For the uninitiated or even just the shy, a visit to a designer’s showroom can be a minefield of question—can I touch this? can I buy it? will it fit my living room?—with possibly intimidating answers. Which is why renowned designer Louise Hurlbutt of Hurlbutt Designs is quick to point out that, in her spacious Kennebunk shop, “Everything is for sale. Because of our name, some people think it’s all a design studio, but in reality we sell everything off the floor.”

Hurlbutt’s roots in the area go deep. “As a child, my family started coming to Kennebunk,” she recalls. “My sister and I went to Cushing Academy, and the two sons of the owner of the Seaside Hotel went to Cushing Academy, so a lot of Cushing students came here in the summer to work. Then eventually my parents bought a summer home here. My sister married someone here. I got married, and my husband and I went abroad for 23 years, but our home base was here every summer with our children.”

Those years abroad formed the basis of Hurlbutt’s informal education as a designer; she learned about rugs in Afghanistan, silks and porcelain in Japan, and European antiques in London. During an interlude back in the United States, she attended the New York School of Design for more formal instruction, and later started a design business in Philadelphia. So when she and her husband were ready to return to southern Maine full-time, she says, “I decided to open a design business here. Everybody told me I was crazy. It was 25 years ago, and everybody said, ‘Nobody here uses designers.’” Hurlbutt has gone on to prove them wrong for nearly three decades now, designing interiors up and down the coast.

But, from the very start, she envisioned Hurlbutt Designs as more than just a design studio. “At first I worked at home, but I didn’t like being alone,” remembers Hurlbutt. She found a series of connected condos set back a bit from the hustle and bustle of Kennebunk’s main streets. “When the owner of this space needed a tenant, I saw that I could have retail downstairs, plus I had space to have my office upstairs,” she says. As adjoining units became available, she purchased them and expanded both the retail and office spaces. “When I look back on it, I think, wow, slowly and gradually, over 24 years, we built this. Now the store really functions,” she continues, “not only as retail but also as a design center, which makes it quite unusual. All the design reps come to us here.”

Now, at 5,000 square feet, the space feels full but never crowded. Hurlbutt mixes the antiques she still loves with new furniture and of-the-moment accessories. “We put the shop together sort of eclectically, the way we’d love to see it in your house,” says Hurlbutt. “It changes constantly because, as people buy, we put new merchandise out.” In summer the shop is always full of casual vacationing browsers (“there’s all-day breakfast next door—we’re good for each other!” laughs Hurlbutt), but seasonal and full-time residents are regulars too. “We find that, every summer, clients whose houses we did ten years ago will come back and say, ‘Oh, we need a new slipcover’ or, ‘Oh, the dog ruined the rug,’ so we enjoy a lot of repeat business.”

This balance of continuity and novelty reflects Hurlbutt’s signature aesthetic: new furnishings benefit from the patina of their antique neighbors, while antiques feel fresh paired with current items. Throughout the shop, Hurlbutt and her staff like to create vignettes: a cozy sofa paired with two comfy chairs, plus end tables and a pair of lamps. Often, she says, customers will walk in and buy the whole ensemble, outfitting an entire room in one fell swoop. It’s all arranged, explains Hurlbutt, for ease. “People come in and say, ‘I want this. Can I buy it off the floor? Are you sure I can buy it off the floor?’ Yes, you can. We’ll deliver it tomorrow, and you can set it on that rug. We’ve got it all ready so you can just take it away.”

Rhapsody in Blues

Even the most casual reader of MH+D will know that Hurlbutt Designs is famous for its coastal color schemes. “Everybody says to me, ‘Well, do you do anything else besides blue and white?’ And I say, ‘Absolutely!’” Hurlbutt says with a smile. “But people come to us asking for blue and white houses because they want to bring the outside into their home: the sky, the sea, the trees, and the sea marsh.” Why not embrace your own blue period? Here are some of our favorite blue and white items currently in the shop.

• “Because I’m a collector of antique blue and white porcelains, there are lots of items that I’ve bought at auction. But then we also intersperse them with other, newer blue and white objects,” explains Hurlbutt. She gestures toward a collection of ceramic spheres patterned like willowware. “Like these balls, which are to fill a glass vase or a bowl. Aren’t they fun?”
• Curvy candleholders and pepper mills in glossy, classic cobalt by Addison Ross adorn tabletops in the shop, but they also come in a rainbow of colors including yellow and coral, “which really complements the blue and white,” notes Hurlbutt. “This whole new line of Addison Ross is so attractive,” she enthuses.
• Throw pillows are a great way to play with color. “We have pillows galore,” says Hurlbutt. “We must have 50 pillow covers in the closet to put out as we sell. They can just add a little blue and white accent.”
• Hurlbutt outlines her plans to create what she calls “Rug Row” with the latest line of Dash and Albert rugs: “We’ll have the full rug line—including ones that you can buy right off the floor— and now they have washable rugs too. We’re really excited about that because it’s great for runners and kitchen mats.” Rug Row is sure to have lots of blue and white options that will stay crisp and bright thanks to an occasional spin in the washing machine.
• Finally, for that personal touch of blue and white, consider the assortment of hand-stitched needlepoint belts by Smathers and Branson, available in classic navy and white anchors or more daring skull and crossbones. “They designed our very own Kennebunk belts,” explains Hurlbutt, “with lobsters and Walker’s Point and St. Ann’s by-the-Sea Church on them. They make great groomsmen gifts.”