Built in the 1930s, this charming shingle-style home, located on the shore of Somes Sound in Maine, has been mistaken as a family heirloom by the homeowners’ friends. That is when designer Tom Scheerer knew he hit the nail on the head with his “old-fashioned yet modern, lived-in yet polished” design. Scheerer admits that the home is a bit “dressier” than the typical Maine summer house… He was inspired by the stately summer mansions of nineteenth-century Bar Harbor. “I kept thinking about the houses I remembered from magazine stories I saw in my youth,” he said. “There were these grand decorators who had houses up there, Sister Parish being one of them.” He kept thinking about pictures he’d seen of Parish’s Islesboro house, located in the small town of Dark Harbor. “It had some charming little moments in it,” Scheerer said.
The tour below features images from Maine Home + Design March 2019 (as noted), House Beautiful 2011, and from Scheerer’s online portfolio.
Please visit Maine Home + Design to read more about this charming home. I was also intrigued to find pictures of Sister Parish’s Maine cottage as featured in the January 1967 issue of House & Garden. For more information on Tom Scheerer, I recommend Tom Scheerer Decorates and his new book, Tom Scheerer: More Decorating, will be released in September! To see my very favorite Scheerer project, the Lyford Cay Club, please click here. A tour of Scheerer’s own Maine cottage can be found here.
Hosting & Houseguest Edit: Welcome Back to Hospitality
Summer Edit: Poolside and Patio Style
Tour an 18th Century East Hamptons Retreat
Sister Parish’s Maine Retreat
Everything Tom Scheerer touches is magic. His houses feed something deep down in the soul. I love his yankee, “use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without” approach to decorating – and life in general it seems. I can’t wait for his new book! Thank you, Andrea, for this refreshing post! Xo
The genius of Tom’s work is that he takes an old money, possibly fusty look and updates it ( in a subtle way ) to bring it into the 21st century while still retaining the charm and authentic-
The first image reminds me of when I was a guest of the late society decorator, George Clarkson, and we all stayed in the guest house of Mrs. Rodgers Denckla ( Kay ) on Great Plains Road in Southampton- where C Z Guest showed up for our cocktail party in a black and white polka dot ball gown- those were THE DAYS !
I admired his (Tom) work all the way back in the early 1980’s when he was associated with Jeffrey Bilhuber- Tom’s work at Lyford Cay Club is amazing and inspiring too-
What a terrific story!!❤️
Sweet!