Celeste Barber is a fiery, fun force of nature; an internationally acclaimed comedian with her sell-out Backup Dancer tour; business beauty mogul with her booming brand Booie; actor and all-round Australian sweetheart.
She’s a naturally high-energy human. So it would follow that at home she would be a real entertainer – drawing a crowd to a house bursting with celebrity guests, curated playlists, colourful cocktails and some pretty high-grade table banter. “Absolutely not,” she deadpans. “I’m a real homebody.”
The bathroom is the real star of the show. Here, Celeste can film videos for her beauty brand Booie. On the shelf behind Celeste is a shot of her 2018 Tom Ford collaboration, when she famously locked lips with the designer. Photographer: Julie Adams. Stylist: Emily Gittany. Hair and makeup: Ashlea Penfold. Creative direction: Rebecca Rhodes. Production: Robyn Fay-Perkins.
The concept for the interiors for her new home was to create a space that was the diametric opposite of her life on the road in performance mode. “My home is my sanctuary because I work so much. I just love going home, locking down, closing up those curtains and not leaving.
Like, I rarely even have my girlfriends over and, while that is lovely, I’m not someone who ‘entertains’. I wish I had it in me – especially in this home. I’ve got big dreams of putting down a 20-seat table in the middle of the dining room … but that’s just not going to happen. I’m always on. I’m always out and doing things. So when I come home – especially to this home – I get really excited to just… do nothing.”
For this bought off-the-plan property on the Gold Coast, the light, the space and the modernist curves were perfect for Celeste. But the interior, a bright, white box, was overwhelmingly stark. “When I have layers and colours and things around me, as opposed to a wash of white, it weirdly calms my brain,” she explains.
Celeste’s rich, textured bedroom is better than any hotel. Her custom bedhead is by Dog Thumbs. The David Bromley artwork above the bed is from Fine Print Co. For a gentle glow, Dominee chose a Franca Studio 3-D printed pendant. Photographer: Julie Adams. Stylist: Emily Gittany. Hair and makeup: Ashlea Penfold. Creative direction: Rebecca Rhodes. Production: Robyn Fay-Perkins.
It had to be a comforting sanctuary, so she turned to her friend, interior designer Dominee Gessner, to bring the personality and warmth. They met at Jesinta and “Buddy” Franklin’s home – a project Dominee had both designed and built on the Gold Coast.
“When I first met Dom, I got her immediately as a hilarious human, but then I saw her style – all the personality and spunk and texture. She was able to take my personality and put it into the space,” says Celeste.
For Dominee, the key to delivering the right interiors for clients is getting to know them first. “I love going to see where clients currently live,” says Dominee. She assessed Celeste’s last place – taking in the blue walls, mustard couch, bright pink pendant lights – and she got it. “I was like, ‘Yes, we can do this, maybe just not so crazy, ’” she says with a smile.
Dominee always starts with colour first, and in working with Celeste she soon discovered, to both their surprise, that Celeste leans naturally towards autumnal colours. “She’s a real lover of depth and warm, rich comfort colours,” explains Dominee, who layered spaces in tones of deep green, with the King Living 1977 modular sofa, and also cinnamon, via the Noodle dining chairs from Fenton & Fenton.
In the elegant dining room, the full spectrum of Celeste’s colour palette is on display. Cinnamon chairs from Fenton & Fenton complement the custom dining table by Le Serve in Tasmanian oak, and a dramatic pendant by Smith & Smith hangs above. Sheer curtains from DIY Blinds diffuse the natural light. Photographer: Julie Adams. Stylist: Emily Gittany. Hair and makeup: Ashlea Penfold. Creative direction: Rebecca Rhodes. Production: Robyn Fay-Perkins.
“Celeste’s style is eclectic and artsy and she’s open to new things as well, which makes her the perfect client.” Art is always an important consideration in Dominee’s projects, and she was thrilled that Celeste had been collecting pieces that would work in the space. “
I have a beautiful big Jai Vasicek that he did for my 40th birthday,” says Celeste. “He came over one night when we hung it on the wall, and he pulled out paint and brushes and just started touching it up. It was beautiful. And we didn’t mean for it to be this way but it has ended up being the base of the whole palette – with all the maroons, the greens and the gold.”
The media room is dominated by an oversized custom couch by Harbro in rich navy corduroy, and an extraordinary
photographic print that captures Celeste mid-performance at her sold-out show at The London Palladium last year. “It’s one of my favourite places to perform and I knew the colours in that photo would just look so good,” says Celeste.
A large, custom-made Harbro sofa in navy corduroy is filled with colourful cushions from Pony Rider. The custom print, by Fine Print Co, captures a favourite moment onstage in London, during Celeste’s tour. Photographer: Julie Adams. Stylist: Emily Gittany. Hair and makeup: Ashlea Penfold.Creative direction: Rebecca Rhodes. Production: Robyn Fay-Perkins.
The home is awash with lots of natural light, streaming through enormous windows, so for ambient evening lighting, Dominee added some pendant lights with personality, including some 3D printed pendants in a powdery pink with pale pink cords.
“I need some mood lighting – it’s my ADHD,” says Celeste. “My bedroom is my favourite place in the world,” she adds.
They were going for an edgy hotel vibe inspired by two of Celeste’s favourites, Chateau Marmont in LA and Madame Reve Hotel in Paris.
“We made it all oversized and comfortable,” explains Dominee, who brought in a custom bedhead that spans the room – touching both walls – and a floating bed base. “It’s like the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in,” says Celeste. “It ruins hotels forever because nothing ever seems as nice as my room. When I’m in hotels, I’ll send Dom a photo and say, ‘My place is still better!’”
Even though she isn’t much of an entertainer, Celeste’s kitchen is still the heart of the home.
“You know what? I have two dishwashers! One for glasses and one is for everything else, and it’s the best freaking thing in the world! We have a little sneaky butler’s pantry off to the side and that’s like a wet dream for me,” says Celeste. “That’s where I do the smoothies for the boys every morning before school, and the sandwich press is in there too, so when you go out to the actual kitchen it looks super pretty because I throw everything into the butler’s.”
A large, comfy ‘1977’ sofa from King Living, coffee table by Ellison Studios and a super-soft rug from Miss Amara make for a cosy living area. Artwork by Jai Vasicek. Photographer: Julie Adams. Stylist: Emily Gittany. Hair and makeup: Ashlea Penfold. Creative direction: Rebecca Rhodes. Production: Robyn Fay-Perkins.
The marble selection for the island was Celeste’s opportunity to amp up the pink in the kitchen.
“I put in a request to get the pinkest possible part of the stone that I could. And then where it joins above the oven, it looks like a vulva, which I love to remind my teenage boys at breakfast,” she laughs.
The bathroom had only one real requirement: good lighting. “I’m 43 and we all need good lighting, but also, you know, to film Booie content,” says Celeste, who uses the bathroom for sampling and product trials. “I just needed that lighting to kill in there! It’s a bit of a research space – one very sexy lab.”
The bathroom connects to a walk-in robe, with gorgeous display cabinets and hooks for Celeste to hang and consider the day’s outfit options. “Yeah, that was a bit bougie,” admits Dominee.
Photographer: Julie Adams. Stylist: Emily Gittany. Hair and makeup: Ashlea Penfold. Creative direction: Rebecca Rhodes. Production: Robyn Fay-Perkins.
It’s a dream home. Calm, moody and rich with colour and texture, Celeste and Dominee have found a real rapport over the design process. “When Dom said, ‘Oh, I’ll have to come on Wednesday, I’ve got another client on Tuesday,’ I was like, ‘What the fuck do you mean you have another client?’” she says with fake outrage.
Their dream is to work together again on a project from the ground up. “And that excites me,” says Celeste. “I know what I like, and what I don’t like, but I don’t know how to bring it to fruition.
Dom is so good at that. I had no idea I even liked the colour brown until I met her.
By all accounts, I was very, very hard work around the colour brown, and now I’ve got brown all over the house. I actually bought a brown outfit yesterday and thought of you,” she admits to Dominee, who looks extremely pleased. Maybe brown is the perfect starting point for their next project.
1 Miss Amara rug. 2 Robert Gordon plate. 3 Play a Simple Melody print by David Bromley from FinePrintCo. 4 Life Interiors dining chair. 5 Elme Living bowl from Freedom. 6 ABI Interiors kitchen mixer. 7 floor tile. 8 Freedom 3-seater sofa. 9 Life Interiors side table. 10 Cultiver quilt cover and pillowcases. 11 L&M Home throw. 12 Merci Maison vase. 13 Temple & Webster coffee table.
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