House Tours

Good Move

a house that evolves as the owner's life evolves

carolyn rundle field

The pale sunlight illuminates a stand of winter birches. Above, a cool blue sky stretches like a canopy. Indeed it’s easy to imagine one has entered an Impressionist painting while standing on the back porch of “Deer Run,” a country estate that occupies more than 300 privately owned acres in Redding.

By Cathryn J. Prince

Shangri-la

Some of the best-kept secrets are hidden down long, dirt driveways, so unremarkable that neighbors have been known to pass them for decades without wondering where they might lead.

By Jennifer Moore Stahlkrantz

Spacious Skies

This Congress Street house—8,000 square feet on 18 flat, sprawling acres—was once the home of lawyer Henry B. Stoddard. In the early 1900s, Stoddard purchased 14 acres of land and a barn (for the now enviable price of $5,500) known as Sea View Farm, and commissioned famous tri-state-area architect Cameron Clark to build the home.

By Brita Belli

A World of Designs

Considering his hectic schedule, it is fortuitous to find Matthew Patrick Smyth at home in Sharon, let alone relaxing. As a high-powered New York interior designer, Smyth travels to some of the most fashionable places in the world: Palm Beach, Aspen, Nantucket, Manhattan, the Hamptons.

By Wendy Carlson

A Visual Feast

Dawn Gepfert’s Fairfield home exudes comfort, with plush furniture, a spacious kitchen made for entertaining and cooking, and a dining room designed to draw people together.

By Brita Belli

Simply Modern

How does a couple who looked at countless center-hall colonials and then decided to build a shingle-style arts & crafts home end up buying a pyramid-shaped glass-sheathed house with a 12-foot-deep swimming pool in the living room?

By Carolyn Rundle Field

The Art of It

Claire Melbourne has always been creative. She studied art in college and designed outerwear for 14 years, before leaving her job to care for her three boys. But it wasn’t until she met interior designers Susan Buzaid and Robin Curnan, owners of Ridgefield’s Olley Court, that she began to think of herself as an artist. “I went into Olley Court to buy pillows, and that is how the whole thing started,” says Melbourne with a laugh. “Now, I feel like I am working again.”

By Alison Pratt

Dynamic Duo

The road leading to Southview is narrow and long. At a certain point you are sure you’ve made a wrong turn. Then suddenly the gates of the property appear and welcome you to this extraordinary spot. Looking at the house, it is difficult to imagine it the single lonely farmhouse in the middle of a hayfield that it once was.

By Joseph Montebello

Small is Beautiful

In her early 70s, Peggy Thomas is an accomplished ceramicist, who decided to downsize from her 4,700-square-foot Ridgefield home. “Finding a home for Peggy was fun but a challenge,” said realtor Terry Cigno. “We needed to incorporate all her passions into a smaller space with a ceramics studio, room for her grandchildren, and a small garden. I thought Tom Litwin would listen to Peggy, and help her realize her vision.”

By Alison Pratt

Full Plate

IT’S Saturday afternoon at Danny and Audrey Meyer’s weekend home in Litchfield County, and the place is a flurry of activity. Twelve-year-old Peyton swings open the front door and out bound the two family dogs—Louie, an oversized, cream-colored Labradoodle mix, and Wally, a smaller, brown, curly-haired Lagotto Romagnolo, an Italian truffle-hunting dog.

By Wendy Carlson

The Maximalist

For Rachel Volpone decorating her house for the holidays is an extension of her approach to life. “I’m a maximalist,” declares Volpone. “More is more. That’s why I love working with interior designer Molly Hirsch. She understands scale, texture, and makes sense of the craziness and traditional that I like to think I embody.”

By Alison Pratt

Dazzled

Christmas is a five-sense extravaganza at Cheryl Thomsen’s Bedford home. As soon as you walk through the door you are transported into a happy childhood memory infused with gingerbread men, colorful stockings, and the piney scent of Christmas. Even if it isn’t your memory, it is Thomsen’s and she wants to share the idyllic experience with you. “When people come in I want them to feel like they’re stepping into another world, another place, so for that day they can be living a little fantasy,” says Thomsen.

By Amanda Bergen

Big on Style

Walking into Phyllis Lindland’s house, you would never figure her for a woman who raised eight children or failed art class. First, because antiques and white furniture rule, and second, because the rooms—eclectic, sophisticated, yet inviting—could only have been put together by someone with a highly creative sensibility.

By Carolyn Rundle Field