FIELD TRIP-2009

by Veronique McAree
Photography Liz Atterbury

A home isn’t merely a place to live—it’s a veritable storybook of styles, influences, and thoughtfully executed design.

Nicola Manganello’s personal and professional style first took root in 1996, when she opened Nicola’s in her hometown of Yarmouth. Selling a high-end yet quirky selection of clothing, accessories, and home goods, the store quickly blossomed into a successful retail enterprise, delighting customers with its eccentric product mix. Then came her daughter Maeve, and Nicola found that juggling the retail business with the daily demands of raising a baby was simply too challenging. So, armed with a list of loyal clients—many of whom had already begun to hire her for decorating projects—she swapped retail for interior design, and Nicola’s Homes was born.

Nicola’s business has since expanded into a premiere real estate development company, and her many projects (homes, developments, and renovations) dot the landscape from Falmouth to Freeport and beyond. Most recently, she has partnered with New Hampshire–based multichannel marketer Garnet Hill to create a sumptuous line of bedding that combines fine fabrics with her inimitable sense of style.

Stopping by Nicola’s renovated home in Falmouth, with its exquisitely curated spaces that elegantly blend European-inspired pieces with Maine art, I feel as if I’m in the south of France one minute, a seaside retreat the next. Her talent for using color and pattern is a skill she claims was sharpened while studying color theory and sculpture at Maine College of Art. “MECA,” says Nicola, “armed me with practical knowledge I use day in and day out.”

In her studio on a high-summer day, Nicola is busy inspecting the details of a bedding design fashioned from an assortment of haberdashery-inspired knits and tweeds. She’s also alternately procuring fabric, talking to me, and paying bills. It’s a bustling scene, but when I ask what characteristics define her style, she becomes completely focused. “I blend my Maine roots with European elegance and farmhouse practicality,” says Nicola. The result? Surpassingly beautiful homes that are eminently livable.

“Whether I’m designing spaces or products, renovating homes, or decorating,” she explains, “it’s all about looking—really looking—at ideas.”

But perhaps the genius is in using what you see creatively. And that, Nicola has down pat.