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Bar Harbor can be a tourist mob scene, but innkeepers Roy Kasindorf and Hélène Hartan never seem to lose their sense of humor or their hospitality managing their two in-town inns. The secret may be their well-designed home nearby. Even though it’s just a block from the center of town, the home offers a quiet sanctuary from the tourist storm.
Kasindorf says much of the home’s quiet charm comes from the luck of location. The house sits on a side street that tourists have no reason to wander down.
“Nobody even knows this is really a street,” Kasindorf says.
Yet the home’s serenity is more than luck. With an in-town property, it’s a balancing act to get a good view without being able to see what the neighbors are having for lunch. While some island mansions have rolling lawns to the sea to work with, Kasindorf and Hartan have a simple yard and a few well-placed trees. But they’ve renovated their home to capture as much natural light as possible while still maintaining their privacy.
Their first renovating priority after purchasing the house was to open up the floor plan. The den originally looked fit for a hibernating bear, with many walls and few windows. They knocked down two den walls and covered another with floor-to-ceiling windows. The den now feels airy, with a simple view of robins on the lawn and a wood fence that provides a sense of boundary.
For their most recent renovation, the couple committed American design heresy: They chopped out half the garage to make room for another bedroom and bathroom. Now instead of a two-car garage, they have a one-car space, electing to leave a car out in the cold so they could enjoy the space themselves.
Kasindorf says the decision to add another bedroom was an easy one. Previously, the home’s two bedrooms were located on the second floor and the couple knew that as they aged, they wouldn’t want to make the trek upstairs. Besides, now visiting family can occupy the entire upstairs and make as much noise as they want.
“They can take the whole second floor,” Kasindorf says.
Breaking another rule of American design, they made the new bedroom just big enough for the necessities. The bedroom has a high ceiling, as if to allow space for dreams, but not much more square footage than to fit a bed. “It’s almost Zen-like simple,” he says.
The room’s high ceiling slopes down to the bathroom to allow a visual transition. The bathroom, complete with a sauna, combines both ultramodern and classic design elements, with a sleek sink fixture resting on top of an antique cabinet. The design uses clean lines and an absence of ornate decoration to create a simple elegance.
Hartan says their home’s design was a team effort with help from their friend, local architect Stewart Brecher. She also praised the skills of local carpenter David Poland.
The interior color and art choices are largely Hartan’s domain, and both her home and the inns are works of art in progress. Nearly every winter, she finds herself redesigning at least one room in the inns. At home, the redesigning process is slower, but never ceases, and includes almost imperceptible changes to their modern sculpture and paintings collection. Much of the art for the home and the inns comes from Hartan’s art-world connections, including several Maine artists. The rest are booty from their wintertime globetrotting.
“Every time we go somewhere, we try and bring something meaningful back,” Hartan says.
Each room also has a distinct color palette, one Hartan chooses by feel. She uses warmer colors like orange and red for active rooms, and cooler colors for the den and bedrooms. The family room might be her best canvas; the room centers around a fireplace, and the warm-colored artwork and furniture seem to extend the fireplace’s flame, a wonderful effect for a cold winter’s night by the ocean.
Hartan has no formal design training, a trait she says helps because she doesn’t know when she’s breaking the rules. She says the process is often one of trial and error. She sometimes starts a room design with a color scheme and adds artwork to fit; other times, she starts with the art and works backward.
It’s a rare home that can be elegant and a great place for a black lab to live, but that’s what Kasindorf and Hartan have achieved. The couple’s 4-year-old dog, Louis, has the run of the house. In a way, he is the perfect accessory to the design. There is something inviting about a home where a big black lab can flop on the furniture, a way of signaling that function ultimately wins out over form.
Kasindorf says it’s as much Louis’ house as theirs. It’s a point the dog drives home at dinner parties whenever he looks longingly at a seat claimed by a guest.
“They have to get up and move somewhere else,” Kasindorf says.
Kasindorf says much of the home’s quiet charm comes from the luck of location. The house sits on a side street that tourists have no reason to wander down.
“Nobody even knows this is really a street,” Kasindorf says.
Yet the home’s serenity is more than luck. With an in-town property, it’s a balancing act to get a good view without being able to see what the neighbors are having for lunch. While some island mansions have rolling lawns to the sea to work with, Kasindorf and Hartan have a simple yard and a few well-placed trees. But they’ve renovated their home to capture as much natural light as possible while still maintaining their privacy.
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Their first renovating priority after purchasing the house was to open up the floor plan. The den originally looked fit for a hibernating bear, with many walls and few windows. They knocked down two den walls and covered another with floor-to-ceiling windows. The den now feels airy, with a simple view of robins on the lawn and a wood fence that provides a sense of boundary.
For their most recent renovation, the couple committed American design heresy: They chopped out half the garage to make room for another bedroom and bathroom. Now instead of a two-car garage, they have a one-car space, electing to leave a car out in the cold so they could enjoy the space themselves.
Kasindorf says the decision to add another bedroom was an easy one. Previously, the home’s two bedrooms were located on the second floor and the couple knew that as they aged, they wouldn’t want to make the trek upstairs. Besides, now visiting family can occupy the entire upstairs and make as much noise as they want.
“They can take the whole second floor,” Kasindorf says.
Breaking another rule of American design, they made the new bedroom just big enough for the necessities. The bedroom has a high ceiling, as if to allow space for dreams, but not much more square footage than to fit a bed. “It’s almost Zen-like simple,” he says.
The room’s high ceiling slopes down to the bathroom to allow a visual transition. The bathroom, complete with a sauna, combines both ultramodern and classic design elements, with a sleek sink fixture resting on top of an antique cabinet. The design uses clean lines and an absence of ornate decoration to create a simple elegance.
Hartan says their home’s design was a team effort with help from their friend, local architect Stewart Brecher. She also praised the skills of local carpenter David Poland.
The interior color and art choices are largely Hartan’s domain, and both her home and the inns are works of art in progress. Nearly every winter, she finds herself redesigning at least one room in the inns. At home, the redesigning process is slower, but never ceases, and includes almost imperceptible changes to their modern sculpture and paintings collection. Much of the art for the home and the inns comes from Hartan’s art-world connections, including several Maine artists. The rest are booty from their wintertime globetrotting.
“Every time we go somewhere, we try and bring something meaningful back,” Hartan says.
Each room also has a distinct color palette, one Hartan chooses by feel. She uses warmer colors like orange and red for active rooms, and cooler colors for the den and bedrooms. The family room might be her best canvas; the room centers around a fireplace, and the warm-colored artwork and furniture seem to extend the fireplace’s flame, a wonderful effect for a cold winter’s night by the ocean.
Hartan has no formal design training, a trait she says helps because she doesn’t know when she’s breaking the rules. She says the process is often one of trial and error. She sometimes starts a room design with a color scheme and adds artwork to fit; other times, she starts with the art and works backward.
It’s a rare home that can be elegant and a great place for a black lab to live, but that’s what Kasindorf and Hartan have achieved. The couple’s 4-year-old dog, Louis, has the run of the house. In a way, he is the perfect accessory to the design. There is something inviting about a home where a big black lab can flop on the furniture, a way of signaling that function ultimately wins out over form.
Kasindorf says it’s as much Louis’ house as theirs. It’s a point the dog drives home at dinner parties whenever he looks longingly at a seat claimed by a guest.
“They have to get up and move somewhere else,” Kasindorf says.
