Jen and Micah O’Connor - Warwick, New York

2002 Jen and Micah O’Connor felt the call to head out of New York City, a place Jen had always called home, and move to Micah’s hometown in the Hudson Valley. Warwick, an idealic pre-Revolution town about an hour of north of New York City, just west of the mighty Hudson River, and in the foothills of the Catskill mountains seems like a community out of a story book. A bustling downtown, a thriving agriculture community, and an era rich with culture and history have long made Warwick a place for people ready to leave the city to plant roots, start a family, and to not feel like they’re too far from New York City. 

For Jen and Micah this truly was a family affair, over the years much of Jen’s family have also made their way up from the city and now live in or near Warwick. You’ll almost always see the O’Connors and their three children taking part in local parades, festivals, and homecoming celebrations. These former big city folks have eagerly jumped in to living a small town life. 

Jen an urban planner turned art dealer, writer, and business consultant has raised three children while running a business from the dining room table for the past two decades in a house that started as a cookie cutter suburban 1990s build and has transformed it into a home that is filled with an extensive collection of female made art and folk art, and collections of antiques and relics that would easily be enough to fill a museum. The property, much like the Lanne’s home two hours north, has cabinets, shelves, and rooms filled with the most fascinating of curations. 

Many of the most fascinating art pieces in the house have been created by friends of the O’Connors. Jen has made it a subtle point to only have original works throughout her house. She often jokes that her walls are a constantly rotating gallery of her Earth Angels Studios art inventory. Each piece comes with it a story of who created the work and how their paths intertwine with the owners of this house. 

Jen’s mother, Rosie, was a well-known antique dealer in New York City, often revered as a source for Americana, a reputation she passed on to her daughter over the years. O’Connor also inherited a skill of collecting en mass. Never afraid of investing in things she finds unique and worth sharing the house often times feels like a primer in various eras of collecting. Throughout the house you’ll find torque pottery or glass cake stands, or transfer ware tucked into corners, beneath the cupboards, and most likely under the beds.