Week in New York: Mackenzie-Childs

While I was in New York, my mom took me to visit the creative home of MacKenzie-Childs.  If you've never heard of MacKenzie-Childs, you're in the same boat that I was a couple of weeks ago.  They are a design company which creates ceramic and fabric everything ... using their eclectic mix of patented patterns.  They own a property in Aurora, NY, which used to be a Victorian dairy farm but currently houses the main design studio and gift shop.  They also offer a tour of the original Victorian house, which they have turned into a showpiece for many of their designer pieces.  The tour of the home was absolutely fascinating, but the products are ... kinda pricey ... like $250 for a teapot kind of pricey.  I'm convinced that the only way I would ever own anything designed by MacKenzie-Childs is, 1. If I made a million dollars a year, and 2. If I decorated an entire room or an entire house in that style.  The style is very cool, but very bold, so a single piece would look very out of place in my modest home.

 The house

The view of the lake from the front porch of the house

It's hard to tell from the picture, but this is a (can't think of the name ARGH!) kind of art where every element of the landscape is at different depths.  This is actually a table and it was absolutely breathtaking.

Dining room and sitting room, completely decorated in MacKenzie-Childs

They call the pattern on the walls "Courtly Check".  Every square was HANDPAINTED.

A very curious lamp in the giftshop

The bathroom in the gift shop

And yes, every single tile is hand painted: floor, counter top, wainscoting, you name it.

The grounds around the estate were absolutely gorgeous and very well tended.  We found a pond surrounded by weeping willows;

and a comprehensive vegetable garden, complete with peppers, tomatoes, basil, carrots, kale, mustard greens, beets, honeybees and a very friendly cat, to name a few.

One of the barns next to the garden. I wish my house was as nice-looking as this barn!

In short, beautiful place, expensive stuff ... nice place to visit and dream :)