Maine Real Estate & Design: Nicola Manganello Journey on Creating Homes and Spaces That Invite Friends and Family to Linger—and Keep People Together

In the first half of my conversation with Nicola Manganello, founder and principal designer of Nicola’s Home in Yarmouth, Maine, we explore the remarkable path that took her from a small retail shop on Marina Road to one of Maine’s most respected full-service design-build firms.

Nicola reflects on her early years growing up in a deeply entrepreneurial family—her father built Olympia Sports—and how being raised around creativity, risk-taking, and constant reinvention shaped her own instincts as a designer and builder. She shares the story of opening her first shop in her 20s, living in half the building and running her business out of the other half, and how a single customer’s comment—“I can get something for me, something for my home, and something for my soul”—sparked an entirely new direction for her career.

What began as a small, warmly curated store evolved organically into interior design consulting, then into full renovations, and eventually into Nicola’s signature aesthetic: creating homes that feel timeless, gathered, and deeply lived-in. Her early projects, including whole-house renovations she lived in and sold, became her first marketing portfolio.

This episode also traces the bold leap that led to Maeve’s Way, her signature 12-acre neighborhood in Cumberland Foreside—conceived and built during 2008, one of the most challenging real estate markets in recent memory. From lifting and relocating an original farmhouse to investing in full landscaping and furnishings, Nicola describes the risks she took and the vision that guided her: building new homes that look and feel as though they have always been there.

Throughout the conversation, Nicola speaks with candor about the work ethic instilled by her parents, the emotional realities of building homes for families, and her belief that the right space can keep people together. Her philosophy is rooted in intention, comfort, and a desire to create gathering places where memories can take root.

💬 Key Themes

• Entrepreneurial roots: how growing up in a retail family shaped Nicola’s approach to design, business, and risk-taking
• From shop to studio: the unexpected moment that propelled her from retail into interior design
• Design as storytelling: creating spaces that feel familiar, warm, and “broken-in”—never precious, always welcoming
• The leap to Maeve’s Way: building a signature neighborhood during a recession, moving a historic home, and shaping a cohesive aesthetic
• Spaces that gather and hold: why Nicola believes thoughtful design can keep families connected across generations
• Craft, comfort, and memory:

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Transcript

Elise Kiely: [00:00:00] Welcome to Elegant Maine Living, where we explore the beauty, charm, and sophistication of life in Maine. My name is Elise Kiely, your host, and a real estate advisor with Legacy Properties Sotheby's International Realty. On each episode, we dive into Maine's residential real estate market, sharing key trends, inventory, insights, and notable sales, while also highlighting the extraordinary lifestyle that makes Maine such a special place to live, work, and play.

Whether you're seeking a coastal retreat, a vibrant community, or an escape into nature, elegant Maine Living is your guide to the home and experiences that defined our great state. Let's get started. [00:01:00] Have you ever looked around your home and thought everything's fine. I have the right number of rooms, the right square footage, and it, everything serves its purpose, but it doesn't quite have that warmth or energy that makes it feel like an oasis or a home when you come back at night or when you gather with friends and family, something just feels not quite right.

I think we've all felt that way at some point, and some people can create that kind of space, others struggle, but all of us know when we feel it and we deeply appreciate it. And Maine is blessed with some incredibly talented designers and visionaries who not only see the potential in a space, but they know how to bring it to life.

And today, I am joined by one of them, my friend Nicola Manganello. For more than 25 years, Nicola has been building, designing, and reimagining homes in ways that keep families connected, [00:02:00] comfortable, and inspired. She is the owner and principal designer of Nicola's Homes in Yarmouth, Maine, and I am so excited to dive into her story and her philosophy of design and life.

Nicola, welcome to the podcast. I am so glad you're here. 

Nicola Manganello: Thank you. Elise. 

Elise Kiely: You know you have been in business for over 25 years, and you grew up right outside of Portland in Yarmouth, Maine, and I have known you for probably about 23 of those 25 years. Yeah, our daughters grew up together. I know you have always been drawn to old houses and their stories, and you started your career by opening up your very own shop in Yarmouth many years ago.

And before I let you dive in, I have to brag about you a little bit. You are a local celebrity, right? You, you have, you're an influencer. Your social media following, you have over 85,000 [00:03:00] followers on social media and that is just in one of the outlets I looked at. And if for our listeners in Maine and the greater Portland area or who are looking to move to Maine, drive down Foreside Road and you will see Maeve's Way, which is one of Nicola's signature projects.

And you will see many homes signature homes that she has built and designed. And some of her signature properties are, and going to going to talk about this in detail in a little bit, are your new spec house at 37 South Street in Yarmouth. And then the record breaking 51 Meeting House Road in Yarmouth as well.

And if you've ever dined at the Royall River. Grill House in Yarmouth or Sicilian Table in Falmouth, you have definitely seen Nicola's Designs. So Nicola, welcome. I am thrilled to have you here. 

Nicola Manganello: Thrilled to be here. 

Elise Kiely: Take us back 25 years ago when you started in a was a little shop, wasn't 

it? 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah, a Marina Road [00:04:00] in Yarmouth.

Little. I know. I was 25 ish, newly married, new baby. Almost. I was single when I opened the shop and I think a year and a half later I was married and year after that. Maeve. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And did you always know you wanted to open a shop?

Nicola Manganello: I grew up in a retail family, so I should say entrepreneurial retail family.

So it was something that. I witnessed my whole life and really was a part of, because as my father and my mother being that she was the homemaker, she was supporting in a different role. But that, we were, he started the Maine mall. He had Olympia Sports and. We were at the mall that, we were part of that all the time from the little store to moving into the new part of the mall with the bigger store and just that whole process of, we were very present at that time.

It was a part of our life 

Elise Kiely: That, I didn't know that part of it. [00:05:00] So you and your two siblings, your brother and your sister were always at the store helping, being supportive. 

Nicola Manganello: Oh yeah. 

He, yeah, going to running around the mall getting lost and then of course he had the Allstar Deli that he did in the mall as well.

So we ate many dinners at the Allstar Deli de 

yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And so you always knew you were, you, it was natural probably for you to have Yeah, a retail establishment. 

Nicola Manganello: My dad, he was a school teacher and this was something he was branching off and doing on the side, and it took off and he just, thought of other things he wanted to try to do.

So whether they all worked or not, but I was always trying and developing and thinking, and. Of course being supported by my mom. because we were, there was three of us. And it was yeah. So I think it's like in me, 

Elise Kiely: you must look back at that as a formative experience. 

Nicola Manganello: Yes. 

Elise Kiely: For work ethic.

Nicola Manganello: Yes. 

Elise Kiely: Creativity, entrepreneurial risk taking. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. All those things. Not coming easy. Yeah. It's, it, my father's success was clearly [00:06:00] based off of, methodically thinking about, who he surrounded himself with and working hard and working. He had to be present. That was something he always, you have to be present.

You wanted to work, you have to be present. You have to be there. 

Elise Kiely: And so was he supportive when you started your design shop? 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. Oh totally. He thought it was great. Mostly I see now it different, many years later. It was because he also worked in Yarmouth and it gave him a place to stop on the way home.

So he'd come have a beer and we would do cash up and then we would talk and, he'd say what's selling? He liked walking around with the beer and what's sold today, what was, was it busier? And it was just,

Elise Kiely: he was really interested. 

Nicola Manganello: Oh, he was very interested.

And it was such a different type of business than what he had done. So mine was things I made, things I found, other vendors and stuff. So it was a mixture of women's apparel and home goods. And so it was, and then [00:07:00] of course, but it was in an old home, so it had a warm feel.

All the merchandising and watching me do that. And I think, there was a certain amount of pride for him. 

Elise Kiely: I am sure there was. And a bonding for the two of you Yeah. To be doing the same thing. Yeah. With different industries, different focus and everything. 

Nicola Manganello: So it had evolved over the years into something else, but that is the basis of it was that is how I learned business in general.

Elise Kiely: So when you had your store in Yarmouth all those years ago, did you have a vision of what that would grow to? Or did you think I will stay in the store and maybe expand or, and do retail? 

Nicola Manganello: I lived in, so when I was, I lived in half of it and then half of it was the store and just, and it did well, but it needed more space.

So I moved out and expanded the store into the home. And so it and then it became. It really needed to be in a more visible space to get better traffic. 

[00:08:00] So it was very much a word of mouth tucked into Yarmouth, nestled in there on the hill down by the marina. And, it was like at a turning point, I had Maeve, she was about a year almost two that I was, I said, let me just make a pivot here, because I needed to move the location so I needed to sell the property.

And a woman had come into the store and she said, I love coming in here because I can get a little something from me, a little something from my soul and a little something for my home. And I just started, she's and then she asked me if I'd come to her house and help her do a few things.

And that is really how the decorating stuff started. 

Elise Kiely: So that, that came just from a customer. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: It was suggesting to you that wasn't part of your long-term business plan. Doing the design.

Nicola Manganello: I loved renovating. At that point I had purchased another property that I was renovating for my family and it was old.

So it was like, then the renovating [00:09:00] thing started because I was doing it for myself. we would live in them, fix them up, move them, and then I sold Marina Road as well. But I had renovated that ex, extensively. 

Elise Kiely: Extensively. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Do you still stay in touch with that one customer that came in?

Because I think what a spark she gave you. 

Nicola Manganello: No. I have seen her, I have seen her and she was lovely. because she was a great client would come in all the time and but I think that wasn't by accident. I do believe in that sort of. She was there to tell me something. And yeah. So I just, if you're listening,

I feel like 

Elise Kiely: that is right. If you listen, you will really hear things. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And as, as your father said, if you're present 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: You'll see things that are, that you otherwise might miss. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: If you're not fully present. 

Nicola Manganello: So it was really her telling me probably what's strongest about the store was the feeling of com, what it felt like on the inside.

And so I. I think that was my strength was, designing spaces. 

Elise Kiely: And so then you parlayed that and grew that [00:10:00] into 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. Out of my home. So I retired the store element and strictly went into just taking on clients. So I'd usually, at the time, we would mailing lists. Can we even yes.

Mailing list and how to get out postcard of that I was opening Nicola's Home Interior, I was going to be doing interior design for people and that is how it started. As well as I would do a property and put it on the market. And then, as I did more and more of those that kind of became, they look for them or, i'd put out a little information or I'd get published in, main Home and Design was a great resource for me to put my work out there or if they found it interesting and they'd publish me, just locally. that is such a, that was such a huge help back then, 

Elise Kiely: I am sure. I am sure. 

And back when it was, several owners ago when it first started.

I remember 

Nicola Manganello: very beginning. 

Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah. To have that exposure and that recognition. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. They came on the scene when I was, I'd had a few [00:11:00] houses under my belt at that point time. So the projects were getting a little more interesting and, worthy of being published. But, that is how it evolved.

It was out of a home office working with people and just So it was that element of those projects were what sold me. 

Elise Kiely: That was your marketing. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Those projects were your marketing. 

Nicola Manganello: It really was. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And then but then you pivoted from buy a home, beautifully renovate, help clients with their homes to the subdivision.

Nicola Manganello: Yes.

Elise Kiely: that is a big, that is a big pivot that, that took courage. 

Nicola Manganello: In 2008 it did. Courage or stupidity. I don't know. I, it was a terrible time, obviously. It was the market. 

Elise Kiely: It was a tough time. 

Nicola Manganello: It was a tough time. 

Elise Kiely: And when we are talking about Maeve's Way just for listeners.

Yeah. If you are driving north on Route 88, which is this beautiful tree lined, really boulevard, even though it's a state highway Yeah. It's a two-lane road and it weaves beautifully and it follows the coastline [00:12:00] on the west side of, Foreside road is Maeve's Way, which was how many acres was that?

Totally. 

Nicola Manganello: It was over the first pretzel was over 12 acres. 

Elise Kiely: 12 acres. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And it was at the time a new development that went in with, and your signature homestyle that if you drive in now, you will have a wow moment. Yeah. And the original house. It didn't sit where, it isn't where it sits now.

Nicola Manganello: So we had to pick it up and move it and put an infrastructure for drainage for the, it was a very, it was a huge undertaking. 

Elise Kiely: It was very bold. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. It really was. And turned out to look back on it.

Elise Kiely: Looking back on it. And if you had known now what you knew then 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: But that is how leaders are born 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah.

Elise Kiely: Is by taking risk and overcoming obstacles. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And creating, 

Nicola Manganello: yeah. I think that there was a lot of challenges with Maeve's Way, the concept was just a, a [00:13:00] beautiful street of I loved older homes, so I wanted to make new homes look old. So to have those kind of lines 

Elise Kiely: And the aesthetic that you achieved was to make homes that looked like they had been there 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah.

Elise Kiely: For decades. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And have been well established and mature. Yeah. And I remember in one of the articles that I think it was either Down East or Main Home and Design, and they talked about, or you, in the interview talked about how important landscaping is. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And when I think about people who build not custom for a specific client, a specific taste, but builds spec often landscaping is the last thing on the budget line.

And that budget gets smaller and smaller. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: That budget didn't get small for you. You were sodding, you were putting in trees. 

Nicola Manganello: Unfortunately, yeah. I think that, part of what it is that, that we do at Nicola's Homes is, the level of work we put out is we are exclusively high end, but it always started that way too.[00:14:00] 

And it was, an investment that I was making. And at the time I was partnered with my dad so that, much to his chagrin in 2008. But it was we are both dreamers and entrepreneurs and he is an instant gratification guy. So he drilled that into me that I don't even think he knew he did it.

I think that he's he can't stand little shrubs, big house, little tiny s little shrubs, he wants it to look like 

Elise Kiely: polished and done. 

Nicola Manganello: You pull in it's done. Yeah. And. That was what we went, we went into, of course you, the first one we did, the one, the house, the old house we lifted, picked up, we furnished it, had a big party, we threw a great party. 

Elise Kiely: That was a great party. 

Nicola Manganello: That was a great party. And that was such a good party. The whole thing was nobody was, furnishing, we needed to just put the full message of, because it finished the look, it said, what can this house be? And it was a cho, the house was chopped up.

So you really had [00:15:00] to be creative with the furniture layout and 

Elise Kiely: I think you needed to make it easy for the buyer 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: To step in and not have to think about it. And I think so often. Buyers are, even if they are talented in designed, they can be intimidated by empty vacant spaces. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah.

Elise Kiely: And the time that it takes to fill a vacant space, the value that you provide when you provide a furnished home or the option to buy the furnishings is the design expertise. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And sometimes I think buyers don't understand what a value, just the time not the furniture itself. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: But the time and the creativity of putting pieces together Yeah.

Is so valuable and allows a buyer to step in on day one. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Which is huge. And so you did Maeve's Way. Then while you were doing Maeve's Way, you had, you also had other projects that you were doing in Maine up and down the coast. Yeah. And you did some beach houses in Kennebunk, I think, or Kennebunkport. 

Nicola Manganello: Yes.

Yeah. I was working, Maeve's Way was a bit of [00:16:00] a side job for me, which was full-time in itself, but it was, I needed to, have clients and I needed to make money, make, 

Elise Kiely: keep the lights on. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. Keep the lights on. And yeah. And so at that time I had become a single mother and Maeve and I were, we were hopping around from house to house.

I lived in a couple of projects that were spec for a period of time just to furnish them. And, life happens Yeah. To all of us and through it. 

Elise Kiely: And so eventually you keep doing this. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And then you purchased your current home Yes. On on Foreside Lafayette Street. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: At the right, right there in Yarmouth.

And you have your design studio there? 

Nicola Manganello: Yes. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Where I think you greet, probably meet with clients at that design studio. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. Everything's done right on the property. So we bought the 12 acre farmhouse with 12 acres and it had the barn which had mules and chickens in it. When I, when we got there and I had 8,000 square feet at Lower Falls Landing, which is down by the Royall River Grill House.

And [00:17:00] it was really beautiful showroom and to work out of, but ultimately the business I was doing the money the comp Nicola's Homes was making was from the private clients. So it was doing the design work, doing the builds. And so I thought let's unload the overhead of the rent and everything and invest into a property that I owned, which was the best move that I ever made 

Elise Kiely: that was very successful 

Nicola Manganello: Yes.

For my model. It's, it was perfect. 

Elise Kiely: And then you grew your team. Yes. And so now you have an all women team of designers, architects, yes. Drafts, people, draftsmen drafts, women. 

Nicola Manganello: Yes. Drafts. Drafts women. 

Yes. Yes. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And so you do both new builds for clients? 

Nicola Manganello: Yes, we do. 

Elise Kiely: And design at a certain level, design 

Nicola Manganello: general contracting, interior design and just, we, or going to part of teams, if somebody hires say Wright Ryan or. McGuire construction or Monahan. going to, they're the builders, going [00:18:00] to the design architects, and also we work with architects as well. So we've, I have worked with all of them, I think. 

Elise Kiely: Is that hard to juggle new builds and smaller than new builds, but still significant size renovations and design work and juggle those different levels of clients?

Nicola Manganello: Y yes. I would definitely, it seems more glamorous from the outside. I think a lot of things, every time an intern starts with me, I was like, this will this will scare you. This will set you straight. It, there, it's a lot of moving parts. It's not a, it's not an easy business building somebody's forever home. The type of homes we build are more forever homes, second or third homes, and it's an emotional process. And you're part builder, designer, therapist. It's really helping people realize what they truly want out of their homes. And it's long process.

Some of these projects are two, three years long, 

Elise Kiely: and you must, you, [00:19:00] because you deal with everyone from the craftsman throwing a hammer on a site 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: To an ex in an excavator. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: To a high-end, high net worth individual who may be hard charging Type A. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: With strong opinions. Strong personalities.

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And you have to diplomatically work with the, a wide breadth 

Nicola Manganello: Yes. 

Elise Kiely: Of people. Yeah. Is that a challenge? 

Nicola Manganello: It is. I think that, each new client, no matter, where they are on the spectrum of earnings, I think that the ones that fly in special to meet with me, it, there's a moment of pause for me where I am like, I almost have to say I can do this.

I am like it in the beginning, as the business grew and I noticed the clientele was really getting to be, significant people in business. And, just in general, I was like, God, this, 

Elise Kiely: it could be intimidating. I would imagine at some point

Nicola Manganello: It was, yeah. It was.

And still is, 

Elise Kiely: and yet they're flying in to [00:20:00] see you. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. Yeah. Which it is wonderful in its own right. But it's. It's a lot of responsibility. Responsibility, yeah. And having the responsibility of the team and bringing these projects to fruition and making sure that we are catering to these people at the level that, that they're paying for.

It's not, I would like to wish we could work for everybody, but where our business model is going to catering, probably to the one percenters and Yeah. going to, when it's not that large, so that is just where going to at right now.

Elise Kiely: Nicola, how many projects do you typically manage at a time 

Nicola Manganello: up to. So it ranges from 5 to 14. And I say that because at one point in time, we could be part of five, three to five major builds. But we have clients that will call us back and they are like, I need this bedroom redone. I need this, I need that.

So [00:21:00] there's probably like on the roster of clients, there's 14. There seems to be this sort of standing. 5 to 14 number. Yeah. That it waxes and wanes as they'll fall off and come back. Or we will take on a couple of small, people call all the time and sometimes it's oh, that is a cool little project.

Yeah. I'd love to help with that. 

Elise Kiely: Even if it's a smaller project. Yeah. If it's interesting or 

unique, 

Nicola Manganello: it's just a timing thing. Or they know somebody you know, and they're like, you're like, oh, I got to do this.

Elise Kiely: Or I get, I imagine if you have a client from five years ago and they bought one of your new construction builds.

Yeah. You're their person. Yeah. And if they need design help or want to refresh something, yeah. 

Nicola Manganello: If we are familiar with the home, it is an easy go in and help out type thing. Yeah. So it's just the nature of the business. 

Elise Kiely: I, when I was researching, preparing for this for this conversation, one of the things I read that really struck me that you said is that the right space can actually keep people together.

I love that quote. Can you share a little bit [00:22:00] about what you meant by that? 

Nicola Manganello: I think that, just speaking, say for my own home, I think that over the, I have done like three different renovations to it. It had to be done in phases, but the goal was always that when I had people over and my family was there, that there was places for us to be together.

And I think that is everyone's goal. These homes that I do now, they're gathering places for families to come and celebrate holidays and be together. And they want these really, overly comfortable spaces that people want to linger in. And I think that is the kind of the magic that I feel like we bring from Nicola's Homes is that we want it to feel like it's always been there, a familiarity, broken in this elegant Right. 

Elise Kiely: But a simple elegance. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Almost 

Nicola Manganello: elegant, but just, not too [00:23:00] precious, although some of the things are quite nice that these people are buying, I think it's a mix. We do. We like to make sure that there's a mix of comfort.

Elise Kiely: It strikes me, and as I started this podcast, talking about a home being an oasis, and sometimes you can be in a physical space and it's fine, it's utilitarian, it functions, and these are luxury feelings, but it's just not quite right. It's just doesn't draw people in or the spacing of furniture or the type of furniture, maybe even the color of the walls.

Yeah. Or the layout of the room. And if you can address that, it's amazing how subconsciously it can invite people in to sit and linger, which is I think another of your quotes from the early Maine Home & Design article. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: And what that can mean for families. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. I think it is, I think your home is part of your story, and I think that is surrounded with your things, your, what's precious to you, it's your sanctuary, so it's my home has, there's a certain amount, although I am trying to get organized and declutter in my old age but [00:24:00] it is, when I look around it's.

It's what my life is made up of memories and yeah. And I feel like people want to have that sort of cushion around them, 

Elise Kiely: And it's, I, when I give presentations at MEREDA or on this podcast frequently, I talk about that this, the young baby boomers, older empty nesters, and I affectionately call that demographic group labs they're luxury active baby boomers.

Ah. And they are high net worth and they have significant resources and they want what they want. And they are trying to create property. They're trying to find property and create environments that will attract their children and more importantly their grandchildren. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: To come and stay. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah.

Elise Kiely: And I think you probably have that same 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Sweet spot of a demographic clientele. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. Yeah. No, it's definitely, that is, grandchildren are a big, [00:25:00] that comes into play a lot in a lot of the homes that, just families, whole families, levels of family, 

Elise Kiely: And I love the idea whether it's high net worth or someone just starting out.

We want to attract the people we love. We want to be surrounded with the people that love and support us and we love and we support. And I think that is universal Yeah. For people. Yeah. Wherever they are. And I have noticed a little bit since Maeve's Way to that incredible spec house you did in Yarmouth on Meeting House which was second highest price point in Yarmouth at the time.

There was one other in, in Cousin's, but it was such a significant property with amazing views and beautiful outbuildings. When I saw that for the first time, 

Nicola Manganello: did I hear it's currently on the market again? 

Elise Kiely: It is. 

Nicola Manganello: Gee, it is. But yeah, it sold when you, after you built it. Yeah. That was a, and maybe you'd done this prior too.

There was a blending of the look like it has always been here, that rustic elegance. Yeah. With a little bit more contemporary minimalism is, [00:26:00] do you see that as a design trend that. That has evolved. 

Elise Kiely: Yes. Yeah. I think that, simplifying sort of the farmhouse chic look, I feel like it has to have some unique elements to it.

We introduced some different, vintage doors for an office or the oversized island in the kitchen, and then old windows that going to putting in different areas, or creating a little planting area for in the pantry or in the closet as you come in the door. You know what I mean? There's all these little things that when you think about, if I was to live there, how would I use the space?

Or how would they use the space, so it's like I often, I put myself in a lot of the projects. It's almost like you are building little, your own little dream house. Only it is not yours. It's you're helping someone else, fulfill their dreams. And so it really is. And they're elaborate.

They're elaborate spec houses, not as much, but as some of the custom builds that I do. But that one in particular [00:27:00] was, that was like a party barn, 

caretaker cottage. 

Nicola Manganello: Yes. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: That was amazing. 

Nicola Manganello: Just to, I imagined like beds up in the loft in the barn in the summertime. I just, you have to imagine how wonderful a family could fill all these space and the events that they would have there. 

Elise Kiely: Yeah. I, when I first drove on that property, I thought family wedding. 

Nicola Manganello: Yeah, I know. Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: What a spot for a family wedding that would have been beautiful with that view of the marsh and everything.

Nicola Manganello: Yeah. 

Elise Kiely: Nicola, as we wrap up this first half of our conversation, I just wanted to thank you. It is so much fun to trace your extraordinary journey from a small Yarmouth shop where you shared your home to a thriving and celebrated design build practice, known for warmth and intention. And thank you too for sharing how you took that bold step of creating your signature neighborhood in Cumberland Foreside Maeve's way. I also have to tell you, I loved hearing about how one customer's thoughtful compliment when you were running your store helped spark your vision for a full creative enterprise and how your talent from making new spaces feels timeless, continues through today. For listeners, on the next episode, we will pick up with Nicola's newest project in Yarmouth, and you are not going to want to miss that.

It's a really exciting project and we're also going to hear about her long range vision. Plans for her company and her life and where she finds elegance and inspiration in Maine. I hope you'll join me for the second half of this inspiring conversation on the next episode. And if you have enjoyed today's discussion or it has given some value to you.

Please share it with a friend, a neighbor, or a coworker, and follow the conversation about real estate, design, lifestyle, and community here in Maine. As always, if I can be of assistance in your real estate journey, please reach out and let me know how I can help. And remember, this podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and does not create a real estate advisory or attorney-client relationship. This is Elegant Maine Living the way life should be. And until next time, keep living with elegance.