Vintage Home Restoration: A Fresh Start for Our Raeside-Dame Coastal Cape

Today, I stepped into the freshly painted rooms of a vintage home my parents lovingly called home for nearly 30 years, a space now quietly transformed, yet still filled with their spirit.

Vintage Home Restoration in Coastal Maine: Our First Steps

This post is the second in my In My Mother’s Maine Home blog series, chronicling the heartfelt transformation of our inherited family home on the coast of Maine. (You may see the first post in this series with the before in this Inside Our Coastal Signature Raeside Dame Home (Before) post.) Built in the early 1990s by my parents, this house is a Raeside-Dame home, a replica of an early American cape, known throughout the New England seacoast for its historic charm, cedar shake siding, exposed beams, and antique-style hardware. After nearly 30 years of love and daily living, the time had come for a refresh.

After decades of cozy living, our inherited Raeside-Dame coastal Maine home was ready for a refresh, what I like to call a gentle vintage home restoration. With its strong bones and timeless New England charm, we focused on brightening the space while honoring its roots. We refinished the original pine floors to a soft, natural sheen and painted every wall Simply White, creating a clean, airy backdrop that lets the home’s early American details shine. The original Nantucket Gray trim stayed, along with the kitchen cabinets in the same tone, for a quiet nod to my parents’ design choices. From the freshly sanded butcher block countertops to the charming sunroom, which once had hand-painted white floors, every corner of this home began to glow.

This was just the beginning of the journey. We moved in during the height of the pandemic, furniture delayed, antiques in place, a borrowed chair or two in the sunroom, and embraced the experience. What began as an empty house with beautiful bones slowly blossomed into a space filled with light, stories, and love once again.

Take a Look Inside This Vintage Home Restoration

From newly brightened walls to the warm glow of refinished pine floors, these photos capture the first fresh chapter of our Raeside-Dame home in Coastal Maine. The house may be empty for now, no furniture yet, just a bouquet of flowers and a coffee mug, but the updates brought a breath of fresh air into every room. Step inside and see how we honored the charm of this home while beginning to make it our own.

As we wrapped up this first stage of restoring our family’s Raeside-Dame home, the transformation was already full of light, warmth, and timeless New England charm. From freshly painted walls in Simply White to the rich glow of refinished pine floors, it felt like the beginning of a new chapter, rooted in family history and vintage style.

Want to see more of this home’s journey? Start with the before tour, where we inherited this cherished coastal Maine home after 30 years of love and memories. Next, follow along as we refinished the cedar shake siding and Essex Green trim to breathe new life into the classic exterior.

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