Homes to Stay
Livingston Manor, New York
Another country gem in upstate New York: This Catskills barn house is a second home on the owner’s beautiful, sprawling 71-acre property in the tiny hamlet of Willowemoc. The interior is simple country living–wood-clad walls, quilts on beds, fiestaware in the curio–but with all this wooded, rolling land at your disposal and a heated saline pool at your doorstep, what the inside looks like feels pretty secondary. $1,500 a week (nights also available). Rent it at redcottageinc.com.
Every summer, our family heads to Maine for a quiet week on the coast. And we drive. From Detroit. I’m a big fan of road trips, but only when there’s enough time to do it right: take it slow, pack a picnic, choose rural route over freeway whenever possible, and stay overnight in a couple interesting spots along the way. We’ve got the leg there already cemented in tradition: This will be our fourth in a row year staying at Porches, which we love for its modern approach to the New England antique aesthetic, spacious rooms, amazing pool and proximity to MASS MoCA (across the street). We even have a favorite Indian restaurant in nearby Williamstown. The way back is a different story: We like to leave it wide-open for discovery. I’m still looking for the perfect spot in a place we’ve never been. In the few weeks before we leave, I’ll be sharing some of the best results of my search. For whatever reason–already booked, not super kid-friendly (read: no pool) or a little too far off course–these beauties aren’t going to work for us this year, but they’re all worth knowing about. For the first installment of the miniseries, check out this perfectly countrified Federal manor in the Hudson Valley. I came across the impeccably revamped rustic 1790s gem on Travels with Clara, but there’s a three-night-minimum snag. I think I’ll tuck it away for a trip when we have more time to enjoy it.
The Details
Three bedrooms; $400 a night (minimum three nights). Major chef’s kitchen, including Viking stove and all the tools of the trade. Rent it at Airbnb.com.
From the folks who brought The Surf Lodge to Montauk, King and Grove’s latest brainchild is open for business this summer. Ruschmeyer’s plays up the nostalgia factor with a summer camp theme that doesn’t feel too kitschy. The 19 rooms–with wicker-threaded headboards, curtains strung like sails, macrame hammock-like hanging chairs, fancy gold light fixtures and Frette linens!–read more like an upscale Ace Hotel than ’50s wooded lodge, and the restaurant trades in cafeteria/campfire fare for seasonal produce and seafood from the guys behind New York’s Fat Radish. And there’s that teepee on the front lawn. But don’t let all the aesthetic details distract you from what the camp experience is really about: bike riding, paddle boarding, swimming, ping pong, kite boarding, flying balsa-wood planes and bocce ball.
When the owners of the NYC-based multidisciplinary design studio Oddopolis, Tara Fray and her husband Ryan Rogers, bought a 1930s bungalow four years ago, they needed to summon up some of that creative vision for their own house project. They peeled off kitschy white aluminum siding to reveal the original wood clapboard and spent a year rehabbing–sanding floors, painting walls, gutting kitchen, carving out spacious master suite in the attic–for a peaceful weekend retreat an hour and a half from the city. To finish up the interiors, they hit up local yard sales and antique shops for for a look they call “Swedish industrial ruralist.”
Major bonus: It sits on 2 1/2 acres of perennial gardens, rolling grass and 100 year old tress, berry bushes, outbuildings (chicken coop) and a seasonal brook. But no matter how great the pull, they don’t quite make it up there every weekend with their two kids and busy schedules, so they decided to start renting it out when they’re not using it. Lucky us.
The Details
The three-bedroom, two-bath bungalow sleeps 5-7 people. And there are tons of kid-friendly extras: Hammock, swing, board games, telescope and plenty of toys. Seasonal prices start at $200 a night ($1,000/week). Rent it at vrbo.com.
In an industrial patch of Bushwick, in the midst of some warehouses covered with graffiti, stands one of the most ambitious, creative restaurants I’ve ever been to. The food is fantastic—pizza topped with seasonal produce grown out back and in rooftop gardens started with Alice Waters seed money. We ordered one with squash and chili peppers, another with crispy brussels sprouts and pancetta. They also have more interesting and unexpectedly fine-ish dining options for such a laid-back, unpretentious (and reasonably priced) spot: bone marrow, foie gras, oxtail orecchiette, and a grass-fed hunk of steak that everyone agreed was the most delicious piece of meat they’d ever tasted. But just as inspired is the sprawling, unconventional space Roberta’s inhabits. While there’s definitely a hipsterish anti-decor sentiment going on inside the restaurant—wood paneling and painted cinder block walls, mismatched chairs and granny light fixtures—that doesn’t mean the place hasn’t been designed. Thoughtful adaptations, using simple, crude materials, make sure that every nook and cranny is well used, particularly outside. The outdoor area is a labyrinth of growing containers, DIY-built bars, tool sheds, ad-hoc wooden benches, and their own radio station (made from shipping containers) with a glass viewing window and audience picnic tables. There’s even a makeshift cider tent set up on the patio during the chilly months.
And if the entire operation wasn’t impressive enough, they started sending out plates of food when they found out we were from Detroit. Kindred spirits?
The Cafe Gitane in Nolita is an institution for the fashion crowd (a friend assured me: “you’ll sit beside someone famous.”), but we chose the new location instead, tucked inside The Jane hotel, because it’s only a block from the High Line. The brunch was exceptional, and while I got a kick out of the baristas in matching striped shirts and caps and servers with identical outfits and updos, fluttering around the airy French-Moroccan-inspired space on tip-toe, I was most smitten with the restaurant and hotel interiors.
Originally built as a sailor’s hotel in 1908 (called the American Seaman’s Friend Society Sailors Home and Institute and also the place where survivor’s of the Titanic stayed until the end of the inquiry), the recently renovated Jane gets a bad rep for having small cabin-like rooms and shared loos (even though prices start at an unbeatable $99). But with a lobby and lounge as lavish, movie-set beautiful as this, who would hang out in the room anyway?
My Australian friend and travel companion called this Brooklyn walk-up “a bit daggy,” but the edge made us feel right at home in hipper-than-a-handlebar-moustache Williamsburg. The owners, who live upstairs with their two kids, rent out the ground-level floor of their charming three-flat for supplemental income. Outfitted in vintage furniture, mismatched china, wrought-iron beds, and cheery, patterned duvets, the space has a comfortable, lived-in vibe. Painted the prettiest shade of robin’s egg blue, walls curving up the grand staircase in the shared front entry are lined with paintings, and a Victorian-era loveseat is upholstered in a poppy, well-worn turquoise silk. In addition to the kitchen/dining and two bedrooms (one that also doubles as a living area), we had access to a magical outdoor patio and backyard, which could easily pass for a Waldorf playground with its twisted vines, trellises and garden fairies.
The Details
The price is $165 a night; the High Line is eight stops away on the L Line (a straight shot); and kids are welcome. Verbatim from their listing, “We LOVE kids!” Pack-and-play provided. Rent it at vrbo.com.
