FEATURES

INTERIOR DESIGNER KRISTA FOX CREATED A YEAR–ROUND COUNTRY HOUSE WHERE EVEN MOTHER NATURE WOULD FEEL RIGHT AT HOME

Krista Fox loves surprises. But the first time the interior designer visited the New Canaan home she helped redesign in 2001, she received an unwelcome one. Driving up the winding, tree–lined driveway, she caught sight of large skylights peeking over the horizon. The windows coming off the sloping ranch roof were the first and last things that visitors would see. And they were all wrong.

Fox was concerned. "I thought: If they want to keep those, we're in trouble," she says.

Fortunately, the owners were glad to do away with them. The couple who own the property are well–traveled Manhattanites and avid art collectors who had purchased this home as a stopping point between their life in the city and various points elsewhere, including their two sons' boarding schools.

Fox wanted the home both to reflect their sensibilities and, most importantly, be a low–maintenance retreat that evoked sophistication and richness. After removing those pesky skylights, the designer created a welcoming atmosphere by choosing a muted palette that accentuated the star of the property—the surrounding trees and foliage.

"I wanted to follow Mother Nature's lead," she says. In the dining room, for example, a grasscloth wallpaper echoes the greenery outside while providing a shimmering backdrop for the twilight glow that washes through the room's large picture windows in the evenings.

"When you're coming from the city, you want to feel the seasons," Fox says. In that vein, she worked to bring the outside indoors.