Our Maine home, on 3 acres overlooking the Sandy River, is a wonderful retreat from the busyness and density of city life. We come here to unwind, listen to birds, relax in the spacious house, garden in the yard, enjoy cooking and relaxing, and get some good sleep! There’s room to spread out, separate spaces in the house for quiet or for chatting.
Historic information
This historic farmhouse and barn were built in the Federalist period, around 1820 (?). It was originally a parsonage, and is located next door to the village church. Today, the house retains many significant orignal features, including the half-circle glass over the entry door, the original stair case and banisters, beautiful craft-work in the hand-planed doors, and fine large beams, some of which we have left revealed. A later connector was constructed between the main house and barn, and this ell now houses the kitchen and the library.
Rooms
Our house has 4 bedrooms, and 2.5 baths. All rooms contain individually controlled new Myson radiators. The largest bedroom, on the first floor, is furnished with a queen bed, reading chair, dresser and mirror, writing desk, bookshelf, closet, and a spacious en-suite bathroom, with an over-sized tub. The bedroom has 3 windows, on the south and east sides, and the bathroom has 2, facing east and north.
Upstairs are 3 additional bedrooms, and another full bath. There is also a small kitchen/sitting area that looks out over the back yard and the woods. This area has a spacious counter and sink, a coffee machine, tea kettle, and a table for reading/writing/snacking. A bookshelf offers magazines on Maine, and other good reading.
The larger bedroom upstairs faces east, with two windows and looks out on a magnificent sugar maple, and the nearby church tower. There is a queen bed, assortment of linens, reading corner with easy chair and ottoman, and bedside tables with lamps. A west-facing bedroom looks out over our standing-seam roof, the barn and the pines to the west, and gets a great amount of afternoon sun through its two windows. This room has a double bed, night stands and reading lights on both sides, a beautiful old mirror, and an ottoman. The last and cosiest bedroom is under the eaves, faces west, and is furnished with two single all-cotton futon mattresses side by side. It has a luggage rack, a lamp, and a small table.
Shared rooms
We have a full, completely new kitchen, with a 5-burner gas stove, a toaster oven, and microwave. We love our custom-made cabinets (from SamClarkDesign) of ash wood and Valchromat. There’s a small table in the kitchen wehre you can eat and look out on the front yard and old apple trees, or you can eat at the dining table in the front parlor. You can probably seat eight here, altho we haven’t had that many yet.
The front and back parlors connect around the raised heath with the woodstove. The front parlor also has a reading chair with ottoman. The back parlor has an untested & untuned piano (as of May 2014), and more chairs for reading or chatting. The back parlor looks out on the back yard, and is often a great place to watch birds flitting back and forth fromt eh maples to the pines to the grass.
Supplies
The bathrooms have a small stock of toiletries to share- soap, shampoo, hand cream, toothpaste, etc. There are plentiful towels, and bed linens, and there is laundry detergent supplied in the laundry room. The laundry room has a small box of first-aid materials, and a few extra toothbrushes if you forgot yours. There is insect repellant, and some sunscreen in the house.
The kitchen has a good amount of basic staples and a range of condiments, which you are free to use. Usually there are some dry cereals, oatmeal, canned beans, tuna, soups, etc; cookies and crackers, corn chips and salsa, pasta and sauce, some dried fruits and nuts; a selection of teas, coffee and decaf, cocoa and maybe some chocolate bars! See the activities page for ideas about where to buy groceries, or places to eat out.
Green features
We were very happy to conserve and refurbish an existing house, rather than tear down something and build new. We hired a wonderful local contractor, and made choices to use locally milled wood for the new floor in the library, and the spruce siding for the house. Our kitchen and bathroom floors are Marmoleum, natural linoleum flooring. The house has been very well insulated to conserve energy and money, and we are heating with efficient, handsome, and comfortable wall-hung, European-style but New England-based Myson radiators.
Our kitchen cooking pots are almost all stainless steel or glass – no aluminum or teflon. We use green cleaning products, and don’t use any fabric softeners, “air fresheners” or similar products. We have cotton napkins, kitchen towels, and cleaning rags.
We care for our yards using organic practices
Utilities & appliances
We have town water, propane heating and cooking, and completely modernized electrical. The house has a brand-new septic field. Our boiler allows us to enjoy on-demand hot water (not a hot-water tank which can run out.) We also have a fine cast-iron & soapstone woodstove, on the first floor.
Our phone landline service is a VOIP one, so you may use the house line to make calls locally or anywhere domestically (ie in the US.). We have wifi which is pretty reliable, and are usually able to connect. There is a DVD player and TV monitor, so please feel free to bring your DVDs or use our Netflix service (starting in August.)
Yards
Location
Although we’re in a rural area, it’s very easy to get to. We’re a half-hour from Augusta, just a couple of minutes off Route 27, a well-traveled state road. Winter access is not a concern!
Our house is minutes from the Franklin County seat, Farmington.