The property wasn’t perfect, because no property is, but it was located on the edge of the southern Maine shore, looking out toward the Atlantic. “Breathtaking” is how the homeowner describes it: “We knew it would be a shame not to highlight that view as much as possible.” Although there had previously been a house on the plot, they needed something more modern for their family of four, especially since they were planning to make the Maine house their permanent residence. And when it came down to it, the site of their new home wasn’t special just because of its proximity to the water or the scent of its surrounding pine forests. If home is where the heart is, this place had to be home.

“My husband’s family has ties to Cape Elizabeth and this area since the 1970s, and his parents put down permanent roots in 1996 when they purchased the property and created a family estate,” explains the homeowner. “We got married here, and we’ve been bringing our girls here since they were infants. When the opportunity arose during the pandemic to make this area our permanent home, we jumped on it.”

There was one snag: the property already had a cottage. It wasn’t quite suitable for year-round family living, so the couple decided to pick it up and move it. This change of location sparked a second critical decree in the design brief: the new home had to honor the old.

This wasn’t a problem for the design-build team at Fine Lines Construction in Freeport, who had worked on many similar residential projects in their 30 years in business. While many styles have come and gone during that time, the plan was to make this house feel relatively timeless by relying on a New England standard. According to architectural historian Vincent Joseph Scully, shingle style is “the architecture of the American summer,” as iconic as boat shoes and baseball. In many ways, these rambling, whimsical structures were made to match the almost-wild, nearly tamed look of the predominant landscaping of the period. Cottage gardens, with their fluffy perennial beds and tangled arbors, looked their best when paired with a slightly flamboyant (but clearly rustic) home. Fine Lines president Ted Andrews looked to the neighbors for inspiration with this contemporary version. “We wanted to pick up on the context of the local architecture,” he explains. “This house reflects the shingle styles of Cape Elizabeth, and all the details you see on the outside were already established on other properties.” It was important for everyone involved that this house feel “consistent.” The first plans for the house were drawn up by Cape Elizabeth– based architect Ted Haffenreffer, who ensured that the property would be appropriately situated within the predetermined constrictions. “The house is hitting the setbacks on three corners, so it is very tight,” explains Andrews. “Haffenreffer got his head around that, and we subsequently got it properly laid out by surveyors, so we were able to wiggle it right up against the lines.” The homeowners wanted enough space for their teen daughters to have their own bedrooms, and for an office, screened porch, generous living area, and ready-to-entertain kitchen. “If we could have taken the entire building and grown it by 5 percent, this build would have been much easier,” says Ben Duplissis, president at Fine Lines. “But it’s all squeezed in, and that was a challenge.” Getting the exterior right was a little easier because they had plenty of references from which to draw. “From the outset, our clients wanted to honor the cottage that was there before,” says Andrews. “It was a funky old thing. It had a faceted den room on the east side. We decided we’d put that element right back in the same way.” The hexagonal room they built isn’t an exact replica of the original home’s library: the size and height differ. Fine Lines employed similar, painstaking construction techniques to ensure the siding was woven together “just so.” Andrews says, “The siding took a long time on this house, because there is a lot of siding, and also because it needed finesse and skill. There’s a flare that ties together with the roof trim, and the steep roof was critical to getting the second-floor spaces we needed.”

Since the house is located by the water, drainage was a consideration, as was rain damage. They moved the house outside the flood zone (by raising it two-anda- half feet), installed a redundant pump system (two pumps at different elevations), and paid particular attention to waterproofing the windows. “We used premium Marvin Signature series windows,” says Duplissis. “The way we install them on coastal homes is different from how you might elsewhere. We’re making sure that any window susceptible to wind-driven rain is sealed on all four sides.” Andrews adds that the roof shingles were chosen purposefully as well. “Asphalt shingles are very problematic on the shore now, and they didn’t used to be. But it’s the wind. This house has already been through about three or four storms of the century, and details that would have worked in the 1980s don’t work now.” Decades of data have been collected on how homes perform in extreme weather, and new products are coming on the market all the time to ensure that contemporary structures can stand for a longer time than ever before. “Ben would say, we want these houses to behave themselves out there. And it’s essential that they don’t fail,” adds Andrews. “There’s a lot of effort from the carpenters, all the way up.”

As a result, the house is superinsulated and extremely quiet. “We joke that we’re so close to the ocean, but if you shut all the windows you’d never know it,” says the homeowner. “These storms have been like putting the house into the L.L.Bean product testing lab, and it passed with flying colors.” For the residents, the house’s success is about more than its practical concerns (and its public-facing good looks). It’s also about the comfortable, stylish, inspired interior. “We have to give so much credit to Liz,” says the homeowner. The “Liz” in question is Liz Kirby of Surf Road Interior Design, who came on the project fairly early, back in 2021, and helped tweak the floor plan and layout before delving into design matters. As a Cape Elizabeth native, Kirby had known the homeowners previously and was excited to work with her old school friend.

“They wanted something coastal, almost leaning toward nautical,” she explains. “They wanted to capture the sense of location, so that being in these rooms would be like getting sprayed by seawater.” One of the most visible ways that Kirby drew from the landscape is through her choice of paint colors. “Their family also has a cottage at Roque Island, and we put nods to that throughout, including with the paint color in the office. It matches the color on the floors at Roque.” Part of her job involved taking the ideas from the couple—like a desire for lighting made from a ship’s wheel—and finding thoughtful, classic alternatives. The brass lighting throughout the home evokes antique ships without being kitschy. Kirby also used woven material (reminiscent of rope or netting) to add a touch of organic softness. For the bathroom cabinets and the furniture, she sourced “white-leaning woods” that would call to mind driftwood. A coffee table inlaid with oyster shells came from Home Remedies in Portland and helped round out the living room set.

Herringbone makes multiple appearances on tabletops, and quartzite counters in pale tones reinforce the beachside theme. The designer says she felt lucky when it came to art selection: the homeowner is an avid photographer and art collector, so Kirby was able to help the couple comb through their works and decide on placement. “That was such a fun thing to do after all the dust had settled,” she says. “[The homeowner] has a very good eye, and he’s willing to get up very early to get the right light. When building it, they spent a lot of time in a rental at Higgins Beach. He got up early to see the surfers, and I think he fell into it.” There were also a few standout pieces that had been passed down through the family, including some oil paintings of the shoreline. “I also convinced them to go with a light blue couch rather than a white one,” she laughs. “It’s better for their family life, and it looks really great.”

In early 2023 the family was able to move into their new dwelling, ready to weather the storms of Maine and enjoy the slanting light of winter. After a year, they’ve broken in the blue couch, figured out the best time of day for outdoor photography, and spent countless hours gazing out at the water from the big windows by the breakfast nook. “We are very lucky, and it’s a very special situation to have your daughters grow up steps away from their grandparents, and also to walk by the place where your parents were married,” says the homeowner. “We really subscribe to longevity, and family is the best prescription.”