Our WIP home was highlighted as part of an article written by the amazingly talented Hannah Selinger for WSJ last week (you can follow our journey on Instagram @seaside_carriage_house). Photo credit: Erin Little.
The article talks about the appeal of our little town of Falmouth, Maine and how it is drawing people from cities and states across the US because of its wonderful community (full read here).
Matt and I are so proud and grateful to have the opportunity to grow our family in this amazing place. I said it in the article, but it is actually a dream come true for me, as I fell in love with the town through many sleepovers with my high school best friend who grew up here (hey Hoo! I did it!) We’ve done some initial renovations to make this cool antique carriage house livable for our little ones and ourselves, but like many young families, our resources are limited, and much of this work remains to be done in the coming years.
I am from Maine, and I’m not afraid of hard work.
We are very aware of the challenges posed by renovating/restoring an old house. In just a few months of living here, we’ve worked with professionals to remove black mold and mitigated radon. We’ve tightened uneven floorboards to various levels of success. We dream daily of what the next wave of projects might entail. Just as often (literally EVERY day), Matt is rolling up his sleeves to fix a leak or reroute a thermostat, mud a hole in a wall or epoxy a cracked door.
Choosing to live this way is not for the faint of heart, but we chose this path with our eyes wide open, and we’re genuinely loving the adventure (most days). We are not afraid of the foxes that hunt in our yard or the “bugs or woodpeckers (?)” that some commenters on the article are saying will scare us away within five years. This is so bizarre to me. Have these people only ever lived in new construction condos with professional management?
A career dedicated to solving tough problems has helped me build skills of creativity and perseverance that transfer nicely when trying to troubleshoot years and generations of shoddy electric work and partial fixes, nine (NINE!) separate nonsense heating zones, and how to fit a full size toilet and pedestal sink in the smallest bathroom ever constructed.
We’ve had some hard times recently, like many others.
Matt was laid off. I’ve navigated my small business through the pandemic with many stressful pivots and adjustments. We’ve lost family members, and have been unable to hug others who we miss dearly. We decided to expand our family despite some serious uncertainties about the future. We decided to take on an expensive move and renovation; to "bet on our family," and on the life we want to live together. These decisions were not easy, but they were right for us. We are happy and proud of where we are, and of the life we are building together.
The support of our families, friends, and business partners has been overwhelming. We are more appreciative than ever of the people in our lives. This existence would be impossible without them, and we are SO aware that the generosity of others has contributed so significantly to our ability to pursue this next chapter for our family.
We agreed to be a part of this article not because our home is worthy of a magazine spread (although Erin Little really worked her magic on this one), or because we worked with a fancy design firm to make sure every piece of furniture was equally trendy and timeless and each peony petal perfectly staged. That is not our reality today, although it is a little embarrassing to admit that I have had many weak "social-media-scroll" moments when I wished it were.
Our home is full of a hodge-podge of items we accumulated from various living situations in various cities over various years. We were also fortunate enough to inherit some items from family, and found other pieces on sale or at antique stores. We look forward to years ahead of making this place ours, and working with local small businesses and makers to restore our carriage house to a perfect hybrid of its historic past and our family’s future.
Getting into this town and this house was our priority, and by making that decision, other things have to wait.
So no... we don’t have a sailboat. We are currently saving for a second car. We have more than double the space to fill in our new home than we did in our Boston townhouse, and as much as I would love to restore and decorate all 5000+ square feet of this glorious place today, I am working on being patient and enjoying the journey. We are warm and safe and comfortable in this home now, and we are making it our own a little at a time. For us, that’s the dream.
We certainly didn’t participate in this story because we had nothing better to do with our time 😊 (I am eight months pregnant in these photos for goodness sake). We said yes because we thought that Falmouth deserved representation from a real family with real dreams.
A family that intends to live and grow and invest in their home the same way they intend to invest in their community: over time, and with great love.
So yes, Falmouth, we are technically “from away,” but now, we are here.
We are not long-time locals and we are not NYC billionaires. We are a family, just like yours, seeking “the way life should be” for our next generation. We will pay your taxes, send our children to your schools, frequent your restaurants, bask on your beaches, explore your trails, and attend your churches and your little league games for years to come. We are here for the long haul, and thrilled to be a tiny part of this tiny town.
Even if James Fallon (is that you, Jimmy?) thinks our furniture is ugly.
-CJK (@seaside_carriage_house)
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