Maine Home + Design - "Home of Her Own"

_ +DESIGN

J U LY 2 0 1 6

-.`. -1. I I BRIGHT & BLUE INSIDE AN AIRY

~.„ty~[A I A A A I iTI.I r^TT ^ A_ 1=

TFALMOU]ELCOTTAGE ++

rtful homes with ush landscapes

Portrait of Place:,

#r3FF=T=|LHFT__I-I--

FEEffiEHEH

±Iiil_di

BIooklin

1111111111111 -_I.I:I:::i:::i - `„ „..._LL:LL

FEEEHiTHEjjjj|E|TE

FiLITJliiiiEEi qHrmRITE|

!|tp-pmrm-II-rREq=L= ---F-*ul _- - ul--_

ul

ur _±L--1

--

-

-.i-::_;=iiÂąf::::.;_.,.I:;#;i::::,;i::,-*:':. i..

Colleen Boyle's Falmouth home, designed by Caleb Johnson Architects and Builders and constructed by the Biddeford firm and Ed Lavertu of Portland, features exposed rafters on the front gable and beneath the porch roof; load-bearing brackets accentuate a stairway bump-out. "A goal of mine is to get entryways as close to the ground as possible," says Johnson, who doesn't like the "fuss" of stairs and railings. "This house is about Colleen and her dog getting out and going for walks."

i

|l\`j

fr: AA?`L`. L ;\/a, (``=9 Lj -!^` i`in|

Q`i`ÂĽ TA ,\y,^\` i`i

E', `T`

h~--``j

{'{` `.~-JL<J'

A:j ih\\i

A

f, ,A\ i? /_\ H

,

/^h i"

f3 `.`/\ty' !``{

[utA, E L {:A {``,7 E F;j

`=nt +i

[ !3, B` i |`j ``:`,

I

caring for others: spouses, two chlldren who are now grown, and the countless patients she has treated ln

more than four decades as a trauma nurse. In 2013 she decided it was tlme to do somethlng for herself. She was living in St.

Petersburg, Florida, when her husband passed away after a long illness. Afterward, she sold whatever belongings wouldn't fit in a movlng van and returned to Malne, where she was born and had IIved prlor to the Florlda move. "After all that had happened down there I was looklng forward to doing what I wanted, and that was to buy a house and remodel it exactly the way I wanted to," says Boyle. She had renovated before, but never on a grand scale, and never on her own. \/\/hen

asked about the difference between solo and partnered home projects, she responds quickly: "No compromises thls tlme, girll"

She focused her search on the Portland area, eventually purchasing an early-twentleth-century Cape on a quiet Falmouth road that dead ends at the ocean. ``What got me right away was the neighborhood," says Boyle of the rows of closely spaced cottages laid out before a shared waterfront lawn. F`esidents also share a private beach, as well as a dock.

Taking in the buoyed stretch of blue juxtaposed with gables mlght think you've

stumbled across a summer community. "Klds run around ln bare feet until 10 o'clock at night, and everyone keeps an eye on them," says Boyle. But the neighbors here are largely year-rounders like Boyle, who rises at 4 a.in. every morning to exercise before her 7 a.in. hospital shlft.

Imagining she could transform the cramped, low-cellinged

i?.

I" u i" t=\

i-I {~:

lit

t`3 "v"

F[ |i (C=`j -i-r.::\ ri r! ,I:\ F` i I `\,Z

olleen Boyle has spent the majorlty of her adult IIfe

and the occaslonal galllvantlng chlld, you

it-:

tiquu` a,5 T T ,,fA\ tT.:; Fj

F) E a :`.:! \=" i Lu\! I/:\`\M i

``r H i

i I? i: f\! i

E', E .I.;a t':~d rLi

ic} |= I. I.

she approached Caleb Johnson Archltects and Biddeford. upon inspection, however, the team rottlng wooden foundatlon wlth no footings to weight of the structure. "It would have been more

Builders ln discovered a support the expensive to

pick up the old house and set it back down on a new foundatlon than it was to start from scratch," says Johnson.

Working with the existing footprlnt ln order to comply wlth zoning regulatlons, the team, which Included constructlon manager Andy Herbine, designer Darel Bridges, and architectural designer Jessica Jolin, set about creating a home that Johnson calls "more feminine than a lot of the projects we've done." "Colleen didn't want a hipster-modern deslgn; she wanted elegant detalls," which the team delivered in their trademark authentic fashion The exposed eave structure on the front gable is a classic cottage feature that looks llke an embellishment-perhaps because it conjures the carvings on ancient Greek and F2oman temples, which were inspired by arrangements of wooden rafters like these. A trio of loadbearing brackets beneath the stairway bump-out also doubles as decoration, as do the beams that crown a rear patio: they are the delicately shaped ends of the white-painted hemlock timbers

that

slice

through

the

llving-dining-kitchen

area,

supportlng the second floor. "The language of constructlon we use ls directly derlved from function," says Johnson. "Nothing

you see here is ornamental, any more than the sexy curve of a sailboat is ornamental."

Inside the home, the main carrying beam, wider than the rest, separates the kitchen from the living room and the dining room from the foyer, whlch are arranged to maxlmlze dayllght and allow for glimpses of the water vlew. "I feel that I've failed

Cape into an "open, efficient, beachy, three-bedroom cottage," if a cllent has to turn on a light ln any room during the day,"

..-wl

EEfo

â&#x20AC;˘`---```--`--

I--TT--

_

HEHfiEH

FTH+FiHTE EEE-

a i------````:.

Evan Dyer of Rockport Post and Beam fabricated and instaHed the hemlock beams that extend through the rear wall of the home and overhang a patio.

"Nowadays it's common practice to add decorative beam tails on a home's exterior to give the perception of timbers carrying through," says Dyer. "ln this case, because the timbers are continuous, we had to depend on precise layout and planning to ensure the intei'ior and exterior placement worked in harmony." Sergey Fisenko of Scarborough crafted the inset-

paneled cabinetry in the kitchen and mudroom and on the staircase landing, connecting the various spaces. Stone Coast Marble and Granite in Westbrook supplied the Carrara marble countertops, and Portland's Distinctive Tile and Design provided the ceramic tile backsplash.

)

r"i,,r

Boyle worked with Dwellings in Falmouth to choose the cottagey living room furniture (above), rendered in her favorite shade. Double-hung windows invite sea breezes into the home, while awning styles provide ventilation, and protection, during rainstorms. In the kitchen (opposite) Johnson's team specified casements. "When you're at the sink it's nice to have a crank versus arguing with a sash," says Johnson. "We typically have three to five types of windows in one house.

says Bridges, who worked on the initlal concept design. Sunlight streams in through banks of double-hung, awnlng, and casement windows ln the southwest-faclng livlng room and kltchen, whlle ln the utility areas, sequestered on the northeastern side, the glazing is limited to functlonal single and double units. "Chlaroscuro, a Renaissance term referring to the balance of light and darkness in a painting, is a principle that echoes throughout the design

process for me," says Brldges. "This balance allows me to create an implicit `user guide' to the space, directing people to the areas of Importance."

Focal points, including a massive Carrara marble waterfall island and a ceramic tile backsplash that recalls a watercolor seascape, also help draw visitors into the gathering spaces. Boyle fell in love with the waterfall design after seeing it in a magazine and thought about pairing lt wlth slate countertops, "but Jessica felt it would `stall the flow of the kitchen' and I should stick with

the same stone," she says of Jolin, who stepped in after the schematic design phase to complete the architectural design, material selectlon, and

interior detaillng. A simllar conversatlon

unfolded when Boyle suggested installing an upper cabinet next to the kltchen windows. "Jessica sald lt would `look lonely' Architects t:alk funny. But she was always right. Her mom's a nurse, and I don't know if that was our connectlon, but we felt really comfortable with each other. Many times she'd tell me, `Oh, don't do that; thls ls what you really want.' And l'd thlnk about lt and say, `Of course I don't want a see-through fireplace!"

86 MAINEHOMEDESIGN.COM

On that point, "we felt it would be more approprlate in a cottage to stress natural materlals versus glass," says Jolln, who devised an enclosure between the IIvlng room and kltchen to house a stone fireplace. Flnished ln whlte, random-width nickelgap paneling, the wall coordinates with the beams, whlch are streaked with natural checking, and the custom Inset-panel cabinetry, creating a range of lntriguing shadow lines. Boyle wanted "a lot of turquoise," and Jolin helped her choose a palette of soothing blue-greens for the walls. Aqua strlped and floral upholstered seating, which Boyle selected with help from the team at Dwellings in Falmouth, adds subtle contrast in the livlng room, while occasional bright "moments," such as the backsplash and front door, painted in Sherwin Williams's Gulfstream, energize the scheme. "Set against natural shingles, the door is a nlce surprise and foreshadows what's to come Inside," says Jolin.

A curvaceous wrought-iron door knocker, handmade by Sam Smith of the Portland Forge, presages the graceful brace, also by Smlth, that supports t:he whlte oak Interior stalr ralllng fabrlcated

by the Wood Connectlon in Gray. BIack wlndow sashes, door and cabinet hardware, and a black walnut dining table, designed by JOIIn and crafted by Gabriel Keith Sutton of Biddeford, continue the theme. "We wanted to balance the soft color palette," says Jolin, who worked with Boyle to choose rustic metal dining room and kitchen pendants for the same reason.

Eight months into the construction process, Boyle had a realizatlon. With the home's bedrooms accounted for (one is

_

,.,q

Delicately shaped beam-ends define

a roof overhang between a covered deck off the owner's bedroom and a patio that extends into the yard from the living room.

With its built-in cabinet, closet,

and drawers tucked into an aldertopped window seat, Boyle's mudroom (opposite) offers a lesson in how to trick out a tight space.

fr',rf

-

t\'hb,ITr:t,t\\'

!<,i"/:`\

A graceful wrought-iron

\` --,,

i

I(~~

\LH+i`

,,;,'v,a

,',\j,

1v,u

r

rL\

i

`

(

'

_lL

brace (left, top) and knocker (left) by Sam Smith of the Portland

Forge punctuate MCDonough's white oak interior stair railing and

the front door, painted in Sherwin Williams's

Gulfstream.

hers, one is for guests, and the thlrd is used as an office), "I thought, `Where am I going to do my quilting? My rowlng?I I plan on this being my last house, so it seemed worth it to finish the basement." Furnished with a sewing table, rowing machlne, daybed, televislon, and a curtain rod displaying her running medals, "this ls where I sit in the evenings and

A

C

drink a beer," she says of the completed space Next door is a laundry room with a salvaged porcelain chicken feeder she

D

converted Into a sink for bathlng her wlre fox terrler, Duke. A black granlte countertop and turquolse backsplash, crafted from the same tile seen in the kitchen, surround the sink, and a white beaded chandelier dangles overhead, creating a little spa for a prince among pups-and a dellght for an

owner who relished making it her own. in For more information, see Resources on page 144.

8

Kitchen

J K

Bedroom Owner's Bedroom

Living Area

L

Owner's Bathroom

Office

DiningArea

E

Bathrooms

M Owner's Closet N Covered Deck

F

Foyer

a Storage

G Mudroom

P

H

Q Laundry

I

Entry porch

Windowseat

R

Mechanical RecRoom