When the beloved Mayflower Inn & Spa in Connecticut’s Litchfield Hills wanted to freshen its look, interior designer maestra Celerie Kemble lavished it with her signature sunny-chic care. Her redesign evokes a stroll in a garden, albeit one filled with bold colors, richly patterned textiles and a slightly bohemian flair. Here are nine great ideas that are ripe for the picking.
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1. Add a Hint of Glint
Kemble used mirrors for their optical effects throughout the inn. Here, she overlaid lattice on mirrored panels to add a touch of sparkle and capped it all off with exuberant, larger-than-life papier-mâché flowers and bows from Casa Gusto.
2. More is More!
A mismatched collection of plates and bowls from France’s Alsace region found a new home in the Mayflower’s breakfast room. Kemble embraced their singularity, using different kinds of charming ribbon to hang each one.
3. Faux Flowers Offer Year-Round Joy
4. Embrace Transparency
To hide unattractive overhead lighting in the inn’s restaurant, Kemble painted the ceiling a cerulean blue and then installed a dropped ceiling with a pierced quatrefoil design that showcases the color and lets in the light, but masks the fixtures.
5. Don't Forget the Fifth Wall
In a hallway, Kemble covered the ceiling in a striking wallpaper that recalls the marbled endpapers of vintage books. “Paint only has one note,” Kemble says. “Wallpaper has many. I think of it as the decorator’s greatest tool.”
6. Bold Colors Make For Cozy Spaces
Kemble saturated the inn’s parlor in a marigold lifted from the chairs’ ikat fabric and used the aubergine accents as inspiration for the room’s trim.
7. Cast a Soft Glow with Decorative Lampshades
“Fabric lampshades are beautiful finishing elements, and at night they instantly create a mood,” Kemble says. “Plus, they’re friendlier than white shades.” For more fabric lampshades, click here.
8. Abstract Patterns Hide Wear and Tear
The custom carpet is a stunner but was also “built to take abuse,” Kemble says—a practical reality of decorating for an inn. Its multicolor mix of teal, persimmon, ochre and grey-blue hides stains and brings the “floral-and-sky palette of the lobby down to earth.”
9. Consider Variations on a Theme
Kemble spent nearly two years collecting floral tinsel paintings— a reverse-glass painting technique especially popular in the 19th century. The works she gathered range from museum-quality pieces to ones by amateurs found on eBay. Kemble describes them as “silly and pretty and bright.”
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To learn more from Kemble about her redesign of Mayflower Inn & Spa, click here.
