Unique Home in the Rondout, Kingston

Description

Eccentric ground-floor apartment with a porch and garden in a 1909 brick house on a quiet street in the Rondout section of Kingston. Uniquely decorated and furnished: fully equipped kitchen, fire, enormous sofa, fainting nook, bedroom with projector for movies on the wall; it's our home when we're in the US. We move out, you move in. Like a play. Very much not your standard 3-spoon 2 plate Airbnb rental. It's a home, or a boat or a nest or something, and is much loved. Come in from the street, up the porch steps, the private entrance into our apartment. Our friends live in the other apartment upstairs. The living room is dominated by a huge leather sofa in front of a gas fire that makes for cozy winter nights. The walls are hand-collaged, inspired by Joe Orton and Kenneth Halliwell's bedsit in Islington but without the blood and brains. Further in there's a built-in nook furnished with a day-bed and scads of pillows, The nook is overlooked by a hutch full of books, records, the record player, the typewriter, some speakers and loads of poetry in slim volumes. Further in, there's more books and a farmhouse table which has traveled with us through three homes and has the names of friends carved into it. Against the wall are haberdasher's shelves and drawers containing all the cups, saucers, plates, bowls and stuff you could possibly need, along with cards and glasses, pasta makers, teapots, cocktail shakers and all. The kitchen occupies the whole back wall; a nine-foot salvaged steel sink, open shelves containing the Vitamix, stand-mixer, Italian ice-cream maker, food processor, Le Creusets, rice-maker, donabe, loads of pots and pans which are supplemented by a bunch more hanging on a meat-hook in the corner. The stove is a 22 year old Viking and there's a bunch more shelves full of groceries, oils, herbs, spices, supplies. Also tea, coffee and all the essentials. There's a dishwasher and pseudo-vintage fridge. An old door from a gun shop in Saratoga takes you into the bedroom, which (like the kitchen) is finished with oiled wood from our friend Frank's barn. There's a queen-size bed with Muji bedding, and a mounted projector and sound-bar which, at the touch of a couple of buttons, turns the bedroom into a louche, horizontal cinema. The Apple TV allows you to play stuff from any of your streaming accounts, or you can just use our Criterion Collection which is teeming with great films. But honestly, you'll probably fall alseep. There's super-fast Wi-Fi throughout the house. The bedroom has its own door onto the back garden, which operates as a kind of salon. Another door takes you into the bathroom which has a claw-foot tub (which doubles as a shower) a sink, mirror and lights from an old nunnery. The toilet squirts, which is a wonderful thing. There's loads of towels. As well as the gas fire, the house has high-efficiency heat pumps for winter and air-conditioning for summer. There's a washer/dryer in the basement. The porch and garden are shared with our upstairs friends, but don't worry, everybody's nice and it's rarely occupied. People who pass by love to chat. Dog-walking is a thing. There's loads of parking and plenty to do nearby if you feel the urge. Shops and restaurants, the river is really close, the walk through the cemetery uptown, the beach at Kingston Point Park, rail trails, kayak rentals, farmer's markets. Great biking too. But the best thing to do, honestly, is just hang out here. At night wails from the freight trains crossing the old trestle upstream echo down the valley. A pet is fine as long as it's not a brontosaurus or something. A quick note; despite upstairs being its own thing, the house dates from 1909 and has 19th century infrastructure and sound insulation. As neighbours, we're respectful of each others' peace and quiet. So if loud music, parties, gymnastics or boisterousness is your cup of tea, it might not be the right place.