Having enjoyed the thumbnails immensely, I feel like I should start a betting pool on which charming lived-in details will show up in Martha Stewart -- and five or six stylists' work -- as tricks for making newly designed interiors look less self-conscious.

That's (a) a compliment [it looks like a very inviting home] and (b) a prediction that there'll be a trend toward making MCM/minimal looks more "homey" and quirky, now that sleek-and-shiny MCM is hitting discount-level retailers.

oh god, if i ask REALLY nicely, will they adopt me (like the original shakers did)?
martha's already done quite a bit of stuff on this style in the past actually... including pieces on furniture, how they were the originators of selling packaged seeds, and she's also made their wonderful lemon pie, rinds and all!

Love, love, LOVE it! And it convinces me that you should NOT paint over the red floor of your barn!

Wish we could come for a visit!

Oh, I knew MS had done Shaker furniture... I was thinking of who'd get their hot little hands all over the height measurements on the wall and details like that...

I may just be prejudiced because I like the homier MCM spaces myself, though.

I have a crush on this corner of the world. So lovely. The slideshow was a ideal imaginative getaway; the photographs are so well-chosen, convey a perfect sense of place.

gotcha! sorry wende :-)
i hope i never see taped chairs in kmart, i think that would make me cry

What a lovely place! I certainly hope that something comes along to replace MCM. Having never been that fond of it, I'm at my tipping point now.

This is very Maine.

love love love love love.

again, totally shocked at how much i like shaker style.

and i think these photos prove something we were talking about in the peg board post earlier in the week -- the shaker aesthetic can shine in a well-used and occupied space. it doesn't depend merely on the emptiness of a 'period room' setting.

i also think the allusions to MCM are particularly apt. one thing that speaks to me about both aesthetics is a sense of homey elegance, and an extreme lack of pretension. it's part of what bugs me about MCM-as-status-symbol. i actually don't think MCM has to be "warmed up" or "unique-ified", because if you use the look as it most people of the period used it, it is almost inherently homey.

what necessitates making MCM furniture less self-conscious is the fact that we've cultivated some very victorian "don't use the good china" ideas about it. which goes against every idea Charles and Ray Eames ever had (not to mention other designers, i'm just more familiar with their M.O.)

Like I said - peg rails should be used decoratively with a handful of carefully placed objects at most - not for hanging everything you can on them

Evidenced in these photos by the peg rails above paintings - clearly not meant for hanging things from

"Evidenced in these photos by the peg rails above paintings - clearly not meant for hanging things from"

Actually, that's exactly what the Shakers put those pegs up for. Those fantastic taped (and lightweight) chairs would have been hanging from the pegs, to facilitate floor cleaning or to create a multipurpose space, and it seems to me that the sect might not have hung art on the walls of their dwellings. (the latter part just a guess, based on the ascetic quality of the religion and their lives.)

Anyone have any idea where I could find a rug like the one found going up the stairs. The black line detailing is great.

I feel like I'm in Vermont. I hate it. The only thing I like is the red floors and all the trees.

Ew-shaker.

The one thing that came to mind (when I first viewed the photos of this home) is walking around barefoot on those lovely painted hardwood floors on a warm summer day. But as I continued to view this shaker style home I couldn't help but feel uneasy. My sense of comfort changed. I don't know exactly what it is, can't quite pin-point this. All I can think is maybe the lack of warmth in personal objects or items that make a place feel like home. This house is lovely and photographs well but I didn't quite warm up to it like others on this post.

Shaker style isn't for everyone, but I really enjoy how a unique culture could come to relatively the same "place" intellectually in terms of design as did the Minimalists and International-style Modernism in general. Form follows function indeed.

The Shakers truly were a unique and wonderful culture. Too bad their practice of celibacy was destined to render them "extinct."

And in the spirit of mixing style with practicality that makes AT, I'd like to note that the Shakers, amongst their many inventions, created that most simple, but also most useful of domestic devices: the clothespin.

If this house ever goes up for sale, please for the love of god, call me immediately. I adore it and everything in it. my heart skipped several beats watching the slideshow. I'm looking for just think exact setting to start an artists' retreat. I know that I will become a Shaker at some point in my life...just not quite ready yet (I'm only 28). Seriously, please do let me know anything more about this property and its owners. How did they come upon this property? You mentioned several buildings were there...what are the rest being used as?

Could you weigh more than 90lbs and NOT break those dining room chairs in two?

Finally something that is not 70's retro. This house is beautiful and has elements of a lot of things country New Englanders grew up with. and it was not fashionable but what we had. thanks

Love the keyhole on the front door...and just about everything else about this house!