When a New York couple decided to move to Maine in 2019, they dreamed of building a home exactly suited to their family. They had spent nearly 25 years making spaces their own in Manhattan and East Hampton, as well as drawing inspiration from their European travels, and they knew what they liked. But the building process was going to take time, and they were ready to move. “It was a conscious decision to leave the lifestyle in New York City,” says the wife. “We wanted to be near family, and have a more autonomous life, where we could own our businesses.” The husband came upon a home for sale with a lot going for it—especially its quiet, private location in an elegant neighborhood on the southern coast. It wasn’t perfect. “I didn’t like the interior,” he says, but that didn’t stand in the way: the home was soon theirs, and they began planning a renovation immediately.

The couple hired Chris Herlihy of Polestar Design to carry out the renovation. Herlihy had been project manager when the home was built, so was deeply familiar with every detail of the design. The home was unusually primed for renovation, says Herlihy. The original owners, he says, “had a dream, an ecological vision, and a budget, but the three did not align. I recommended that they move forward with the design of the dream and then scale or phase the project to meet the budget. When the design was complete, the family realized that they could have everything they wanted if they scaled back the interior finishes and left a couple of spaces completely unfinished. This was done without compromising the ecological vision and the use of durable materials on the exterior of the building.”

That meant there was space ready for reconfiguring, like an unfinished area above the garage, and lots of potential for upgrading the interior finishes. The new owners, with the help of Polestar Design, set about remaking the space into one they would love, with elevated finishes, lots of light, and a flow that suited their family. “We needed to make Maine our home, and part of that was customizing the house,” says the wife. “It was such a drastic change. We had the need to nest, because it was the next chapter in our lives. It was about really making it feel right for us.”

The kitchen, at the center of the family’s life, was a priority. “We love to cook,” says the husband. “For us, preparing meals together is an expression of love, a special time to connect with our family.” The original kitchen was large, with a convenient butler’s pantry, but they didn’t like the aesthetic—it had knotty pine floors and faux-brick features, rather than the clean, elegant look the couple preferred. The couple took the opportunity to create a kitchen exactly suited to the way they would use it. They had new cabinets custom designed specifically for their collection of cookware. “The detail within the cabinets is more important than the cabinets themselves,” says the wife. “They are really well thought out for ideal cooking conditions.” A large butler’s pantry was redone, with a wall oven (adjusted to the wife’s height), a second dishwasher, and customized open shelving that allows easy access to two stand mixers—one is reserved for bread making—and a variety of pots, pans, and platters.

The connection between the kitchen and dining area was opened up, and a small island was replaced with an oversized one, designed by the husband to incorporate plenty of storage. “There’s no dead space,” he points out, opening a touch-latch cabinet door. It’s topped with a spectacular 2-inch-thick slab of marble. “We pored over dozens of high-resolution pictures from a quarry in Carrara,” he says. “Finally, we found the perfect veining.” Once selected, the 2,000-pound slab was shipped from Italy, finished by the Paul White Company in Portland, and carefully moved into the house. “I couldn’t be here,” says the wife. “It was nerve-racking!”

Additional significant changes were made to the second-floor bedrooms and baths. The owners wanted their bedroom to be a true suite, with a sitting area, sleeping space, dual walk-in closets, and a spacious bath. They removed a small office to enlarge the space, replaced small windows with much larger ones, and added a fireplace, which they elevated so that it could be enjoyed from the bed during bedtime stories. The flow of the children’s bedrooms and bathroom was also changed: the rooms were widened, closets were added, and the rooms were joined through a shared bathroom. “We know the girls need to grow into their spaces,” says the wife. “Entering into the bathroom from the hallway—that wasn’t going to work.” A guest suite was added over the garage, and a space in the eaves became a playroom where the girls can freely strew their dolls and toys. “I’m pretty tidy,” says the wife, “but in here, it’s their space. They can make a mess and blare their records.”

With the exception of new and enlarged windows, the home’s modern-farmhouse exterior was left mainly untouched. The landscape, however, was a different story. “It was a sea of asphalt, a pretty harsh arrival,” says landscape architect Josh Tompkins. There was little division between the driveway and the house, so delivery trucks “felt like they were coming into the room,” says the wife. The homeowners envisioned something like a European motor court, with crushed stone instead of asphalt and a more inviting entrance. Working within the constrained space, Tompkins created a “graceful” loop driveway with a sizable island in the middle, enabling several deciduous trees to be planted. The addition of trees, says Tompkins, softens the building’s facade and smooths the transition between architecture and landscape. They also offer a more abstract benefit: “The seasonality of trees can bring that fourth dimension: change over time,” he says. “If you bring them front and center, they can really add some mystery. Putting them close to where you’re coming and going from the house lets you appreciate that sense of change.”

The family moved into the home at the end of 2019, and within a few months their choice of renovation instead of new construction looked prescient. “When we left New York, it was so hard to leave,” says the husband. “We had friends from all over the world. Within a year, they had all left because of COVID.” While their quieter, slower life took some getting used to, the family came to appreciate it. The girls watched a family of foxes grow up in the yard and listened to owl calls at night. “It became a sanctuary for us,” says the husband. “Homeschooling during COVID in this setting was a wonderful experience,” recalls the wife. “We would frontload the instructional time, and then in the afternoons, we would do art projects and spend time outside. It really felt like our home. We still love the energy of the city, but this is absolutely where we want to raise our children.”