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At Hancock Shaker Village: A Twice-in-a-Lifetime Auction

By Scott Baldinger There are collectors in the world who, in retrospect, seem almost clairvoyant about what is of lasting value and may appreciate over the years, particularly in the decorative arts, a realm especially vulnerable to the whims of what's in or out at any moment in

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Stuff: The Deep Dish on Porcelain, Among Other Things

Interior designer Carey Maloney, also known to Rural Intelligence readers as The Wandering Eye, has the enviable gift of making his interests, be they erudite or off-the-wall, compelling and entertaining to others. In his first book, Stuff, recently published by Pointed Leaf Press, and lavishly illustrated, mostly with examples of

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Art et Industrie: Man, Meet Nature

Owner Jordan Schlanger and co-worker Caitlyn Schomaker on Jesse Reimer's "Mother-Daughter" bench Housatonic is a study in contrasts. In this Berkshire town, brick mill houses and graffitied trains long out of service nestle alongside a gushing river and hills flocked with trees. “It’s real country

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Diane Love & Robert Frye's Modern Mountaintop Farmhouse

It looks more like a house of self-restraint than self-indulgence, but Diane Love designed her pared down-country retreat in southern Columbia County to be her all-purpose personal haven. Blessed with self-awareness, Love knows that her happiness depends on her ability to be many different people at the same time—painter,

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Hillsdale Tour of 19th-Century Rural Houses

This Saturday, the Hillsdale Preservation Committee will sponsor a pedestrian-friendly tour of historic houses. Some of the houses on the tour originally had been home to farmers, others to farmworkers.  But, though all have grown and changed over the years, their 19th-century character has been retained and all, miraculously, still

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Florence de Dampierre's New Book on Walls that Talk

If they were less witty and exuberant, it might be tempting to describe the books written by Florence de Dampierre (her 5th, Walls: The Best of Decorative Treatments, has just been published by Rizzoli) as reference works.  Thorough and intelligent, rich in history and anecdote, they are rarities—"coffee

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Annie Kelly's "Litchfield Style"

Anyone who has ever driven through Litchfield County and been mesmerized by its magnificent 18th- and 19th-century houses (which is to say, anyone who can see), can now satisfy the longing to snoop around inside some of the best of them.  Litchfield Style, by the decorator Annie Kelly with photographs

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At Home with Interior Designer Matthew Patrick Smyth

Like the rooms he designs for his city and country clients, Matthew Patrick Smyth is  easy-going, tailored and unpretentious.  The interior designer, who divides his time between homes in Manhattan, Paris, and Sharon, CT, has built an enviable career by combining his good taste and sense of appropriateness with a

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Splendid Peasant Antiques: A Modern Approach to Folk Art

Kitty and Martin Jacobs understand if you're just as interested in their stunning contemporary house as their museum quality collection of antique folk art. After all, they built this house on a dirt road in Sheffield two years ago not only as their home but as a destination

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How We Live: A Cool Cottage Heats Up the Chatham Countryside

"I left New York City kicking and screaming," says the photographer Laura Resen (left).  "Now there's no way I would go back.  I don't want what it is; I miss what it was." The story of how a sophisticated, Manhattan born-and-bred artist,

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Urban Intelligence: Road Testing Hudson

From the city, to the country, then back to the city again; this seems to be a growing trend hereabouts.   People leave New York for greener pastures, then come to realize that they miss some of the simple pleasures of urban life—taking a morning stroll to get the paper

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The Dominick Dunne Estate Auction at Stair Galleries

Dominick Dunne the author of best-selling novels such as People Like Us and The Two Mrs. Grenvilles who became a household name as a television commentator during the O.J. Simpson trial— always liked being around famous people. He liked being famous himself, so he'd no doubt be

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