Ground-floor apartment with a porch in a historic 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 or a boat or a nest or something, and is much loved.

The living room is dominated by a leather sofa and gas fire, a odd Jetsons thing that makes for cozy winter nights. The walls are hand-collaged in the style of Joe Orton’s bedsit in Islington. Further in there's a built-in nook furnished with a day-bed, perfect for snoozing when somebody else is hogging the sofa. The nook is overlooked by a hutch full of books, the typewriter, some speakers and loads of poetry. Further in there's more books and a farmhouse table which has traveled through four 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, backgammon and pasta makers, teapots, cocktail shakers and all.

The kitchen occupies the whole back wall; a wall-length salvaged sink, open shelves containing the stand-mixer, air-fryer, Instant Pot, donabe, food processor, Le Creusets, rice-maker, loads of pots and pans, supplemented by a bunch more hanging on meat-hooks 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 takes you into the bedroom, which is finished with oiled wood from a barn. There's a queen-size bed, more books, 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 services, or you can use our Criterion account. There's super-fast Wi-Fi throughout the house. The bedroom has its own door onto the back garden.

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. There's loads of towels.

As well as the gas fire, the house has high-efficiency heat pump heating (splits). There's a washer/dryer in the basement.

The house is on a quiet street in the pretty Rondout section of Kingston, with good on-street parking. We're close to the river, shops, restaurants. Winnie, my daughter, lives in the apartment upstairs with her partner Will and two cats (which don't come into the lower apartment). She works at Eliza, so you should definitely go there.

About This Lister

I live in Kingston but travel for half of the year, my kids live upstairs and down the street, and operate this building as a kind of family and community hub. Honestly, I'm honest and nice.