Sarah’s Blog

Lacanche Sully

In My Next Life, I Will Own This Stove

Home Design

Lately, my Instagram feed has been awash with images of almost-too-beautiful-to-be-real Lacanche ranges. And recently, I learned that at least one of the 200-year-old French company’s hand-assembled, customizable models — the Chagny 1400 — has surfaced in Maine. The seven-burner ivory cooker with jewelry-like brass knobs is the centerpiece of a rehabbed Rockport kitchen designed […]

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6 Reasons Why I Haven’t Left the Island in a Month

Living on an Island

The first one is kinda obvious; the rest you might not think of unless you live 12 miles out to sea. I have a newborn. Every parent reading this knows how hard it is to go anywhere with a baby and all of his accompanying gear. Now factor a ferry into that equation. And the […]

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Cornish, Maine

Cornish House Tour

Maine Places

For years, when I heard someone refer to Cornish, I thought of game hens, the people of Cornwall, England, and some vague, imaginary ailment (i.e., “I’m feeling a little cornish today.”). Then, soon after I moved back to Maine from New York, I hosted a group of editors from Rachael Ray Every Day at my […]

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Portland Bungalow

Exterior Paint Makeovers

Home Design

Recently, there have been some amazing transformations on our Portland street. Not major renovations, mind you, but simple, impactful upgrades made primarily with fresh coats of paint. Exhibit A: Our friends’ bungalow (above), previously known to all as “the pink house,” is now a handsome inky gray with bright-white trim, brackets, and exposed rafter tails […]

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Monhegan Island

Monhegan House Tour

Maine Places

Mark and I visited Monhegan island the other weekend and the whole time we were there, all I could think was, “I’m walking around in a Jamie Wyeth painting.” Arriving on the ferry, we sailed past the columned home featured in Wyeth’s Partridge House, Monhegan Island, Maine, and docked near The Red House, with its […]

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The Half-Finished House

Living on an Island

When we were living with my mother-in-law, we could leave our unfinished house at the end of the day, decompress, and mostly forget about our ever-growing to-do list. Now that we’ve moved in? Every time I pass the stairs covered in painter’s tape, I’m reminded of how much more work there is to be done. […]

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About Last Weekend

Thoughts on Home

Last week, I chaperoned a field trip to the Gilsland Farm Audubon Center in Falmouth with a group of first- and second-graders. We used nets to scoop up fish, tadpoles, and algae (or “allergy” as my kids call it), and talked about the pond ecosystem, but it was an improvised activity that has stuck with […]

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Maine kitchen

A Renovation Revisited

Kitchen Reno

It’s been a little over five months since we wrapped up our kitchen remodel and the space has been working so well, I sometimes worry that I’m taking it for granted. I have scarcely given a second thought to decisions I questioned and/or agonized over during the design process, such as incorporating open shelving (it’s […]

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Reid State Park

The Limbo Season

Thoughts on Home

Here we are in not quite fall, a.k.a. the time of year when I force my family to eat homemade soup on a 75-degree day and burnt-orange mums mingle awkwardly with fuchsia geraniums on our back deck. On the front porch, an urn of ornamental cabbage and fountain grass looks similarly at odds with the […]

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Maine Island Home

When “Good Enough” Is Enough

Living on an Island

Building on an Island writer Laura Serino, of Island Apothecary, has moved into her North Haven home with her husband and their new baby — but the projects continue. Read up on their progress and see photos of their finished rooms (and gorgeous bambino) below, and be sure to share your thoughts! – Sarah “Good […]

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