The Basses divorced 10 years ago but remain principal stockholders. Carol Bass is now a contributing editor to Cottage Living and the author of "Maine Living" (Gibbs Smith, 2004) and "The Cottage Book: Living Simple and Easy" (Harry N. Abrams, 2003). The latter book is prominently displayed at the entrance to the flagship Yarmouth store which, with its exposed rafters, whitewashed walls and painted floors, looks like an expansive cottage itself.
The company also sells fabrics, throw pillows and $77-per-gallon paints. Vice president and general manager David Petersen says more growth is in the works, including rugs, blankets, bed linens and at least two more Maine Cottage stores, one near Washington.
At home in Kensington, Joan Gregory, her 13-month-old twins, Grady and Samantha, and her cottage dresser.
(Len Spoden For The Washington Post)
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Quintessential Cottage
Picket fences: Practically synonymous with simple, homey charm.
Painted furniture: Think white wicker rockers, little red benches, multicolored kitchen chairs.
Porches: A place to peel apples, carve pumpkins and chat with the neighbors. Or to imagine that you will.
Window Boxes: Brimming with flowers in summer, greenery in the snow.
Bead board: Honest architectural detailing for porch ceilings, wainscoting, swinging screen doors.
Flowered fabric: Cabbage roses on the curtains, chintz on the sofa, pretty pillows anywhere.
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The company is pointedly targeting the booming second-home market; two-thirds of Maine Cottage sales are now for second homes. An open ledger in the color-splashed paint factory near the Yarmouth retail operation proves the point: page after page of orders destined for Newport Beach, Aspen, Boca Raton and Kiawah Island, near Charleston.
Meanwhile, the company's Guest Cottage line, a collection of less expensive upholstered and slipcovered pieces, was unveiled last spring. The best-selling "Mackinac" club chair upholstered in a tea-dipped floral is $1,090 vs. $1,490 for a Maine Cottage look-alike (www.guestcottagefurniture.com).
More than 2,000 decorators placed orders in the past two years. "I know of no other company with such a range of wonderfully vibrant colors," says Washington interior designer Whitney Stewart.
Furniture, made of North American maple and maple veneers, is still fabricated in Portland and finished in a Yarmouth warehouse where workers paint and sand, paint and sand, until surfaces are satin smooth. On a sunny day in early fall, a lineup of "Nellie" dressers, "Fiddlehead" cocktail tables and "Island" storage cabinets -- like the one in Gregory's Kensington foyer -- were being drenched in a sunny "mango" shade. Nearby, wicker was getting a dose of "hot flower" pink.
"The beauty of this stuff is that it has these almost classic shapes, and then you get these wild colors that are anything but," says Gregory. "As soon as my son outgrows his crib, he's getting a Maine Cottage bed."
Quintessential Cottage
Picket fences: Practically synonymous with simple, homey charm.
Painted furniture: Think white wicker rockers, little red benches, multicolored kitchen chairs.
Porches: A place to peel apples, carve pumpkins and chat with the neighbors. Or to imagine that you will.
Window Boxes: Brimming with flowers in summer, greenery in the snow.
Bead board: Honest architectural detailing for porch ceilings, wainscoting, swinging screen doors.
Flowered fabric: Cabbage roses on the curtains, chintz on the sofa, pretty pillows anywhere.
