Being slightly jaded from New York City’s cutthroat real-estate market worked to James Veal and Christine Stucker’s advantage when the couple, who run the design and architecture studio Stewart-Schafer, decided to sell their Brooklyn townhouse and move to Easton, Connecticut, in the summer of 2019. Stucker was the one who first spotted the 5,000-square-foot, mid-century–inspired home (built in 1984) online, and they jumped on it. The pair organized a showing for the very next day, meanwhile conducting a very thorough Google search on the town (they knew next to nothing about it) and its local school district. “We’re used to needing contracts drawn up in 24 hours and having them signed in case someone swoops in and steals it,” explains Veal. “So we got this squared away pretty quickly and never looked back.”