House Tour: A Relaxed, Colorful Manhattan Townhouse

When Katie Ridder first met her clients at their townhouse on Manhattan's Upper East Side, the interior designer was greeted at the door by a bloodhound, a black Labrador retriever, and a Labra doodle. Beyond the foyer, two Maine coon cats and a tabby lazed about while a pet rabbit padded around the kitchen. "We bonded over animals," says Ridder, who that morning had witnessed a robin abandoning the eggs in its nest. "The wife talked about how pets need to be able to roam freely in a house, that no sofa was too precious." The library of a Manhattan home decorated by Katie Ridder. The sofa and club chair, both by Anthony Lawrence-Belfair, are covered in Holland & Sherry wools, the side table in the corner is one of a pair from Niall Smith Antiques, the camel side table is from John Rosselli Antiques, and the curtains are in a Quadrille fabric; the walls are painted in C2Paint Luxe in Bewilder.

It's the couple's small menagerie of pets, though, that really brings out their relaxed approach to risk. No piece of furniture is off-limits: not the powder-blue boiled-wool sofa or the grass-green quilted-cotton settee in the living room; not the white sofa in the library; not even the teal mohair chaise longue in the master bedroom. The bloodhound's preferred lounging spot happens to be the custom banquette in the dining room. Ridder, who is known for her love and liberal use of craftsmen and artisans, commissioned trapunto embroidery on the orange leather that the beloved dog chewed a hole through only a week after it was installed. "The client just had us patch it up, because she is sure it will happen again," says Ridder. In the master bedroom, the custom bed is upholstered in a Fortuny fabric and dressed with linens by Leontine Linens, and the chaise by Anthony Lawrence-Belfair is upholstered in a Rogers & Goffigon mohair; the walls are covered in a de Gournay silk, the curtains are in a Holland & Sherry wool, and the shades are in a fabric by Chelsea Editions.

Most designers would insist on re-covering the piece entirely, but Ridder isn't interested in perfection. "It's just so charming when you walk into the house, because it's filled with life. It doesn't feel like a museum," she says. Not that she isn't nuts for impeccable details. Triple-weave stitching, decorative nailheads, embroidered curtain trims, silvered ceilings—all the hallmarks of the designer's work show up throughout the house. Her affinity for combining chinoiserie, Moghul-style flowers, and Provençal accents surfaces subtly, giving the rooms a whiff of exoticism without courting cliché. Indeed, no two Katie Ridder homes are alike. "I've now been in three others that she's done, and I don't feel like mine is at all like any of them," the wife says. "What she completely got was that we have loads of guests, and of course, there are all the animals. I can't wait to do it again." In the meantime, designer and client are tweaking a few things. "We're rethinking that white sofa in the library," Ridder says, laughing. The bed, canopy, and curtains in the daughter's room are in a fabric by Muriel Brandolini, which also sheathes the walls; the lamp is by Christopher Spitzmiller.