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Mix of modern and antique: Renovation in New Canaan. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
Crisp clean Master Bath: Renovation New Canaan. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
Colorful Playroom: Renovation Darien. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
Master Bedroom textures: New Construction Lincoln Center NYC. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
Entry Foyer Renovation: Mill Valley CA. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
Walnut Paneled Library: Scarsdale NY. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
Importance of artwork: Renovation New Canaan. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
Beach house Family Room: New construction Amagansett NY. Photo courtesy of Krista Fox Interiors
New Canaan’s Krista Fox launched her eponymous interior design firm in 1994, and the intervening years have seen her split time between the business and raising her family here in town.
New Canaan resident and interior designer Krista Fox in her shop at 107 Cherry St. in New Canaan, “Find: The Lifestyle Collection.” Credit: Michael Dinan
A resident since 2001, she’s volunteered as a homeroom mom and been deeply involved in elementary school performing arts committee, as her kids—the youngest of three now a New Canaan High School senior—have played football, lacrosse and field hockey, spent time at the Y and participated in the National Charity League’s New Canaan Chapter.
“I was doing it [interior design] as the kids were growing up and it has been a wonderful career for me, it was there when I needed it,” Fox said on a recent morning from a newly renovated and decorated space at 107 Cherry St. “When I had time, I could take on more and when I didn’t, I could back off from it. That’s the leap when it comes to retail: Your door is open. When people are there, you’re there.”
New Canaan’s Krista Fox Interiors has opened up a retail and “showroom” space in the former Village Critter Outfitters space at 107 Cherry St. Credit: Michael Dinan
New Canaanites will know where she is as the former and longtime of Village Critter Outfitter, a locally owned pet shop that closed its doors one year ago.
Redone in stone grey and white walls, an assortment of carefully chosen and comfortably dispersed furniture, toss pillows, rugs, jewelry, candles, cocktail mixers, coffee, yoga mats, scarves and other items now spread throughout a space that used to carry shelves of dog food, treats, beds, leashes and toys, ‘Find: The Lifestyle Collection’ has been up and running since its launch party two weeks ago.
The shop marks the first-ever retail arm of Krista Fox Interiors, Fox’s 21-year-old consulting firm (see gallery above), and is far more than a place where she plans to sell items on a pop-up basis through this holiday season: It will operate as a venue for book groups, speakers, acoustic musicians and special gatherings, Fox said, and represents a “3D version of what we can do.”
“I think people have a vocabulary for ‘Pop Up’ where they’re expecting cardboard boxes and bad lighting,” Fox said. “We wanted to change that, partly because we are an interior design firm and the aesthetic is what it is really about.”
Visitors entering the shop step onto a wood-finish floor, and face a faux shagreen coffee table topped with a miniature Buddha and flanked by armless slipper chairs, one with a sheepskin rug thrown across, behind the table a clean, modern sofa with satin and velvet pillows, a wicker basket of thick, lush yoga blankets on one side, an acrylic and brass pedestal on the other. Overhead is a painting from Heather Gaudio Studio at South and Elm (“I wanted to partner up with somebody that keep it fresh, and Heather has a number of artists in her arsenal,” Fox said.)
Everything is for sale, and though Fox readily said she’s timed the shop’s opening for holiday customers, the retail space also is designed to give visitors a sense of her palette on the interior design side, in case they’re seeking consulting services.
“The big thing is that the palette here is very natural and neutral, but it is the texture that needs to resonate with people, so that they’re connecting with nature even if they don’t know they need to,” Fox said.
For Fox, who holds degrees in interior design and interior architecture from Miami University of Ohio and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, respectively, that’s a big part of what hesitantly refers to as her “organic” sensibility.
“It relates to nature, and I am a big believer in that being something we would all like to have, whether we realize it or not,” she said. “I think people are drawn to things that connect on that level, but we also set ourselves apart from others, we’re a little more unique and speak to all the senses.”
I’ve worked with Krista Fox and she has impeccable taste. Congrats to her on opening the pop-up space!