WRITINGS

HOME DECOR

My article appearing in Better Homes and Gardens^® Creative Home magazine:

“Mainely” Modern
By Matt Jones

Fabulous forest greenery and brilliant blue waters, prickly pinecones and smooth stones, stunning coastlines and soothing sunsets: These timeless Maine colors, textures, and scenes are captured in beautiful arts by local Deer Isle designers for home decorating. And although they live in a state that prizes traditional crafts, many of Maine’s most talented artisans combine popular pieces with modern fine arts in an eclectic mix of styles for homes from the mainstream to the magnificent.

Naturally beautiful
Walk along almost any stretch of Maine coastline and you’ll see turn-of-the-century houses with weathered shingles on their walls and widow’s walk parapets. You’ll also notice modern houses with custom windows and acres of decks. Just as these diverse architectural styles share the landscape, traditional and contemporary crafts coexist in many Maine homes.

Maine designers often create pieces that mirror elements of nature, reflecting such popular subjects as spruces, blueberries, boats, seabirds, and shells in original pottery, quilts, woodcarvings, and paintings. Others create unique contemporary furnishings that pay homage to the natural splendors of their state in metal, ceramic, and wood.

A grand tour
Join us on a tour of one Deer Isle house, pictured here, that brims with a balance of traditional Maine-motif crafts and contemporary arts. Enter a hallway with an industrial-age brick wall and discover the decorative pairing of rustic sea grass hanging baskets with abstract fiber- and copper wire-art wall displays.

Walk into the living room among commercial furnishings and find an “art gallery” presenting a fireplace outfitted with hand-forged andirons and a glass table fashioned with sculpted iron legs and a beach stone base.

Seat yourself in the dinning room and enjoy a view of high-contrast white cupboards and a black dinner table decked with exotic turned-wood bowls and blown-glass vases as well as simple Shaker baskets.

Wend your way into the master bedroom, which includes French doors that open to a deck overhanging the ocean, and notice a dramatic woodcut block-print wall hanging accompanied by an antique carved- and pained-wood blanket chest.

Transcendent style
In this home, and many similar ones on Deer Isle, Maine artisans showcase handmade decorations that transcend local origins with universal appeal. The residents like to call their state “vacationland.” But you could just as easily call it “inspiration land.” That’s because the designers motivate people from Maine to Marin with regional wonders in a decorative blend of traditional and modern media.