Home Décor Store Opens On South Main Street

By Kaaren Valenta

Victoria Yarrow Home Décor opened in the Village Shopping Center on South Main Street this week, the culmination of a dream that Newtown resident Joan Yarrow has nurtured for nearly three decades.

The store is filled with antiques, reproductions, and home accessories that have a European Country look cultivated by Ms Yarrow during many years in the furniture and design business. Most recently the manager of the Thomasville furniture store on Federal Road in Brookfield, Ms Yarrow was the manager of the Hitchcock store in Wilton for 17 years, and later manager of the company’s flagship store in Riverton.

“I’ve always wanted to have my own store,” she said. “Then I saw the ‘For Lease’ sign on the window of the storefront [next to the former location of Mona Lisa restaurant] and thought I’d try it. It’s an exciting venture.”

Central to the European country look are large pine pieces that have been adapted for modern-day life, including a reproduction farm table made in England of antique wood, that comes in five-, six-, and eight-foot lengths, and an armoire that is made deeper to accommodate a television set.

There are hand-painted tables, upholstered chairs, an antique chest from Germany, a sideboard from Holland, and an Asian trunk, as well as mirror, pillows, baskets, ceramics, tableware, and lamps,

“I will have unique hand-painted boxes as well as tole tray-tables,” Ms Yarrow said. “I’m interested in carrying unique pieces done by area artists.”

The shop carries items in a wide range of prices, from stainless steel hors d’oeuvre spreaders with tassel-shaped handles ($4 each) to antique furniture.

“I’ve tried to hit all price ranges,” Ms Yarrow said. “I don’t want to be too high end.”

Having studied interior design at Fairfield University, she offers complete design services from creating a floor plan to providing the accessories that complete a room. She is a member of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID) and the Connecticut Chapter of Interior Design (CCID).

“I’ve developed a lot of contacts over the years, so I know where to get almost anything that a customer could want,” she said. “I can shop for everything.”

Ms Yarrow and her husband, Walter, who works for AT&T, moved from Wilton to a home in Newtown on Lake Lillinonah seven years ago.

“Our children had grown up so we decided to move,” Ms Yarrow said. “We liked Newtown, the charm of Main Street, so we bought a house across from the lake.”

The couple’s daughter, Victoria Yarrow Flam, teaches junior high in Monroe; their sons sell financial services, Walter Jr in Kansas City, Christopher in Manhattan. There are four grandchildren.

“I worked in store management at Bergdorf Goodman before I had children, then went back to work after they were in junior high,” Ms Yarrow said. “Christopher is getting married in six weeks, so this is a very exciting time for me, between the wedding and the new store.”

Victoria Yarrow is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 am to 5:30 pm or by appointment. For more information, contact Ms Yarrow at 270-6230.