Anna Mangum

2 months ago | decormaine.com | Anna Mangum |Miranda Valentine

Most stories don’t start with finding your dream home on a Maine island one week before moving to Uganda, but Grace Becton’s does. Grace, an interior designer who splits her time between DC and Maine, was no stranger to Deer Isle’s tightknit community when she came across her dream house located there. She grew up on the island. “There were 25 people in my class, from Kindergarten to 12th,” she says.

2 months ago | decormaine.com | Anna Mangum |Miranda Valentine

As Alice stepped through the looking glass into a magical world where everything is upside down, so too does this York home transform our psyche. Designed by Whitten Architects, the house recalls the familiar shape of a traditional Maine home—a main house, a back house, and a barn—but turns this convention on its head. Indeed, Whitten Architects created microclimates in this modern home for their clients—but before we step inside, let’s start at the beginning.

2 months ago | decormaine.com | Anna Mangum |Miranda Valentine

Cue James Taylor’s dulcet voice singing about a country road. Picture a long driveway lined with rows of red maples, winding and fitting the music. The road and trees give way to a rustic farmhouse composed of several patinaed buildings. You can see the front door but are not yet privy to the pool, patio, or pickleball court hiding behind the main house. A wall of evergreen trees conceals the adjacent golf course without making the property feel boxed in.

2 months ago | decormaine.com | Anna Mangum |Miranda Valentine

Landscape designer Matthew Cunningham had long envisioned a project that would allow him and his team to explore the potential of sustainable landscape design on a larger scale. The land needed to have several acres, like a former farm. After scouring real estate pages for months, one Saturday night back in June of 2022, the ideal candidate popped up. The site was previously used to board horses, complete with a 10,000 square foot riding arena and 13 acres of land.

2 months ago | decormaine.com | Anna Mangum |Miranda Valentine

Where do nationally recognized architects go to get their landscaping done? David Morris, one of the principal architects at local firm Woodhull, worked closely with friend, landscape designer Soren Deniord and landscape construction company, Tammaro Landscaping, to bring his vision to life. Though packed in tightly with neighbors in a Cape Elizabeth neighborhood, this landscape is afforded privacy thanks to fencing and strategically placed plants.