Something about the word “lost” appeals to Eliza Clark. When she and her husband, Tim Trojian, purchased an old inn and tavern in Litchfield, she was looking for the right name to give to the rambling compound of structures that she was renovating in concert with her design partner/daughter, Arden Wray. Clark already owned the Foxfire Mountain House in the Catskills, and, so, when her work progressed on this property in Litchfield, she recalls “being set on the word ‘lost’, and I had it in my mind that a fox had wandered far from his home in the Catskills and found his way to Connecticut,” she says.
Clark, a former novelist and television writer, has a penchant for telling stories. She explains that while foxfire is actually a forest growth that assumes a bioluminescent glow by moonlight, the word still summoned up a real lost fox. “I came across a line from an old poem that goes, ‘The foxfire glowed so brightly in woods, it led weary travelers home’,” she recalls and, thus, she found her name for Lost Fox Inn & Tavern.
Travelers always feel at home in the 14-room inn, portions of which date from 1745, but especially so at holiday time when seasonal décor is in place. The mother-daughter team—who established their Byrd Studio interior design firm in Kingston, New York, in 2021—wished to tell an evocative holiday tale in the inn’s public areas. “When we conceived the seasonal décor,” Clark explains, “Arden and I meant it to feel like a natural wonderland. So we relied on greenery, and I always like greenery that has a dripping, wild, abandoned feel to it.”
Situated on the grounds of the compound is the separate Victorian-era Schoolhouse Cottage that sleeps four. “It has a big fireplace, a king bed, and is really romantic,” says Wray. There, for the holidays, the two dressed its dining table with panels of vibrantly floral vintage curtains, anchored with an iron candelabra ablaze with candles. “We love real candles everywhere—but we do have a very good alarm system,” Clark emphasizes. Garlands—fragrant Norfolk pine and faux willow leaves—trace the cottage windows. “I like to mix real and faux because during the Christmas season, live ones start to droop and drop things. It’s nice to have that blend because it keeps a room filled with life and energy.”
Co-owner Eliza Clark found an antique fox and made it the mascot of the property.
When checking into Lost Fox Inn & Tavern in Litchfield, there is the option to ring the vintage bell on the counter.
For the holidays, the main staircase in the foyer is dressed with cedar boughs that wind their way among the spindles.
A fox finial tops a banister.
Portions of Lost Fox Inn & Tavern date to 1745, as the hand-painted sign relates.
The tavern bar offers a full menu of drinks and small plates.
The walls of the tavern are decorated with classic Federal-style convex mirrors, which make for an effective period effect.
Wreaths on the hallway walls are from Litchfield Hills Nursery, while the cedar boughs are from Adams Fairacre Farms.
The tree in the upstairs library lounge is wrapped in yards of vintage ribbons found online.
Clark discovered a pair of portraits—theorized to depict John Adams and his wife—at an antiques store in Maryland. The teal velvet stool is from Article.
Eliza Clark and her husband, Tim Trojian, purchased the property in 2022 and spent two years renovating it.
One of the buildings in an intimate compound of structures on the property is a cottage that was once a schoolhouse and dates to the late 1800s.
For the holidays, the owners dressed the cottage’s dining table with a tablecloth of antique curtain panels from Newburgh Vintage Emporium and candelabras through Millerton Antiques Center, while faux Norfolk pine garlands from Afloral trace the windows.
The bedroom area is furnished with an antique wicker dresser from the Antique Warehouse Hudson NY.
A vintage lantern from Antique Farm House is set above a tub from Vintage Tub & Bath in the cottage bathroom.
In the upstairs library, where guests often congregate after dinner beside a roaring fire (there are 11 fireplaces on the property), Clark and Wray decorated a Douglas fir solely with ribbons and white LEDs. “I’m a big collector of vintage mercury-glass ornaments,” Clarks says, “but I worried about people brushing the branches and having things fall off and break.” So, after numerous clicks on Etsy, they purchased miles of antique ribbons, notably textured velvet ones, which now wrap the tree.
Key to the re-emergence of the inn was Trojian’s visions for the configurations of the tavern and Great Hall dining areas. As the chef, he not only shaped the redesign of those spaces, but he also designed the cuisine that would be served. “I take a rustic, country approach to cuisine,” he says. And as is evidenced when dining there, “I like to feature dishes that showcase the ingredients and that reflect a deft hand at seasoning, using modern techniques and equipment.”
Clark calls herself and her daughter “use-what-we-have kind of people,” a dynamic that resulted in them fashioning scraps of leftover floral wallpaper into garland chains. The resulting chain drapes elegantly along a staircase leading to the upstairs tavern. Dried hydrangeas, grown on the property, serve as additional accents on the landings.
Holiday reminders appear throughout the lobby, eating areas and porches. Chandeliers high in the Great Hall are laced with pink pepperberries, secured with “deep, deep red velvet ribbons,” says Wray. “We’re drawn to things that appear to have faded over time, that feel as if they’ve already been in place a long time and not just put up for the holidays.” Meanwhile, wreaths adorned with pepperberries and white berries were placed at the inn’s entrance and on outside tavern doors. “Creating a story, whether you write it in a novel or as a TV show, is just as important for an inn where people come to immerse themselves in a different world,” says Clark.
And now, with wood and stone fox statues situated outside and inside, the sly, but resourceful creature has apparently found its way home.