Inside Julia Brown’s Creative Weekend Retreat in Millbrook, New York

If you’ve ever dreamed of a house that’s equal parts creative playground and family retreat, Julia Brown’s Millbrook home might just be it. The moment you step onto the property, it’s clear this isn’t a weekend getaway that’s stuck in cookie-cutter charm, it’s alive with color, pattern, art, and the easy chaos of a family who knows how to have fun.

Julia, the confounder and creative director at Cara Cara, and her husband, spotted this house on their first trip searching for a Hudson Valley weekend escape. “It was the first one we looked at,” she says. The decorating was dated, sure, but the proportions were right, and the kitchen overlooking the pond? Pure magic. Nine years later, they’ve been chipping away at making it theirs, layering in artwork, textiles, and vintage pieces with the kind of patience that makes a house feel perfectly collected, not staged.

The porch is the undeniable crown jewel. Dubbed the “party porch” from day one, it’s anchored by a custom table from a local furniture maker and dotted with Moroccan rattan chairs Julia snagged from Creel & Gow. It’s a space built for friends, cocktails, dogs, and laughter, where weekends stretch long and effortless. A wrap-around couch, inspired by a chic bar room at the Dunmore Hotel on Harbour Island, invites lingering evenings and cozy conversations.

Inside, creativity pulses through every corner. Patterns and artwork reflect Julia’s designer eye, while travel treasures and vintage finds layer in personality and warmth. A last-minute pivot to a diamond-patterned painted floor added a playful, unexpected punch to one room, a decision she deems “transformative”.

But it’s the quiet moments that make the house feel most like home. Julia’s favorite spot is a porch corner where she can watch her two labs, Bridget and Basil, snooze in the sun. It’s a grounding ritual, a pause in the rhythm of weekend life that feels essential.

Weekends in the 4,000-square-foot home are a choreography of activity and leisure: yoga, breakfast with her son, equestrian adventures at the barn, and plenty of time for tennis, golf, or hiking with the dogs. Each routine feels effortless in a house designed to accommodate both family life and creative inspiration.

But Julia’s Millbrook home isn’t just a house, it’s a narrative. It’s green, relaxed, and endlessly layered. A home where the party porch is as essential as the kitchen table, where patterns clash beautifully, and where memories (like watching her son grow up) anchor the space in joy. It’s a place designed for layering in life, one weekend at a time.