Issues → September/October 2007 → Home & Garden →
A Place Built for Sharing on Sebago Lake
A famous Maine resort remakes the house next door
by Polly Bannister
Sebago anchors Maine's Lakes Region. The state's second-largest lake (after Moosehead), its shoreline is dotted with summer camps and cabins where children swim and canoe while grown-ups fish and hike. Migis Lodge, tucked into the northeast edge of Sebago Lake, is a resort known for rustic refinement. Here generations of outdoor enthusiasts have been nurtured.
But few are more passionate about this quiet corner of Maine than Migis owners Tim and Joan Porta. They met at Migis Lodge (Joan was a guest, and Tim's parents owned the property).
They married and raised five children here, after buying the property from Grace and Gene Porta in 1983. Joan and Tim have lived for nearly 30 years at Migis, and their work has been to celebrate and share a lakeside life.
Now there's a new "cottage" to rent through Migis, complete with three master suites, a great room with two fieldstone fireplaces, and an open dining area off the great room. A price tag of $8,400 a week may sound hefty (I admit to a silent gasp), but the property, near the lodge, can easily accommodate large families or groups of friends who want to vacation together.
The large working kitchen includes granite counters, Jenn-Air appliances, and a wide golden bar created from the wood of giant pines that came down at Migis. Balconies and porches overlook the Dingley Islands and offer endless views of the lake. Guests have access to the lodge by way of a path and may opt for amenities such as housekeeping services, firewood stocking, dining, picnicking, waterskiing, and biking. But at the new "mini Migis," guests also enjoy the privacy of their own beach and dock and may opt for cooking in.
The property was discovered by avid Migis guests, who from the water spotted a "House for Sale" sign tacked on a pine tree. They feared that the nondescript building they found there could turn into a "tear it down and build a McMansion" situation. So they decided to buy the place to protect Migis Lodge, Waldron Point, and the quiet coves hereabouts. Having collaborated with Tim and Joan on the design of the new house, they incorporated their favorite elements of the cottages that dot the shoreline of Migis's 125 winding woodland acres. The architecture is Adirondack style, with a sloping roofline and long overhangs that keep the house grounded. This 1-1/2-story building features shed dormers and rafter details that create an understated profile, nicely fitting a landscape that stretches gently down to the water. The only reminder of the previous home is a lichen-covered stone foundation, which helps create a transition from the grassy knoll on which the house sits down to the soft sand of the nearby beach.
The exterior siding is board-and-batten stained moss green with darker green trim -- colors that echo the surrounding pines. The builders were instructed to wrap the trunks of the trees near the construction so that the site could remain as natural as possible. (Not one of the property's towering white pines was cut.) Windows sport a splash-of-red accent, inviting your eye inside. Each bedroom features an enclosed balcony -- a place where you can enjoy your morning coffee outdoors even if it's raining. Porch railings are made of shaggy cedar with copper balusters.
Sebago is beautiful anytime of the year, but autumn brings quiet. Cool breezes whistle in the trees, yet the water is still warm enough for swimming. In the late fall, pine needles make a soft ground cushion and dust the rooftops. Their golden hues against green shingles are like the last warm rays of sunshine on Sebago.
The Migis Touch: Creating the Lodge Look
Joan and Tim Porta have literally made a career of interior decorating. They travel to several gift shows a year to purchase items for three shops they run in conjunction with Migis. Much of the ambience they create in their guest rooms originates on these buying trips. Joan's specialty is the lodge look. Her advice for achieving this style is simple: "Allow the natural and seasonal elements from the outdoors to be reflected inside."
Organic materials -- wood and woven rugs -- and stone and metals define Joan's decorating. A fieldstone chimney flanks the stairway, whose wrought-iron railing curls like a vine. In the master bedroom of our featured home, Joan highlights nature's palette with a green cotton coverlet complemented by a mushroom-colored wool throw. A wrought-iron bedside lamp with gently curving stem and leaves looks like a flower. Knotty-pine walls remind us that the trees are just beyond. In other rooms, Joan selects local creatures to grace walls and shelves: a wooden loon, a bronze bear with round belly (suggesting the landlocked salmon that thrive in Sebago Lake), bold moose designs on hooked rugs, and in the bath a simple fir tree motif bordering ivory tiles. A small "hobo-style" table with twig legs looks as though it might have been plucked from beneath a tree. Favorite accessories include stoneware pottery, wooden bowls of seasonal fruits and vegetables, wildflower-laden pitchers, soaps shaped like frogs and fish, wrought-iron lamps and candlesticks, duck decoys, and cotton throws decorated with herons, owls, and other wildlife.
Most of the accessories mentioned here may be found at Cry of the Loon, The Nest, and The Barn, the Portas' three shops, located at the end of the Migis driveway on Route 302 in South Casco, Maine. 207-655-5060; migis.com/about/shops.html
Detail: A Never-Ending Porch
To connect sweeping views of Sebago with the interior of the house, the owners selected glass doors. The doors, which lead to the screened porch, are custom-made of insulated glass cased in natural-colored cedar with a bifolding hinge. When they're open, the doors disappear against oak beams. This creates the illusion that the great room with its giant timber frame is simply part of the outdoors, where tall white pines reach toward the sky.
Resources
Rental information: $8,400 per week, available through Migis Lodge on Sebago Lake. 207-655-4524; migis.com
Builder: Tom Smith, Bear River Builders Inc., Bridgton, ME. 207-647-4059; rmlh.com
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