Earlier this year — after nearly two decades of owning a holiday home in Pennsylvania’s Bucks County — interior and product designer Ghislaine Viñas was ready for a change. The Hamptons, of course, were an option, but “they’re a bit too Upper East Side-y,” she says, referring to Manhattan’s oldest “old money” locale. And Bucks County — whose rural beauty so captivated Viñas — now felt almost too rural, she says, particularly during the isolation that accompanied the pandemic.
An increasing number of her clients had homes in the Hudson Valley — the farm-filled, culture and creativity-rich region two hours north of New York City. Viñas began spending more time in the area and was struck, she says, by the sense of community. So, earlier this year, she put her Pennsylvania home on the market and closed on a 43-acre parcel in the tiny village of Tivoli with a 1920s Arts and Crafts bungalow for $950,000.