For Kate Schelter's Manhattan apartment is a showcase for her painterly talents and creative vision.

For Kate Schelter's Manhattan apartment is a showcase for her painterly talents and creative vision.

gimme

ART “Wayfarers” original watercolor $1,200 kateschelter.com ART “Gold Iridium Aviators” original watercolor $1,200 kateschelter.com ART “Washington Square in Winter” oil painting by Guy Wiggins ART “Untitled” original watercolor, edithvonnegut.com FABRIC (settee) Tella 22 in pink, fabricut.com

Artistic Influence On a recent afternoon, Kate Schelter walked into her loft in New York’s Chelsea neighborhood and looked up at her ceiling. Not happy with the way a large air duct jutted out above the foyer, she was suddenly struck with inspiration. “I realized that if I painted a circus tent border a few feet below the ceiling, it would draw your eye away from the duct,” she says. In no time, she was up on a ladder, freehand-painting an Italianate scalloped edge in a cheery shade of green. Such plunging into projects has informed every step of Schelter’s multifaceted career—she’s worked as a street-style photographer, fashion stylist, brand consultant and designer for David Netto, Bonpoint, House of Lavande, Vogue, and Sleepy Jones. But these days, Schelter is best known for her evocative watercolor paintings, which capture glimpses of a stylish life— think handbags, shoes, vintage cars, and sidewalk cafés. Last year, she had her first solo exhibition, curated by John Derian, and began the first of a series of graphic wall murals for her friend Jeff Klein’s landmark new hotel project, San Vicente Bungalows, in Los Angeles.

“We didn’t start out with a specific vision for what we wanted to create,” says Schelter, here with her husband and their daughter, Charlotte. “But we knew it had to be casual and child-friendly.” Serape Wool Dhurrie Juice

The antique painted secretary desk is a family heirloom from Schelter’s mother.

Schelter always paints her watercolors from life. “The nature of watercolors is that you have to work quickly, before the colors dry. It suits my style perfectly.”

Living Canvas Schelter’s improvisational aesthetic informs every corner of the family’s loft, where she and her husband, Chris Schumacher, are raising their two-year-old daughter, Charlotte. Though there’s a unifying color palette (shades of pink, which Schelter uses like a neutral), the overall atmosphere is one of freewheeling ease. A speckled black-and-white sofa shares space with a bold red-and-white-striped armchair; a vintage Scandinavian scrubbed-pine dining table is paired with a bench with peeling white paint; and the walls display an ever-changing gallery of prints, paintings, and photographs. “We treat the walls like a fridge with magnets,” she says with a laugh. “We move things around like it’s a sport.”

Original article and pictures take domino.com site