Elements
Fireplace Artistry
ELEMENTS- Jan/Feb 2010
by Debra Spark
Photography Irvin Serrano
New ways of constructing the home’s hearth
The Beauty Above Us
ELEMENTS-June 2009by Candace Karu
Photography François Gagné
Ceilings that soar, soothe, shine, and shape the rooms we live in
Sometimes the easiest element in a room to ignore is right above your head. If it is unobtrusive and unadorned, a ceiling can disappear, barely making its presence known. More and more, however, homeowners are embracing beautiful and well-designed ceilings, paying attention to style as well as utility.
Everything is Illuminated
ELEMENTS - MAY 2008
By Candace Karu
Photography by Darren Setlow
Lighting to flatter every decor form traditional cottage to urban loft
Island Life
ELEMENTS - March 2008
By Joshua Bodwell
Photography Darren Setlow
Styling Tamara Savage
Kitchen Islands at the Heart of the Home's Heart
A large, wooden table was once a common fixture in the kitchens of our forebears. The tables provided much-needed room to spread out ingredients and cookware, and it was a gathering place within the warm thrum of kitchen activity. These well-worn tables were the precursors of today’s ubiquitous kitchen island, which may just be the defining feature of modern kitchens.
Keepers of the Flame
ELEMENTS - JAN/FEB 2008
By Joshua Bodwell
Photography Stacey Cramp
Fireplaces that warm with both crackling fires and blazing design
We have all heard the old cliché that “the fireplace is the heart of a home.” So it seems only appropriate to discover that when you Google “fireplace + heart” the very first listing that pops up is for a business right here in Maine: The Maine Wood Heat Company in Norridgewock.
One man who has been putting his heart into the construction of fireplaces since he arrived in Maine over 20 years ago is Oxford, England-born mason, Steve Dyer. Dyer and his brother and business partner, Paul, come from a long line of masons. Both men apprenticed for years as “hod carriers” (the English equivalent of a mason tender) before attending a masonry school to earn their certifications. Today, the Brothers Dyer work in brick and stone to build walls, chimneys, and veneer, but their “spe-shee-al-i-tee,” as Dyer says in his English accent, is custom fireplaces. “Fireplaces are really coming back now, with the gas prices being what they are,” he adds. One specific style of fireplace Dyer admires is known as the Rumford
Outdoor Fireplaces
ELEMENTS - JUNE 2007
Photography Brian Vanden Brink
Since the allure of an indoor fireplace has become so commonplace, homeowners have sought other ways to enjoy some time beside an open flame. Long popular in more temperate areas such as the Midwest, outdoor fireplaces have begun to spring up in Maine.
Portland-based architect Scott Simons says he has designed an outdoor fireplace for nearly every house he’s planned in the past four years. The outdoor fireplace he designed for his own home, Simons admits, has been the inspiration for many of his clients to build one themselves.
Above the Water's Surface
ELEMENTS - July 2007
Photography Sara Gray
A collection of docks that dangles from Maine's coastlines
For the majority of us who live in Maine, we feel an almost inexplicable connection to the water. We want to walk along its shores and bounce among the waves. We are a state with thousands of lakes and rivers, and a seemingly endless ocean coastline. For these reasons, if not others, docks could be considered the most elemental of Maine architectural features—they are the physical extension of our emotional connection to the water, as well as our anchor to the land
Stone Walls
ELEMENTS - SEPTEMBER 2007
Photography Sara Gray
Maine's ever-present element
Like a red barn at the edge of a field or a modest white church beside a tidy village green, stone walls are one of the stalwart symbols of New England life.
According to the Stone Wall Initiative—a project connected with the University of Connecticut that studies the cultural, natural, and aesthetic impact of stone walls in New England—the oldest documented English-built stone walls in the region were erected at the Popham Colony settlement at the mouth of Maine’s Kennebec River.
Garages: Form + Function
ELEMENTS - OCTOBER 2007
By Joshua Bodwell
Photography James R. Salomon
“Garage” from the French word garer, meaning “to shelter.”
In terms of architectural history, garages will always be younger siblings to the house—after all, the garage is only as old as the automobiles they are built to shelter
