“The aging of the original stone and wood is quite beautiful,” says MK Workshop’s Brooklyn-based cofounder Jonah Kilday. “The existing structures and finishes inspired everything that we did.” Partly owing to this patina, the spaces were cinematically moody. “We really leaned into all of that natural ambiance,” says MK Workshop’s other cofounder Petra McKenzie, who is based in Austin. As such, low-VOC paint revitalized some of the worse-for-wear wood paneling, but not necessarily to brightening effect. The living room of the main house, for example, was finished in a rich Sherwin-Williams shade called Raisin, which echoes the color of the original mahogany walls.
The designers appointed the original spaces primarily with vintage items, giving old objects new purpose. “It felt like designing in a different century,” McKenzie says. “About 80% of what we brought in was either vintage or custom made.” Sourcing from Texas-based artisans and vintage showrooms, plus the famous Round Top Antiques Fair, the designers filled an entire truckload before making one fell journey to New York rather than wastefully shipping individual items. They also mined for treasures closer to the estate at The Antique Warehouse in Hudson.
Old kilim blankets dress the beds across the cottages, while antique Oushak rugs add coziness underfoot. Evocative of far-flung journeys past, the patterned textiles are uniquely synergistic with the custom headboards covered in modern Lee Jofa stripes. The vintage furnishings throughout the cottages tend to have a quiet presence: classic or unassuming silhouettes that seem to retreat into hushed corners or cloak inside shadows. Like how a bentwood rocking chair, the designers’ favorite vintage score, sits incognito in a dark nook of the main house, or how the wall sconces in almost any of the spaces have the modest appearance of task lighting.
The decor’s biggest statement pieces, literally and figuratively, are either repurposed from salvage or reimagined family heirlooms. For instance, a nearly five-foot-tall scrap metal custom pendant by Austin-based Reworks Home looms in the entryway of the main house like some kind of cubist cloud, while an artful swathing of a simple linen drop cloth around an existing wood table in the formal dining room softens the keepsake’s sheer immensity. Also in that space, a fresh coat of Silver Satin by Benjamin Moore on the walls invites an infusion of natural light—a luminous deviation from the highly atmospheric estate, or as the homeowner calls it, “the most peaceful place in the world.”
