Posts from Victoria Lyon Interiors Blog

The New Canaan Historical Society will present "Seeing Modern," an all-day tour and symposium featuring some of New Canaan's mid-century modern homes designed by the preeminent architects of the time.

Morning symposium will be a lively dialogue on "seeing modern" in architecture, art, film and furnishings presented by contemporary leaders in those fields, followed by afternoon tours of modern homes by internationally-known architects John Black Lee, Eliot Noyes, Alan Goldberg, Hugh Smallen, Toshiko Mori, Landis Gores, Kengo Kuma, and Specht Harpman.

Victoria Lyon will be a featured speaker, click here for a full schedule »

$295 ticket includes symposium, tour, continental breakfast, lunch and evening cocktail reception.

Call (203) 966-1776 for reservations

I don’t think that it ever occurs to most people that the house they live in is probably the largest investment that they will ever have. Instead, they just think of their home in terms of its everyday utilitarian function as a shelter. For many, it also acts as a reflection of their persona: their financial or social status, their personality, and so on. Given the fact that a home is such an important part of many people’s net worth, it always surprises me how little people do (other than some occasional maintenance) to protect their investment. That said, barring the occasional blip in the economy, prior to the recent turn of events, the housing market was generally so robust that people didn’t have to do much except for live in a house to make sure that a property kept or increased its value. The recent downturn in the economy has changed all of that. And yet, there is one factor which has always helped a property to maintain or increase its value: good design. Homes which are extremely functional, have a nice flow to them, and are aesthetically very appealing always command top dollar, and are always the quickest to sell, even in a down market.

Coming from a family that’s been in real estate for 5 generations, there are many anecdotes I could share to confirm this. But my favorite story is a very personal one. Back in 1988, I purchased a small 2 bedroom condominium near Boston, Massachusetts. I paid $100,000. for it at the time, and invested $20,000.in fixing it up. Then the tax laws changed which affected the housing market and prices went south for several years. I got re-married and after a year of living apart from my new husband, (who was living in NY at the time), I wanted to sell the condo and move to be with him. I put my little home on the market in early January of 1990, praying that it would sell by the summer. It sold in a week at the full asking price of $165,000. It was also the only condo that sold in my city that year! To top that off, the young couple who bought it also offered to buy it fully furnished. As many pieces were family antiques, I declined that offer, but I did ultimately sell them a few items that I had purchased for the space. Incidentally, my investment in improvements to the condo, coupled, of course, with fabulous design, brought a 44% ROI (return on investment)! For those who think that hiring a designer is a frivolous luxury, think again! It could be the wisest investment decision you ever made.