eowner push her boundaries to find comfort in a small space
February, 2020 | By: Katherine Gaudet | Photography: Erin Little
In 2015, Hannah and Arne Klepinger’s children had left for college, and were starting to think about downsizing from their 3,000-square-foot home in Yarmouth. “I thought it would take a few years. It took a few hours,” says Hannah. The couple looked at eight condos, and the seventh, a compact two-story space on the South Portland waterfront, caught Arne’s eye
Several years ago, when Warren and Kristin Valdmanis bought their first beach house in an exclusive community on the southern Maine coast, “We were advised to tear it down and start from scratch, which we did,” Kristin recalls. “We were young and didn’t see value in all the twists and turns of an old house. We had really young kids, and we needed something that was ultra-functional.” Fast-forward to 2016. Thinking of it as an investment property, the couple acquired another beach home, this one built in the 1890s, about 10 miles south in another exclusive enclave. “We had deep remorse that we had taken down an original structure with so many memories for the people who had lived there,” says Kristin. “We recognized this house had a soul, and didn’t want bad house karma, so we decided to preserve it as much as we could.”
It wasn’t an easy decision for Paige and Chris Hill to tear down their early twentieth century shingle-style house on Kennebunk’s Lords Point and start from scratch. On the contrary, they had every intention of preserving the beloved oceanfront residence that was home to Paige’s late grandparents. “I spent every summer there for as long as I can remember,” says the Florida-based Hill, “so it was a very special place with a lot of memories.” The idea of rebuilding came up a few years ago…
Do you remember what your home entertainment system was like in 1990? Tape decks and turntables, big speakers, massive tube TV’s, and lots and lots of wires. When Steve Tucker founded Tucker & Tucker three decades ago, the World Wide Web was brand new and the iPhone was 17 years away. In the last three decades, innovation that impacts how we listen to music, watch television, enjoy our homes, and stay connected has advanced at lightening speed. Tucker and Tucker has kept pace with the latest lifestyle technology, offering sophisticated solutions for homeowners and commercial clients while also ensuring that a high level of service is always at the forefront.
There’s a part of Maine, the part where I live, where it’s not Katahdin that is king. No, down here in the Sebago region, Mount Washington looms large. The New Hampshire peak that towers over 6,000 feet above sea level looms on the horizon, blue and stately, distant and domineering. It’s no wonder that artists have been entranced by its form, but it’s not every day that you see a house designed with the mountain in mind.
A few years ago, Stephen and Victoria Gilbert were living in a small townhouse in Auburn, near the offices of their branding agency, Anchour, while they looked for the right place to build their home. They had a good sense of what they were after; both Stephen and Victoria are trained and practicing designers. “I’ve always valued design and thought a lot about its influence on spaces,” says Stephen.