Why We Sold Our House

If you had told me in mid-February that by April we would have said goodbye to our house, held a new set of keys in our hand, design plans well underway for a large renovation and expansion project, I wouldn’t have believed you.

The last eight weeks have been a total flurry: getting the house on the market, a fast sale, moving to our cottage without an idea of how long we’d be here, closing on a new property and a deep dive in the sketches of what comes next.

To back up: this all started with a “just wondering” conversation with our real estate agent in mid-February. We loved our house. We had spent five years pouring every ounce of our creative energy into its walls, but we had reached a bittersweet threshold: we ran out of spaces to renovate. It was a beautiful, finished home, and as much as we loved the result, we were itching to start the process over again.

Because of the current market in Fairfield County, and a staggering lack of truly move-in-ready homes with real design perspective behind them, things moved at breakneck speed. What people were responding to wasn’t just a renovated house, it was the full vision of how it lived. The furnishings, the layered antiques, the collected lighting, the gardens, the pool, the studio, the little moments of function and atmosphere that made the house feel complete. It wasn’t simply updated; it had a point of view. It offered a lifestyle people could immediately step into, one that felt thoughtful, warm, and fully realized.

We listed within two weeks and were immediately met with a whirlwind of interest. Over thirty offers poured in, and the schedule was so packed that some people couldn’t even get in to see the house. We accepted an offer almost immediately, set a close date, and started the surreal process of combing through everything we owned to decide what we would take with us, and what would stay behind as part of the story of that house.

We ended up selling the vast majority of our furniture to the new buyers. Most were items we still loved and would have been thrilled to use in a future home or for a client so letting go of them was a practice in detachment. There was the antique gate-leg table we found in Great Barrington on a birthday trip. A beautiful but unprecious one-of-a-kind oversized Turksih Oushak with the perfect pairing of neutrals and hints of blue. There was the moody oil portrait of a mysterious man (a coveted auction win), a French burlwood chest of drawers that made it’s way across three of our previous homes in 3 different states, and the collection of vintage lamps I’d spent years hunting down at local estate sales and fitting with custom shades.

It’s hard to see those things go, but there is something freeing about a blank canvas. Collecting antiques is a slow game, and it takes years of hunting and patience, but I find joy in knowing those pieces will continue to live in the home they were meant for. They get to have a new life with new owners, and I get the rare gift of starting over from scratch.

The Next Chapter

And now, the fun begins again on a new property in Wilton. We have big plans for this one. The goal is to celebrate the original 1930s character of the saltbox structure that’s already there, while updating it to be more functional with the kind of finishes and custom details we love. We’re planning a new addition designed to make the whole property feel like a classic, rambling New England colonial compound, balancing a sense of history with incredibile spaces for modern living.

With the launch of Girard House, we’re honing in on what we love doing, and do best: finding these classic New England properties and figuring out how to make them work for a modern life without losing their soul. Seeing the response to our last home, and the number of people searching for that specific Heritage Modern feel, made us realize we could provide a much-needed shortcut. This project in Wilton is our answer to that.

The difference with this project is that the lifestyle concept is already designed and ready to go. We’ve handled the grueling prep work—the infrastructure, septic upgrades, surveys, and the architectural puzzles—and assembled the team of professionals that usually takes months to coordinate.

We’re currently deep in site prep to get the property ready for the market as a “designed-and-ready-to-go” project. It’s a rare chance to skip the years of house hunting and the headache of vetting a team from scratch. Instead, you get to jump straight into the fun part: customizing the final finishes and details with us to bring the vision home.

We can’t wait to share the full vision with you soon. Standing here now, it feels a lot like that mid-February conversation, full of "what-ifs" and the energy of a new start. Only this time, the blank canvas isn't just for us. We’re doing the heavy lifting to clear the way for someone else to step into this lifestyle, skipping the flurry and moving straight to the soul of the home.