Your guide to the heart of Litchfield County:
Discover local stories, hidden gems, and must-know events.

 For Eliza Clark and her husband, Tim Trojian, hospitality is a family affair. Together the couple own and operate Lost Fox Inn in Litchfield and Foxfire Mountain House in the Catskills. In 2019, they wrote a design and recipe book called Foxfire Living with their daughter Arden Wray, a photographer and stylist. 

“That was our first real project as a family,” Clark recalls. “Once the book came out, people started asking us if we would consider helping them with their own homes.” That’s when the mother-daughter team launched their design business, Byrd Studio, in Kingston. 

In 2022, Foxfire was featured on the television series Bespoke Homes, and their house on the Chesapeake Bay was featured on In with the Old in 2023. These days, Wray runs the design studio and her husband, Matt Cully, oversees operations at Foxfire. 

“Everyone is involved,” says Clark. “Even Lila, my baby granddaughter, has been to every photo shoot since she was born.”

With their respective backgrounds in design (Clark spent much of her career as a television producer and writer) and food (Trojian was the executive chef at a luxury hotel in the U.S.) the transition to innkeeping unfolded organically. 

“We wanted to find a way to spend more time together,” she says. First came Foxfire Mountain House in 2016, then Lost Fox in August 2024.

They were drawn to the Litchfield area because of its beauty and friendly atmosphere. They were drawn to the former Tollgate Hill Inn in part because of its location just outside of town. “Our guests can have both a town and country experience. You can be in town in no time, and also secluded in this enclave that feels like a little village in the country,” says Clark.

The couple spent two years renovating the property. Set on ten acres, the three-building compound consists of the main house with ten guestrooms—four of which have stone fireplaces; a former 1800s schoolhouse with a huge king suite; and the tavern, which dates to 1745 and has three dining rooms on the main floor, each with its own original fireplace. The second floor is a large dining room with velvet banquettes, massive chandeliers, and a huge stone fireplace; there is a cozy library, and a private dining room that has a secret door that leads to a king suite. Chef CJ Barroso’s seasonally based cuisine is a huge draw. Think New England classics with a contemporary twist. On Mondays, locals and visitors gravitate to the tavern’s Pub Night, with hearty pub fare and British beer.

The goal for the interiors was to keep the historic charm while “making it really luxe,” says Clark. She incorporated Roman clay walls, brick flooring, vintage artwork, Turkish rugs, marble bathrooms, and antique tin sconces. The grounds are equally beautiful, from the outdoor patio to the walled rose garden. 

“From the very start, the renovations on the property were done with weddings and events in mind,” says Clark, pointing to the year-round tent pad and the gorgeous dressing areas—in the schoolhouse and tavern—for each partner on their wedding day.

As for the inn itself? The work continues, including turning the basement of the main house into a jazz cellar. 

“We are still layering things in, so that takes time just as it would in someone’s home,” says Clark. “The joy of a boutique inn is that it feels like home. We are trying to keep the history of the place, and make it warm and inviting and have modern amenities that people expect.” Room rates from $220. 

—Lostfoxinn.com

By Jamie Marshall

Photographs by Arden Wray

By Troy McMullen
Photos by Jenn Marticello

Woodbury landscape designer Anna Haines remembers the warm compliments she received from friends, neighbors, and assorted strangers who toured her home during last year’s Woodbury Holiday House Tour. But she says one comment left a lasting impression. 

“They said, ‘If I die and go to heaven, I want it to be here, in your house,” Haines recalls, referring to the Yuletide decor she installed inside the saltbox Colonial she shares with her husband and two children. “In a strange way, it was probably the best compliment you could ever receive.” 

This Christmas, amid the magic of the season, Haines is again employing her talent for holiday decor. Though she won’t be showcasing her home in any tours, she’s busy helping clients decorate their homes for the season.

From tree designs and tablescapes to garland installations and wreaths, the Connecticut native uses her deft handling of material, color, and texture in helping homeowners express their own distinctive style for the holidays.

“I want to make the whole house feel festive and welcoming,” says Haines, who has lived in Litchfield County for 17 years. “But I also like to push the envelope by not always using traditional colors and themes.” 

A landscape designer for two decades—primarily tending the gardens of large estates—she has spent nearly as much time decorating homes for the holidays. She’s also expanding the boundaries of traditional holiday decor by avoiding the over-the-top approach to Christmas decorating. Instead, she introduces more minimalist interior design schemes that find harmony in understated colors, organic textures, and strong, simple forms. 

Nature also plays a role in her work, with designs that incorporate elements of the great outdoors; tree branches, wild berries, and acorns adorn many of her interiors. Dried hydrangeas with spray-painted tips give homes a colorful, festive feel. 

“It’s important to include some surprises so nothing ever feels too conventional,” she says. 

Haines and her husband, Kyle, both grew up in Connecticut and moved back to the state after college. The couple eventually settled in Woodbury, a picturesque town at the southern edge of the Litchfield Hills that they both fell in love with. 

They purchased their current house 12 years ago, and set about handling the renovations themselves. Reconfiguring the downstairs, adding kitchen cabinetry and outdoor decks, and building some of the home’s furnishings—including a massive, single-board dining table designed by Haines that her husband handcrafted from an oak tree that fell on the property. 

“Doing it ourselves has always been a sort of mantra for us,” Haines says. “We’re very much a DIY family, and like to collaborate.”

That collaborative spirit also extends to the couple’s daughters, Fiona, 11, and Emeline, 8, who join their mom each Christmas season on her holiday decorating projects. “I love that they like getting involved,” Haines says. “It’s so important to get the kids involved, but it’s more rewarding for me and Kyle to know they really enjoy the whole experience just as much as we do.” 

Mieke Ten Have Highlights Dreamy Interiors in Her New Book

By Jamie Marshall

Mieke ten Have and her husband, Tyler Graham (the founder of King’s Highway Cider), were on the hunt for a weekend house when they stumbled upon an 18th-century Dutch barn in Millerton. It was love at first sight for the former Brooklynites. “We bought it in foreclosure,” she says. “I didn’t know much about it but I was so captivated by it.”

It had been converted into a house in the 1980s but needed a lot of work. They spent a year renovating the property. In the process they created the kind of home you’d expect to see in a glossy shelter magazine—which is not surprising considering ten Have is one of the country’s top photo stylists. She travels the world creating swoon-worthy interiors for upscale magazines and brand campaigns.

Every room is filled with objects and textiles and collections: silks and velvets and antique quilts, books and ceramics and art, and branches that spread out exuberantly. The effect is mesmerizing and seductive, whimsical and fun. “I don’t like things to be too pretty,” she says.

Ten Have recently published her first book: Interiors Styled by Mieke ten Have, which serves as a master class in her theories of design. The first part examines her four guiding principles through a retrospective of images she’s styled. The second part examines those principles over the course of a year at her house. The project was the next logical step in her storied career. “I am a stylist and an editor and I Iike creating things and telling stories visually,” she says.  

A veteran of the magazine world, ten Have worked for Elle Decor and Vogue. “Being an editor was super formative and super helpful in understanding the design landscape from both a trends and a business point of view,” she says.

It also gave her the opportunity to travel the world, covering homes in places like Greece and Mexico and California. And, yes, many were owned by celebrities. She learned the tricks of the trade, like foraging for flowers and shopping at local produce markets. In 2017, ten Have left Elle Decor after a change of leadership. She was seven months pregnant. “My husband said this is the best thing that’s going to happen for you. He was right.”

She says her flair for her work is innate. “It comes down to curiosity and a fascination with history. I think the decorative arts are a good reflection of what was happening in a place and a time.”

Among the many fabulous homes she’s styled over the years, three are particularly close to her heart. Blair House in Washington, D.C., which was recently redone by California decorator Mark Sikes; a former monastery in the South of France; and an estancia in Uruguay. “All three thread the needle of history, personality and authenticity, and being more aligned to a specific place,” she says. “Being in an interior that reflects where you are is interesting to me. A house, to be successful, needs to reflect where it is in the world.”

In Sharon, designer Jason VanWarren brings modern style to country living with Ellsworth Home.

By Jamie Marshall
Photographs by John Gruen

Jason VanWarren was a junior in high school when he walked into the grand opening of Linda Banks’s design shop, Simply Home, in Falmouth, Maine. Banks had recently decamped from Darien to the picturesque coastal village after a successful career.

“It was like nothing I’d ever seen before,” he recalls about her classic Connecticut/New England vibe.

Jason went home and sent Banks an email asking her for a job. “I told her I wanted to be in design, to do what she does.”

Banks hired him to help out in the showroom, and then started bringing him to work sites so he could see the design process from start to finish.

“I was lucky to have her for a mentor,” Jason says. “I learned how a business runs, not just making things beautiful but the behind-the-scenes stuff that makes home transformation work. It cemented that this was what I was going to do.”

Achieving the vision Banks inspired was years in the making. His journey involved many twists and turns before he ended up in Sharon, where he launched his own design business, Ellsworth Home.

Jason earned his interior design degree at Endicott College, and spent several years working for an old-school firm in Boston. “We took top-to-bottom renovations to the next level,” he says. He went on to get a master’s degree at the Florence Design Academy, oversaw three renovations for his family—each at a different stage in their lives—and worked for several high-end New York City firms, including Jacques Grange and Rees Roberts + Partners, where he was a partner for three years. “You can still see their influence in my work,” he says.

In 2012, Jason met his now husband, Keith VanWarren. They were on their second date and Keith asked him to swing by his Upper West Side apartment and look at a renovation plan. Jason was not impressed. “He said, ‘I wouldn’t do any part of this plan.’ I gulped and said, help me understand why,” Keith recalls.

Although he’d only seen the place for a few minutes, Jason told Keith exactly what he would do with the space.

“I said, can I hire you?”

That was the couple’s first but by no means last project together. They moved in together soon after. After two years they needed more space, and Jason—a country boy at heart—needed less city.

They looked at all the usual spots before following several friends to Salisbury. “It felt like a strangely familiar small town,” he says. They found a house to buy in Lakeville. “Think Grey Gardens but without the raccoon situation,” says Jason. It took almost three years to transform the property, which they eventually sold in June 2020. 

For Jason, the move to Connecticut sparked an opportunity to shake things up. In 2021 he launched his own firm, Ellsworth Home, which specializes in all aspects of the design process, from architecture to interiors. It is a chance to do what he loves best: to design for the way someone lives, so it becomes more than a house; it becomes part of their life.

The couple recently completed their fifth renovation here: a classic white Colonial on a little-traveled farm road. In theory, the 2001 build seemed an unlikely candidate for Jason’s discerning eye. But he could see the potential, with some fine tuning and architectural corrections. “If the architecture is wrong it doesn’t matter how nice the furniture is,” he says.

As for what’s next for the self-proclaimed serial movers and renovators? “I think we’ll stay,” says Jason. “We are really happy here.”

A 1907 Caretaker’s Cottage Is Transformed into an Elegant Family Home
By Jamie Marshall
Photos by Kate S. Jordan

Carol Neiley had been house hunting for seven years when she discovered the small caretaker’s cottage on the former William F. Buckley estate in Sharon. The long-abandoned house was in tough shape. But she wasn’t focused on the flaws. “I didn’t buy it for the house,” she says. “I bought it for the view. It has the most beautiful setting, almost like an Olmsted garden.”  

That was in 2019, around the time she launched her Sharon-based boutique design firm, Maison Collab, with business partner Pamela Duncan Silver. “We’ve been best friends since we were 18,” says Neiley. “We finish each other’s sentences like an old married couple.” Having both owned and renovated houses in France, they knew they shared the same design aesthetic—which was ideally suited to their new project.

First, they addressed key structural issues. “We did a lot of reinforcement to make sure the house was really sound and a lot more square,” Neiley says.

They added a mudroom, and an office above it, removed a shed roof off the back, and created a dressing room on the second floor. They changed all the windows, sourced 18th-  and 19th-century doors and hardware, and even reproduced actual Federal baseboard molding and trim for the entire house from a 1760s home in Red Hook.

When it was time for the interiors, they knew they wanted to keep the palette neutral, to evoke a sense of serenity and flow. They used Farrow & Ball Slipper Satin in every room, including trim and mullions. Even the plaster for the walls was tinted with the paint, which created a lovely wash of light.

As a result, each room flows seamlessly into the next. “Your eye doesn’t jump from color to color,” says Silver. 

Adding to that tranquil effect is the deft use of lighting. “It’s one of our specialties,” says Neiley.  

 The designers take great joy in creating beautiful vignettes. “Every piece has a place and a purpose and a story,” says Neiley. “We’d rather have a bare plaster wall than the wrong chair against the wall.”  

To achieve this highly curated feel, they spend weeks searching for the perfect table, commode, sofa, or lamp shade. They scour antiques stores in person and online. The twin ottomans in the living room are from a store in Lyon, France. The legs are made from faux kudu horn. A vintage lamp is topped with a marbleized shade from Bunny Williams’ shop in Falls Village. An antique dining table from Montage is covered with a vintage hemp linen sheet. “That was a trick I learned when I lived in Lyon,” says Neiley. Other than a small area rug beneath the dining table, they left the oak plank floors bare, upstairs and down. And, to play up the view, they left the windows unadorned. “We wanted to create the sense of bringing the outside in,” Silver says. And they did so—beautifully. —maisoncollab.com 

By Zachary Schwartz
Photographs by Ryan Lavine

Chris Stone and David Fox are consummate architects. Together, the married couple run an architecture studio called Stonefox Architects, specializing in homes that highlight art collections for curators, artists, and collectors. When the time came for Stone and Fox to design a home for their own art collection, they made the bold choice to create a bespoke prefab with aplomb.

The duo met 23 years ago at a New Year’s Eve party. Early in their relationship, they joined forces professionally, forming a business and a life together. They grew their firm in Manhattan, amassing an enviable client list in New York, Palm Beach, Aspen, Austin, and the Hamptons.

Seeking an arcadian escape from the cosmopolitan design society, Stone and Fox decamped to Litchfield County. The couple rented in Lakeville before purchasing an undeveloped plot on Twin Lakes in Salisbury. “It’s really important to be able to unplug and come to a place like Litchfield County, and just relax. It’s a paradise getaway for us,” says Stone.

The 4-acre plot is situated on former farmland with a mixture of wetlands and woodlands, home to a bounty of flora and fauna. Stone and Fox saw potential. They considered various approaches to designing their dream home, and ultimately settled upon a prefabricated structure.

The modern black house stands sentinel in the Connecticut woods, with three bedrooms, double-height ceilings, and an open floor plan ideal for entertaining. The building is constructed of four modules, set in a single day by Westchester Modular Homes and delivered by trailer transport. 

“You can do a lot with prefab, but you have to be prepared to color within the lines. It definitely taught us how to be more creative and conscious with space,” says Fox. The architects worked within the confines of measurements, time, costs, and modular increments to produce the house, which has subsequently been reproduced for four of their Stonefox clients.

The home was designed to display the couple’s contemporary art collection. Their catalog represents rising stars from global art fairs, including Alex Da Corte, Mika Rottenberg, Reena Spaulings, and Anna Ostoya. Local artists are also represented in the home, including works by sculptor Adam Parker Smith and ceramics by DBO Home. Design accents complement the artwork, including Cole & Son wallpaper, a Lacanche French range, and white oak flooring by Carlisle Wide Plank Floors. 

“We wanted to keep the material palette fairly restrained. We love using natural materials in a way that displays their origin,” says Stone.

Since moving to Salisbury, the couple has developed a deep interest in landscape design. They hired Berkshire native plant specialist Bridghe McCracken of Helia Land Design to advise on the horticulture. “It sparked what has become a real interest for us in learning about all of these native plants. Bridghe has this huge seed bank with native plants, not hybridized in any way,” says Fox. McCracken helped the homeowners craft an outdoor room with a hemlock hedge, as well as a butterfly-filled meadow with Penstemon and Great Blue Lobelia.

Chris Stone and David Fox have embraced the nature of Connecticut, hiking its woods and studying its flora. Summers beckon carefree floating on lake inner tubes, while winters are reserved for fireside lounging with their Boston terrier and ice skating on the frozen lake. “I get so excited when I see the mountains with a light dusting of snow. At any given moment, there could be a little squall of snow that looks like someone dumped powdered sugar on top. I love driving around and seeing how the landscape undulates,” says Fox. For the architects, their modular home is their modern retreat.

From a Flood Emerged a State-of-the-Art Home
By Zachary Schwartz
Photos by Ryan Lavine

“From our bedroom, it feels like you’re floating on a jutting-out glass box,” the homeowner says from an ethereally sunlit bedroom. You would never know that just a few years prior, the home’s ceiling was caving in from a burst pipe.

Situated atop a forested ridge in Kent, and overlooking the resplendent hills surrounding Lake Waramaug, lies a special tucked-away home shaded by white birch trees. Purchased as a weekend getaway for a New York City family, this abode is all about its unparalleled views. From the moment one enters the house, a scenic panorama is framed centrally at eye level. It is the home’s pièce de résistance.

The landscape is what drew the homeowners: “The view, the view, and the view. And the peace that comes with it. It really was that simple. When we saw the house, we had already seen about five houses in another town, none of which we could truly imagine ourselves in. We walked in and were greeted by a beautiful, serene view that immediately put us at ease.”

“The closest sensation I’ve experienced is when you walk up stadium stairs and enter a baseball stadium,” says architect Daniel Frisch. “You cannot recreate, photographically, the extraordinary moment of walking in that front door.” 

The homeowners purchased the shingle-style house a few years ago, but calamity struck soon after when a burst pipe caused the ceilings to cave in. Daniel Frisch Architecture, an architecture and design firm specializing in private high-end residential projects, was hired to rebuild and decorate the home. 

Key aspects of the renovation included an overall expansion of the footprint and kitchen, reorientation of rooms to take in the surroundings, and introduction of an open floor plan. Thoughtful fenestration and the addition of an outdoor balcony were crucial to making the scenery the focal point. “Bringing in the modern windows and opening up the lakeside view with much larger openings and glass is the real difference from the original fairly traditional home that we replaced,” explains Frisch. 

From the sun-kissed screened-in porch to the entryway’s floating staircase to the revamped basement with gym and playroom, the house is a breath of fresh air. The upstairs primary bedroom resembles a detached oasis due to its floor-to-ceiling windows, bump-out construction, and shifting light throughout the day. “Each detail is obsessively worked through and resolved, but never in a way that the architecture or interior design would compete with that view,” says Frisch. The home remodel, completed in partnership with T & S Builders in Kent, is fresh, sleek, and livable.

Daniel Frisch Architecture also decorated the home’s interiors, opting for modern and artistic furnishings that never detract from the vista. “The style is as timeless as can be. It doesn’t look like it belongs to a particular moment in time. It will really be something that lasts generations,” says Frisch. Furniture with clean lines, strong silhouettes, and neutral colors was selected for the living spaces. The great room is perhaps the most breathtaking space, equipped with a dramatic black Arteriors lighting pendant, Yabu Pushelberg dining room table, and custom Martha Leone credenza. As a playful and personal touch, the homeowners also accentuated choice walls with ebullient wallpapers.

Following the renovation, the homeowners have found renewed tranquility. “We can breathe in the peace and quiet that comes with Litchfield County. We get our fill of city life during the week, then unwind in the beauty and calm of South Kent.”

The old aphorism says: “Everything happens for a reason.” This state-of-the-art home overlooking Kent Hollow is one such example, a silver lining of a flood that transformed a residence into a modern manse that maximizes the view.—danielfrisch.com

Pop! Pow! Blam!

A Jazzy Vibe Warms up a Mid-Century Modern Aerie

By Cynthia Hochswender

Photos by Laura Moss Photography

Picture homeowner Bob Wolfe in a rakishly tipped fedora, shaking cocktails at a stylish bar while his lovely blonde wife, Laurie, greets guests warmly at the door. Jazz music plays in the background, completing the swingy vibe of a mid-century modern house that’s been decorated with a “Fly Me to the Moon” aesthetic.

Bob and Laurie are, in fact, quiet country-folk who love hiking, playing tennis, cycling, fly-fishing, and looking at the views of Steep Rock Preserve from the wall of windows in their mountaintop Washington home, and (above all) watching the sun rise and set through their windows. “We’ve seen more sunrises since we moved to this house than in the entire rest of our lives,” Bob says. 

The diurnal rhythms of life were not really a part of the Wolfes’ lives in New York, New Jersey, Florida, and other spots where their work took them over the years. 

“In New York City, even on the 25th floor we’d hear sirens and motorcycles,” Bob says. “Here on top of the mountain, we hear nothing but crickets, birds, and cows.”

The house they fell in love with is a 1960s classic. Not everyone realizes that Litchfield County was home to Bauhaus star Marcel Breuer; the Wolfes’ home definitely pays homage to that clean-lined, angular history. 

But for the furnishings, Laurie says, “I wanted to do something fun.” 

And she wanted to do it fast, giving designer Karen Davis of Davis Raines Design in New Preston a mere few months to pull together a renovation of the lower level, all new furnishings, and room after room of wallpaper.

“We have a great wallpaper hanger here in Washington named David DeVos,” confides Davis, sharing a cherished trade secret. DeVos put wallpaper in the house’s four bedrooms, three bathrooms, and two powder rooms, as well as a lounge area near the kitchen. Some of the papers are from the historic Swedish design firm Borastapeter; others are from The Vale London; one is a graphic historic wallpaper by Modernist icon Arne Jacobsen, called Trapez 1778. “It’s almost like having fabric on the walls,” Laurie Wolfe says of the wallpaper choices. “It’s dramatic, but soft.”

Adding more pop to the clean lines of the circa 1960s house is sculptural lighting that Davis and Wolfe chose together. For furnishings, rather than go for vintage pieces, Davis was able to find period-appropriate modern furnishings from companies such as Interlude Home—which was the source for the jazzy stools in Bob’s bar area.

“I really wanted a custom bar in the living room,” he says. “I’m a cocktail guy.”

The bar is just one element of a house that, despite its austere antecedents, is warm and welcoming—perfect for a town like Washington, that might feel cool and upscale but is in fact uncommonly friendly.

“We’ve only been here a short while and we’ve met so many wonderful people,” Laurie says. Davis isn’t surprised. “They were really a delight to work with,” she says of the Wolfes.

An Interior Designer’s Washington Home Blends Modern with Traditional

By Zachary Schwartz
Photos by Antoine Bootz

Who does an interior designer call when it’s time to decorate her own home? For Susan Bednar Long, the choice was easy—do it herself.

Susan Bednar Long is an interior designer residing between Connecticut and Texas. Trained at a design firm in Los Angeles, she later moved to New York City where she cut her teeth designing retail stores for Ralph Lauren. She went on to establish her own full-service design firm, S.B. Long Interiors, a business that designs high-end residential projects in the United States and Europe.

“I call my style modern traditional. Most of my projects are a mix of that. I love traditional, but I like to do it in a clean and tailored way,” explains Bednar Long. “If I’m doing an architecturally modern house, then I like to infuse it with warmer furnishings. Vice versa, if it’s a very traditional house, then it’s fun to have more modern furnishings.”

20 years ago, while living in New York City, the interior designer began looking for a weekend home outside of the city. “We called up a realtor, since we didn’t know anybody here in Litchfield, went looking for one day, and loved the area. We ended up buying this house in Washington the same weekend we looked,” says Bednar Long. Her family has since moved to Dallas, but kept their Washington home where they now spend summers and holidays.

Their three-bedroom Washington farmhouse was built in the early 1800s on a dairy cattle farm. The home has undergone several renovations, including a kitchen makeover and new primary bathroom with the help of Sean Woodward of Woodco LLC. The agricultural history of the home remains in the barn that the family uses for storage and the occasional haunted Halloween party.

In decorating the country home’s interiors, Bednar Long mingles antique furniture with one-of-a-kind decorative objects, employing her modern traditional aesthetic. “My original inspiration was Bill Blass’ house in New Preston. I just loved the contrast of light and dark, and the classic antiques mixed with white walls and pretty plaids,” says the interior designer. “At the time I did the house, I was very much into neutrals, brown, and white. Over time, I have gotten more into color, but this house still reflects that Bill Blass vibe.”

The designer sourced much of the neutral-colored décor locally in Litchfield County. The entryway console and living room chairs come from RT Facts in Kent, while the brown antique deco screen in the living room was acquired in Bantam. Personal touches include artwork from Venice where Bednar Long married her husband, a blue and white chinoiserie vase gifted from a relative in Hong Kong, and nautical antiques nodding to the family’s ship building history.

One of the homeowner’s favorite aspects of the home is its multifaceted garden. “The outside gardens were mature when we bought the home. The former owner was really into gardening, so he did a lot to develop the garden. I’ve added to it over the years, and I love it,” says Bednar Long. Walking around the property, one will encounter apple and pear tree orchards, flower beds of daffodils and peonies, and woodland gardens with Japanese maple trees. A deceased maple tree struck during a storm adds drama to the garden, so the homeowner lights it up at night during summer patio dinner parties.

Susan Bednar Long’s country home is a study in her interior design. The benefit of this particular project is that the designer is fortunate enough to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

A Country Christmas Fantasy by Sister Parish at the Mayflower Inn

By: Zachary Schwartz

Litchfield County is an idyllic setting for the holidays, from the Christmas tree fir farms to the bedecked historic homes to the ski slopes and horse-drawn sleigh rides. This year, the holidays will twinkle even brighter and bolder thanks to the design partnership between Sister Parish Design and Mayflower Inn & Spa, Auberge Resorts Collection.

Sister Parish Design, an eponymous fourth-generation female-owned family business founded in 1933, is known for American archival-inspired interior designs and textiles. Famously, the company’s founder decorated President John F. Kennedy’s White House. Today, the legacy of Sister Parish lives on through her granddaughter, CEO Susan Crater, and great-granddaughter, Chief Creative Officer Eliza Harris. The mother-daughter duo run a Sister Parish shop in Litchfield and an online business.

“We are focused on manufacturing historically driven designs, meaning everything is derived from some sort of archival textile. All of our textiles have a story and a soul, and we keep manufacturing local in the United States,” explains Harris. “I’m constantly tweaking and recoloring the patterns. They are very bold and bright. People come to us for exactly that.”

Harris, a Salisbury resident, regularly visits the Mayflower Inn in Washington for overnight getaways and spa treatments. “As a local, I spend a lot of time there, so it was a very authentic and organic collaboration to participate in the Christmas decorations.”

From late November through early January, Sister Parish will deck the halls of the Mayflower Inn with boughs of evergreen and festive holiday adornments. Visitors can expect decorative pillows, ornaments, lampshades, and stockings in Sister Parish textiles, some of which will be for sale at the hotel boutique for those who want to make the holiday festivities last longer than a halcyon sojourn.

“I was thrilled to be able to decorate the hotel. The point is to make people feel like they are home for the holidays. I want guests to feel comfortable and to connect with their relatives and friends at the hotel. It’s all about creating those special moments,” says Harris.

In addition to an 18-foot Christmas tree festooned with upholstered ornaments and velvet ribbons, Sister Parish will showcase a custom whimsical cranberry red and green star-pattern[make this en dash, not a hyphen] textile titled Serendipity. Harris also enlisted the help of Ancram-based florist Dark and Diamond for locally foraged greenery and garlands.

“Better understanding how to bring the outdoors in is what inspired me. I wanted to make sure that the wildness of the Connecticut woods is tapped into on the mantels and centerpieces. My inspiration for the decorations also comes from my family. We’ve celebrated lots of country Christmases,” says Harris.

The aesthetic will be ornate, colorful, and nostalgic, but neither persnickety nor precious. “That is what Sister Parish does well. We have these timeless patterns that are meant to complement other patterns they might be mixed with, and certainly complement the eclectic design that decorator Celerie Kemble mastered at the Mayflower Inn.” Guests of the hotel are in for a true country Christmas fantasy.