We’ve been following artist/designer/entrepreneur Kai Avent-deLeon’s strikes since 2019. Again then, we photographed her one-bedroom railroad residence in Mattress-Stuy, Brooklyn. A 12 months later, we reconnected when she moved into a bigger duplex in the identical neighborhood, and we shot it for our latest ebook Remodelista: The Low-Influence House. Not lengthy after that, she discovered a weekend residence removed from the town, in Sullivan County, New York—and at present, we’re sharing it with you.
Kai’s roots in Mattress-Stuy run deep (she was born there and each her grandmother and mom dwell within the neighborhood), however she longed for land to name her personal and extra space—each literal and metaphorical—for her and her now four-year-old son to roam freely. She discovered it upstate when she stumbled upon a property (3 acres of largely woods) on which stood a run-down Sixties cell residence. It was good.
Kai rapidly drew up a plan—double the scale of the unique 700-foot construction; concrete flooring; a easy, fundamental kitchen made up of workbench-style items; numerous pottery and baskets; a smattering of antiques; impactful furnishings; and quiet moments of magnificence in all places—and employed a contractor to actual her imaginative and prescient. Quickly sufficient, she was making weekend journeys to the bucolic property, feeling the strain of metropolis residing ease with each mile. “After I’m right here, I’m at peace,” she says. “My day by day routine is way more structured, however not in the best way you assume. I can get up and meditate and work out. And I do stuff round the home. I really feel far more relaxed right here versus within the metropolis, the place I’m making an attempt to get these issues in however am in additional response mode.”
She’s grateful for the open house and what that may do for one’s sense of wellbeing—a lot in order that she needs to share it with others. “This property feels supposed to be greater than only a weekend residence. I’ve all these buddies who work in numerous practices that connect with wellness. We simply got here collectively and begin doing these retreats—three final summer season, every with a theme,” explains Kai (like “Sensuality and Sensitivity: Connecting to Your Senses By means of the 4 Components”).
“It began final 12 months after I was going via some private transitions. I discover that a part of my therapeutic comes from [being] surrounded by ladies going via comparable transitions.” Right this moment, as we converse by telephone, she’s making ready for one more retreat right here, this time for a gaggle of 9-year-old ladies from her son’s faculty in Brooklyn. The theme: Rites of Passage, becoming for a property purchased with the categorical function of private development and exploration.
Beneath, Kai walks us via her particular place. (Observe her on Instagram @kaiaventdeleon for information of future retreats.)
Images by Caroline Tompkins.
