Decorating With Antiques in My Mother’s Maine Home

Decorating with antiques has always been at the heart of my mother’s Maine home. After inheriting this beloved coastal cottage in southern Maine, I began sharing the journey of preserving its character while thoughtfully decorating with the antiques, heirlooms, and vintage treasures my parents collected over a lifetime. This personal series captures the beauty of old New England homes, summer living along the Maine coast, and the meaningful stories behind the pieces that make a house feel like home.

The Story Behind My Mother’s Maine Home

This Coastal Maine home holds decades of love, family memories, and timeless charm. My parents built it in their seventies after leaving the busier pace of the Nubble in York, Maine, a place my grandfather had originally built for them not once, but twice. Wanting a quieter life by the water, they designed this new house as a replica of an early American home in nearby Cape Neddick, complete with cedar shake siding, open beams, wide pine floors, and old latch doors. Tucked along the river and just a short walk to the beach, it became their peaceful sanctuary for what they hoped would be ten good years. They were blessed with thirty.

Learn more in my Coastal Maine Roots: A Story of Family, Heritage, and Home post.

My father passed away here just shy of his 100th birthday, and my mother at 93. After their passing, I inherited the home and with it, a deep responsibility to care for it, preserve it, and make it my own.

Restoring and Decorating My Mother’s Maine Home with Antiques

With time and gentle updates, we’ve begun restoring this beloved Maine home while carefully honoring its past. We started inside by stripping and restoring the original wide plank wood floors and repainting the entire interior, giving the rooms a fresh start while preserving the character my parents built into the house. Learn more in my Vintage Home Restoration: A Fresh Start for Our Raeside-Dame Coastal Cape post.

Once the interior was complete, we turned our attention outdoors. We refreshed the exterior cedar shake siding, repainted the trim in classic Essex Green, and added a stone fire pit to create a welcoming outdoor gathering space. Each update was done thoughtfully so the home would continue to feel like the peaceful New England retreat, my parents loved.

Every corner of this house tells a story, and decorating it with the antiques they left behind has become one of the greatest honors of my life. My heart is especially full seeing this journey recognized in our Country Sampler Magazine feature.

Decorating With Antiques: Room-by-Room Inspiration in My Mother’s Maine Home

Decorating with antiques has always been at the heart of this Coastal Maine home. In this section, you’ll find room-by-room inspiration showing how inherited pieces, thrifted finds, and meaningful collections come together to create spaces that feel both timeless and personal.

From refinished floors and refreshed paint to cozy corners layered with antique furniture and vintage treasures, these rooms reflect the character of the home and the stories behind the pieces that fill it.

Bedrooms: Decorating With Antiques and Vintage Charm

Decorating with antiques is especially meaningful in the bedrooms of my mother’s Maine home. These spaces are layered with heirloom quilts, antique dressers, vintage oars, and small coastal treasures collected over the years. Explore the bedroom posts below to see how these pieces create cozy, collected spaces filled with story and New England charm.

Sunday Home Living Room: Decorating With Antiques and New England Charm

Decorating with antiques gives the living room in my mother’s Maine home its warm New England character. From pewter on the mantel to collected coastal artwork and heirloom furnishings, this space blends comfort with generations of family history. Explore the posts below to see how antiques and vintage decor shape this cozy gathering place.

Antique-Filled Country Kitchen: Decorating With Antiques and Vintage Charm

Decorating with antiques gives the country kitchen in my mother’s Maine home its warm, collected charm. Vintage crocks, blue and white dishware, handmade pottery, and thrifted finds surround an old wooden table and well-loved Turkish rug. Explore the posts below to see how antique collections and everyday pieces come together in this cozy kitchen.

As seen in Homes and Gardens: “All of the most stylish rustic kitchens I am seeing right now have this one feature in common – it’s easy to replicate, and you probably already own everything you need” (2025)

Dining Room: Decorating With Antiques and Family Heirlooms

Decorating with antiques gives the dining room in my mother’s Maine home its timeless charm. A vintage pine table, built-in hutches filled with transferware and pewter, and my mother’s collected dinnerware create the backdrop for meaningful seasonal tablescapes. Explore the posts below for dining room inspiration and antique table settings from this home.

Decorating with antiques in my mother’s Maine home continues to be an evolving journey. Each room reflects the pieces my parents loved and the small updates we’ve made while caring for the house today. Below you’ll find a few more stories and moments that continue to shape this home.

Decorating With Antiques: Thrifting and Antiquing Along the Maine Coast

Decorating with antiques in my mother’s Maine home is deeply connected to the thrift shops and antique stores we’ve visited for years along the coast of Maine. Traveling scenic Route 1, my parents introduced me to many of the charming antique shops and hidden treasures I still return to today. Follow along in my Antiquing in New England series.

Some of their most meaningful finds are still part of this home, like the blue hutch my father gave my mother for Christmas, which continues to anchor the room today. Explore my favorite coastal Maine thrift shops, vintage markets, and decorating inspiration in the posts and shopping guides below.

Seasonal Living While Decorating With Antiques in Our Maine Home

Although we spend most of our summers in my mother’s Maine home, we also love escaping here for cozy winter weekends just a short drive from Vermont. Summer brings beach days, outdoor dinners by the stone fire pit, and simple vintage table settings on the weathered teak patio table, while winter invites fireside evenings, snowy walks, and surf-watching during Nor’easters.

Decorating with antiques takes on a new feeling with each season, from white snowshoes hanging on the front door in winter to my mother’s three-wreath Christmas tradition that still welcomes us home today. Every season adds another layer of charm to this beloved New England house.

Honoring the Past While Decorating With Antiques

Decorating with antiques in my mother’s Maine home has been a deeply personal journey, one filled with family memories, meaningful heirlooms, and thoughtful updates that honor the past while caring for the home today. I hope this story inspires you to cherish the history in your own spaces, whether through inherited pieces or treasures discovered in your favorite antique shop. Explore more antique decorating ideas, vintage finds, and New England living throughout the blog, and follow along as we continue sharing life in this beloved coastal Maine home.

Explore Every Post in the In My Mother’s Maine Home Blog Series

This page is part of my “In My Mother’s Maine Home” series, where I share the ongoing journey of decorating with antiques, restoring beloved spaces, and caring for a home filled with family memories. If you’d like to explore every post in the series, from room refreshes to seasonal moments and vintage finds, you can browse them all here.

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