felt as warm and inviting on a cold winter day as it did on a lazy summer afternoon,” Blood says. “We added warmth by wrapping the walls in a cocoa-stained Madagascar grasscloth and painting the trim Benjamin Moore Coffee Bean.” A pair of cozy armchairs invite guests to sit—or sit down their belongings.

LIVING ROOM

Everyone naturally flocks to this gathering spot.

This is the family’s go-to place to hang out during the day and after work. Plush outdoor fabrics ensure the upholstered furniture is kid- and beach-friendly, and the woven hassocks can serve as ottomans or extra seating when more people come over.

PARLOR

New seating made it a destination.

Compared with the living room, the front parlor felt more like a pass-through. Kemble and Blood fixed the flow—without making any structural changes—by adding a few strategic seating arrangements. “We rearranged the floor plan to create a larger seating group, added a puzzle table in the window with chairs tucked neatly under it, and relocated the bar cart to draw people into a larger space,” Blood says. “Using the same color palette and a continuous rug blurs the line of where each space begins and ends, creating the illusion of one larger room.”

PRIMARY SUITE

It needed to feel cocooning.

The parents asked for their room to feel like a refuge. “The gentle undulation of the catchweed wallpaper and soft colors create a breezy and calm atmosphere,” Blood says. The tailored pleat curtains are an element the firm loves to use in every project. Here, they’re rendered in a gauzy sheer fabric that accentuates the bay window.

GUEST ROOM

The wallpaper makes it feel much bigger.

Lots of consideration went into making this room comfortable. Kemble and Blood chose intricate paneling and chinoiserie wallpaper to highlight the angles of the walls and ceiling, which helps it feel cozy, not cramped. “Painting the trim and ceiling panels red and sticking to a very simple color palette made one of the smallest guest bedrooms in the house feel like a special, jewel box space in a well-appointed hotel,” Blood says. The homeowners added the finishes touches: carafes and bedside table books.

BATHROOM

Victorian-inspired details give it a period feel.

The guest bath was the only room that called for a gut renovation. It needed a more functional, modern layout. Still, Kemble and Blood were careful to sl finishes that work with the home’s architecture. “The penny round floor and suede crackle subway tile are in keeping with historic tiles that were popular during the Victorian period,” Blood says.

EXTERIOR

A modern Victorian that honors the past.

The 1880s Victorian is tucked into a hedge-lined yard in Southhampton, New York, planted with hydrangea bushes, wisteria, and climbing roses.