{"id":64592,"date":"2023-01-02T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-02T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.themainemag.com\/?p=64592"},"modified":"2022-12-15T12:49:47","modified_gmt":"2022-12-15T17:49:47","slug":"a-historic-west-end-brownstone-gets-a-classic-renovation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themainemag.com\/a-historic-west-end-brownstone-gets-a-classic-renovation\/","title":{"rendered":"A Historic West End Brownstone Gets a Classic Renovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Jennifer and Greg Thayer are slowly renovating an old West End brownstone. Before they moved in, it had been used as an Airbnb.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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“Everything happened in this house,\u201d says Jennifer Thayer. \u201cThe day we moved in, Greg proposed.\u201d The house, a West End brownstone, is where the couple waited out the pandemic (they moved into the Pine Street property in late 2019). It\u2019s also where they started their family (their daughter, Annie, is only weeks old). It seemed, at first, like an impossibility. A historic brownstone couldn\u2019t possibly be in their price range, they thought. \u201cOur realtor said, \u2018You should check it out anyway; it\u2019s actually a multi-unit,\u2019\u201d Jen remembers. \u201cAnd the moment we walked in, we were in love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Greg, the building was a bit of a \u201cdiamond in the rough.\u201d But, he says, \u201cwe could see that, underneath it all, it had good bones.\u201d The previous owner had been renting out the upstairs unit on Airbnb, and an endless parade of temporary lodgers had taken their toll. It had been listed as a single unit, but because their realtor analyzed the listing details and realized it was in fact two units, the couple swiftly determined if they bought it, moved in upstairs, and rented out the bottom to a long-term tenant, maybe they could make the mortgage work. \u201cThe house had high ceilings, great mouldings, and fully exposed brick walls throughout. You could just see that it could be something great,\u201d says Jen. Plus, there was the rooftop deck to consider. \u201cIt\u2019s so rare to get a space like that in the middle of the city,\u201d adds Greg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, they signed the papers, moved into the house, and began the slow process of renovation. Despite those lofty ceilings and that garden-ready deck, it did need work. Firstly, although Greg had noticed the \u201cneat\u201d features of the main living space\u2014he admired the wide-plank floorboards and the old-fashioned cabinetry\u2014he saw right away it was \u201codd.\u201d Jen explains: \u201cThe kitchen space was large (approximately 450 square feet) but totally underutilized with a hidden spiral stairwell set into the middle of the room\u2019s floor. This stairwell became the first object of our creativity. We needed to use it but we didn\u2019t want to see it.\u201d Naturally, the couple started their renovations there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The kitchen underwent the largest overhaul so far. Below the handsome sliding cherry piece (crafted by Rick Smith) hides the entrance to a spiral staircase. The kitchen stools came from Chilton and the rugs are vintage.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Inspired by images of marble waterfall countertops, Jen got an idea for a butcher-block waterfall island that would slide over the entry to the spiral staircase. It\u2019s not quite a trap door, but it has a similar effect. Not only did this funky fix expand the usable portion of the kitchen, but it also visually connected the fragmented space. It wasn\u2019t an easy task to complete. Before carpenter Rick Smith first visited, he wasn\u2019t even sure he wanted to take the job, Jen recalls. \u201cHe was going to give us someone else\u2019s name,\u201d she says. \u201cBut he walked through and said, \u2018Someone else is going to mess this up. The floors are all crooked.\u2019 Out of nowhere, he said he\u2019d do it.\u201d Greg and Jen didn\u2019t want seams in the wood, so Smith, using a block and tackle, hoisted the five-by-six-foot slab through the first and second floor stairwell and into the kitchen. To make the area look more cohesive, the couple brought the warm tones of cherrywood and brass to the forefront against a backdrop of blue and white cabinetry and gray marble, black soapstone, and gray quartzite. They brought in dining stools from Chilton Furniture to lend a bit of vintage charm to the room. \u201cWe both grew up in old or classic-style houses,\u201d says Greg. \u201cThat\u2019s why I love visiting Europe: the architecture. We both really appreciate the craft that goes into older houses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The dining room got a moody update with dark green paint and additional wainscot wall paneling to give it an old world air; the table was custom built by local furniture maker Alex Donatelle.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Touches of humor can be found in every room, like this serious dog portrait.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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To honor the age of their new place (it was built in the 1860s) and the couple\u2019s shared tastes, they opted not to knock down walls or go the open-concept route. \u201cWe really like that each room feels like its own distinct space,\u201d says Jen. In the dining room, Smith was tasked with replicating the existing mouldings and extending them. The couple commissioned a local furniture maker, Alex Donatelle, to create a cherrywood sideboard by wainscotting the walls with wood paneling, and selected brass lamps to cast a soft glow that mimics candlelight. \u201cBefore, it was a perfectly nice room, but it fell flat,\u201d says Greg. \u201cI had this idea of trying to evoke the warmth and feeling of congeniality you find in old European ski chateaus.\u201d There was one in particular that he had in mind: Hospiz Alm in St. Cristoph, Austria. Jen was on board, but she did have one major suggestion. \u201cI had saved this color green on Pinterest maybe ten years ago,\u201d she says. \u201cI loved that green. I showed it to Greg, and he did, too.\u201d After purchasing eight or nine samples of paint, they found a match: Verdigris by Benjamin Moore. \u201cWith so much in homebuilding, you try to find a close-enough match,\u201d Greg reflects. \u201cBut with this green, in this room, I think we nailed it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In addition to the dining room table and sideboard, Donatelle also built this modern coffee table.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

They\u2019re also happy with how the living room turned out, with a fresh coat of white paint, a warm Oriental rug, and a smattering of inherited antiques, including a cabinet made by Jen\u2019s grandfather and a drafting table that once belonged to her grandmother. \u201cShe was an artist, and that piece is really special to me,\u201d she says. \u201cI use it as my desk.\u201d Like her parents and grandparents before her, Jen tends to cart around antiques that she likes from house to house, waiting for the right space to place them. One, an old window with original glass panes, got installed in an interior wall to pull light from the east-facing living room into the dark hallway. \u201cIt now gets that nice morning light,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Left:<\/strong> Jen says a lot of the changes they made felt \u201cintuitive,\u201d like extending the original moldings and adding a fresh coat of white paint to the eastern-facing living room. Center: <\/strong>After much deliberation, Jen sourced the bathroom tile from Old Port Speciality Tile; she worked with G.A.F. Architecture for bathroom elevation sketches. Right: <\/strong>A whimsical wallpaper treatment, purchased on Etsy, punches up the second story bathroom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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The bathroom closest to the couple\u2019s bedroom was expanded and modernized, transformed into the most contemporary room in the house (\u201cmaybe even my favorite room,\u201d Jen says). When the tiles she wanted for that space turned out to be too pricey, she DIYed a mosaic from seven different shapes and sizes. \u201cIt reminded me of the mosaic floors in Rome,\u201d she says. The bathroom near the kitchen became a \u201cspace for a touch of humor,\u201d according to Greg, thanks to a statement-making wallpaper mural sourced from Etsy. The guest room got a Murphy bed, and the roof deck got some updated decor, as did the lofted sleeping space at the tippy top of the house. \u201cThere\u2019s still a lot we want to do,\u201d says Jen. \u201cWe\u2019re going to replace the vinyl windows with something more historically accurate. We\u2019re doing it floor by floor because it\u2019s expensive to meet the Historic Preservation Board\u2019s requirements.\u201d However, they don\u2019t mind playing the long game. \u201cFor me, the story behind a home is important. I didn\u2019t want to do it all at once, to snap my fingers and have the whole house done,\u201d she says. \u201cYour style changes as you change, which means the end result will be more interesting.\u201d Judging by what we\u2019ve seen so far, that seems a safe bet.<\/p>\n\n\n\t\t

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