PRESS & NEWS

A Treasured Past

Cape Code Home - Early Summer 2019
For a gallery of photographs and the full article, read online here or download the print version.
By: Julie Craven Wagner & Photography by: Jon Moore

Builder Deborah Paine has carved out a special home in an unlikely place.

For Deborah Paine, a life's path that led to building homes, arguably the most meaningful and important structure found in society, began on windswept Peaks Island, in Maine's Casco Bay. The principal and founder of North Truro's Deborah Paine, Inc. spent childhood years in a modest cottage that had been in her family for generations. "I grew up on an island off the coast of Maine. The cottage we had was crafted from six lumberjack shacks, put together. It had been in the family for over 90 years. It wasn't much, but it was just as charming as it could be," she recalls.

For this crafter of fine homes and commercial buildings of distinction, the significant architecture found on the island had a powerful impact on her at an early age. Particularly the shinglestyle buildings created by such renown architects as John Calvin Stevens, whose work at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century came to define the grand homes found along the coast of Maine.

That love, respect and inquisitive creativity surrounding architecture that was fostered as a child has propelled her as she has built a successful building business on the Cape as well as on the midcoast of Maine. Most recently, she has converted a building that was originally designated to solve a conditioned storage need for her business, into an eclectic and deeply personal home for herself behind her offices in North Truro.

"I grew up always wanting to build cottages, for over 50 years. So when I get the opportunity to build a smaller home or something for myself, I tend to look at it a little bit differently," Paine explains. Where most would see an uninteresting box, or even quickly define it as a warehouse or shed, Paine recognized the bones and potential of a blank canvas. Embracing the existing flooring, the untouched plaster walls and ceiling, Paine saw what most would miss. "It was a beautiful shell," she says with the kind of contentment a beachcomber might exclaim as they admired what so many others had passed by.

And like an artist pulling memories from a lifetime of experiences, relationships, images and adventures, she applied her collective treasures, thus creating a tableau of her rich existence.

"I enjoyed doing it. I enjoyed putting something that was different on the lot and making it different, with the color outside as well as the interior," Paine explains. Saturated colors, tactile textures, unique furnishings and pieces with history and stories all set the backdrop to a life-filled array of art, including photos, paintings and ephemera of a true lover of New England.

"You can only exercise your own whimsy so much with a client, so when you get the rare opportunity to do something for yourself, you jump at it," Paine says. "The older I get, the less conservative I get with things like color and traditional forms."

With a history of building and remodeling homes around the region, many of historic significance, Paine's keen eye has been able to spot items for salvage that others might have passed over.

Many of those treasures have found a newly interpreted function in Paine's new home. "I am a collector of old barn board," she says as she points out a rustic paneled section of wall in her living room. "One of my guys is very talented and he was able to pull it all together like a puzzle." The cabinet doors from Norman Mailer's estate in Provincetown are now the backboard of an oversized coat rack that serves as a charming mudroom in the otherwise mostly unpartitioned space.

"Everything I have around me speaks to me," says Paine. "Whether it is a photograph or a painting or a found object. It triggers some sort of emotional connection that then gets repeated again whenever I look at it in my surroundings... Where I used to fish, or a building on Peaks Island that burned down."

It is easy to see how her eye lands on her own personal history, feeds her senses, and as she reminisces the memories are easily attainable as though no time had passed at all. Paine points out a photo of her beloved Maine lobster boat, Shirley, that she acquired, restored and repowered. A photo of Halsey Herreshoff's 40-footer hangs proudly a bit farther down the wall. And a picture of Brooklin, Maine, the famed harbor and home of WoodenBoat magazine is also right at home.

Perhaps most comfortable and at home is Paine's precious pup, Trixie. Described as both cute and a clown, Trixie has not only found her forever home with Paine but also seems to be the perfect companion as Paine splits her time on a regular basis between the Cape and the coast of Maine.

It seems as though every item has a story as well as a purpose. The base of the dining table was found in a pile at a friend's building yard in Maine. The new wooden top for the unique base has begun to crack, not an activity that alarms Paine, but rather creates an interesting history for the piece.

"The fun thing about wood is that it continues to move. There didn't use to be any cracks in this tabletop, but then every crack that starts gets encouragement from me, 'Keep going!' I whisper," she confesses. The leathered granite countertop on the island in the kitchen was fashioned by Cape Cod Marble and Granite, who Paine instructed the fabricators, "Make it feel like a beach pebble."

Paine, who has been building other people's dreams for almost 50 years, says: "I became first a carpenter and then a general contractor and business owner. I love taking things apart and putting them back together again." Now, in a non-descript 1,092-square-foot box, located behind her offices and showroom on Route 6A in the sleepy enclave of North Truro, Deborah Paine has taken the pieces of her life and built herself a very nice home.

For a gallery of photographs and the full article, read online here or download the print version.

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“Deborah Paine’s Kitchens” featured on Architectural Photographer Jon Moore's website

January 2018
Deborah Paine Inc. is a Truro based design/ build firm providing full services to a variety of clients on Cape Cod. Over the past few years, I've had the opportunity to photograph their work--from a repurposed 'Net House' to their beautiful homes in Provincetown to a renovated storefront that serves as their design center. These photos are a salute to their exquisite sense of design, creative choice of materials and attention to detail in the construction process.

I hope you enjoy this visit to Deborah's Kitchens: https://www.jmoorephoto.net/debpainekitchens

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BLUE-SKY THINKING

The World of Interiors, November 2017

The translucent light of Provincetown, Massachusetts, has long attracted artists, including Jackson Pollack, Franz Kline, and Willem de Kooning. The former site of the Cape Cod School of Art is now the summer home of New York magazine's editor-in-chief, Adam Moss, and his husband, Daniel Kaizer. Today, and enlightened arts programme welcomes bright artistic souls here again. It's a heavenly spot, says Kevin Guyer.

click here to download the full article [pdf]

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We are pleased to announce Deborah Paine Inc is the proud winner of four 2014 BRICC Awards!!!

November 2014
The BRICC Awards recognize excellence in building, remodeling, design, sales and marketing on Cape Cod & Islands, and provide regional, statewide, and national recognition.


The Home Builder's & Remodeler's Association of Cape Cod, our local affiliate of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), sponsors the biennial BRICC Awards to recognize creativity, professionalism and craftsmanship of its membership and community.

Many of you will remember that we won a Gold and a Silver when the HB&RACC started presenting BRICC Awards two years ago.

GOLD AWARD: Best Remodeling/Restoration/Addition between $250k and $500k

Our 2014 Gold Winner entry for "Best Remodeling/Restoration/Addition between $250k and $500k" sits on a hilltop near the tip of the Cape. The addition made it possible to convert two small bedrooms into a larger Master Suite, a Guest Suite and a garage at ground level. The homeowners love that they can now offer overnight guests their own private and comfortable space.

SILVER AWARD: Best Bath Remodel

The Silver "Best Bath Remodel" award was the result of transforming two outdated back-to-back bathrooms into one spectacular Master Bath. This was the second time around for clients we had remodeled a condominium for several years prior. Upon purchasing this spacious home in Provincetown's West End, they called upon us to remodel the bath and the rest of the house into a dream home for their retirement.

2 ADDITIONAL SILVER AWARDS: Best Kitchen Remodels between $60k and $120k

Lastly, we were pleasantly surprised to tie ourselves for Silver in the "Best Kitchen Remodel between $60k and $120k" category. One kitchen was in the far West End of Provincetown and the other in the far East End, and for both we opened the rooms to space and light by removing walls and/or raising ceilings, adding windows, updating the appliances and fixtures, and creating panoramic views of water, dunes and sky.

While we appreciate the accolades of our contemporaries and peers, it must be said we are nothing without our clients, who entrust us with their homes, our staff and crew, subcontractors and everyone that contributes to the success of Deborah Paine Inc.

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ATLANTIS RAIL SUMMER 2013 PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS!

www.atlantisrail.com Deborah Paine, Inc. wins the Atlantis Rail Summer 2013 Photo Contest!

Click on the link below to view some of the winning photos from a recent Deborah Paine, Inc. residential build.

→ click here visit the contest website
click here to download [pdf]

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Cape Cod Home, Annual Resource Guide 2013 - Readers' Resources

www.capecodlife.com Deborah Paine is featured as a local expert in the Readers' Resources section of the Cape Cod Home Annual Guide.

Delightful Versatility

At Deborah Paine Inc, in North Truro, builder Deborah Paine and architect Trevor Pontbriand combine 40 years of experience to bring Cape and Islands home and business owners concierge-level service and a strong focus on perfection.

click here to download and read the full feature [pdf]

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Conversation with Deb Paine
Home Designer and Builder

Cape Cod View - January/February 2013 - By Roe Osborn Deborah Paine is a featured interview in the latest issue of Cape Cod View Magazine.

"It's what I'm supposed to be doing. I am a facilitator of dreams."

Deborah Paine began drawing houses at age 4. And not just stick figures, but real homes — some even on piers over the water. From those earliest moments, Deb (as she likes to be called) knew what she wanted to do in life: design and build homes...

→ click here to download and read the full article.

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Deborah Paine Inc wins two
BRICC awards!

October 2012
The BRICC Awards recognize excellence in building, remodeling, design, sales and marketing on Cape Cod & Islands, and provide regional, statewide, and national recognition.



GOLD AWARD: Best use of Local Art/Artisan Talent

PROJECT TITLE: Custom Boat Bed

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Elise Cozzi and Penny Sutter were such a joy to work with during the renovation-turned-tear-down/rebuild of their historic water side cottage; Deborah Paine commissioned David Rowell to create this custom bed. Being avid boaters it was fashioned to resemble a wooden lobster boat, complete with working spots, port and starboard lights, horn, and operable wheel house windows. The bed is fitted with gas-charged lifts to allow access and storage "below deck." The red water line accentuates the beautiful curve of the hull and the deck rails and cleat detail complete the illusion.

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SILVER AWARD: Best Renovation

PROJECT TITLE: 97 Commercial Street Renovation

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: This pre-1900 net house in Provincetown Harbor had survived a fire and several BAD carpenters before DPI was hired to convert two second floor studio units into one beautiful space. One of the greatest challenges was mitigating the 14" difference in floor elevation from one end of the structure to the other with the low existing ceiling height.

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Green Inspirations

Cape Code Home - Spring 2012 Deborah Paine Inc. is a featured home in the Green Inspirations article.

By its very nature, sustainable architecture requires a different perspective.

Provincetown builder Deborah Paine set eyes on a broken-down waterfront cottage in Provincetown's West End and immediately knew she had a challenge. "The post-and-beam frame wouldn't even hold a bolt," Paine recalls of the historic three-story home. Zoning and historic regulations restricted her to the same footprint, which meant a total of just 1,620 square feet on all three floors. Paine began with plans drawn by architect Derick Snare of Snare & Snare in Somerville and embellished them along the way, constantly conferring with her crew and the homeowners, Elise Cozzi and Penny Sutter.

Paine knew from the start that Sutter and Cozzi were kindred spirits. Although the cottage had to be torn down, the homeowners encouraged Paine to repurpose, recycle, and reclaim whenever possible. All the siding and flooring was saved and used in projects such as the winding staircase, complete with drawers built into the steps and a custom-made iron handrail. "All the carpenters made things by hand," Paine says. "Ideas came up as we went along; we were always devising and creating."

Energy conservation measures are still in development. "The owners charged us with making this as energy efficient as we possibly could," Paine says. She created an "incredibly tight envelope" with closed cell foam insulation and wired the house for electric heat. The radiators have gel liquid centers, which are excellent for retaining heat. (There is a backup gas stove on the second floor.) Photovoltaic panels on the roof supply much of the energy, proven by $12 electric bills. Hot water is supplied on demand by two tankless Rinnai brand water heaters. Paine and her crew also pre-wired the house for a vertical-access wind turbine that they hope to install. The house has artistic flourishes throughout, many reflecting the owners' creativity and mutual affection. Sutter surprised Cozzi, a retired pediatric dentist, with a dog ramp for their treasured pet, an elderly teacup poodle. As Paine says, "there's a lot of heartfelt stuff in this house."

The logistics of working on the house, landlocked and almost unreachable, were stunning. With what Paine calls "a little piece of Yankee ingenuity" and help from the community, she and her crew built a staging area in the West End parking lot and ran a gangway to the site, over the beachfront of very generous neighbors. "You know the saying, 'it takes a village?'" Paine says. "Well, we put a village together."

→ click here to download and read the full article.

View a Gallery from this Cape Cod Home Feature.

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Fresh Past

Cape Code Home - Spring 2012 Deborah Paine Inc. is the general contractor on this great project!

Designer Michael Ferzoco of Eleven Interiors breathes new life into a Truro antique.

It's not often one comes across an early Cape Cod period house in close to its original state—floors, windows, and moldings still intact. Tucked away on a quiet lane in Truro is a diamond in the rough—a 1790 structure with good bones and authentic Colonial charm reflected in several early architectural details. The house has an interesting past, typical of many Cape Cod homes, which often have structural additions from one period or another, reflecting differing needs of families through the centuries.

In this case, a circa 1840 house was floated down the Pamet River and added to the original 1790 structure. Despite its patchwork provenance, Scott Slater, a lover of antiquity as well as Cape Cod, purchased the L-shaped house without hesitation. He soon contacted Michael Ferzoco owner of Boston's Eleven Interiors to renovate the spaces for 21st-century living without harming the home's historical integrity. A master at reconfiguring interiors to maximize light with savvy design elements, Ferzoco began re-imagining the spaces.

"Scott was a wonderful client," says Ferzoco. "He wanted to honor the age and antiquity of the house while enhancing it to its fullest potential." Scott spent a summer living in the house to understand the rhythm of the spaces—what worked with his lifestyle, and what did not. After the season, he decided against changing the historic envelope of the house, choosing to work inside the existing footprint. Ferzoco began to create a design that honored the past without hampering comfortable contemporary living.

The existing kitchen was dark and small with a sleeping loft above it, a very traditional feature in early Cape homes where life centered around the kitchen. "Initially we thought we might use the loft as an office, but the ceilings were low and the room was cramped," says Ferzoco. The designer had the loft removed and added a skylight, flooding the kitchen with natural light. He chose custom-designed cabinetry with butcher block tops. "We wanted to give the room a sense of patina," he says. To achieve this look, a distinctive Paris flea market find was placed in the center of the kitchen—a well-worn butcher-block table.

"We left simple open shelves above the counters to further the illusion of age," says Ferzoco. Today, the kitchen feels spacious, yet warm and comfortable. An authentic detail was the incorporation of rough-sawn ceiling beams that look hand hewn, painted white with simple wood boards between the beams. The attractive backsplash behind the commercial stove is another French purchase featuring antique blue-and-white tiles from the turn of the last century.

The dining space has a handsome, antique round table with contemporary chairs placed around it providing a great focal point adding effective dramatic contrast. Ferzoco introduced a bank of two-over-two windows topped with operable awning transoms to open the space to views of the private garden as well as allowing additional light to stream in.

The main portion of the house was originally divided into three separate spaces. To create a more relaxed living environment, Ferzoco removed the walls, opening up the entire interior. An original fireplace anchors the expanse. Originally the three separate rooms had quite different functions—a larder, a borning room, and a parlor—and there was a typical decorative hierarchy to the trim details in each typical of Colonial homes. "The original parlor's window trim with corner blocks was the most decorative, so we replicated it for the other windows in all three spaces," says the designer.

Ferzoco designed an attractive built-in, floor-to-ceiling bookcase to house Scott's vast collection of books and sculptures. The king's cut floorboards—original to the house—were sanded and refinished adding a warm glow. Scott's notable artwork collection, by both local and French artists, is an appealing element throughout the house. Another original parlor was turned into Scott's home office. In an ingenious recycling move, old window sashes that came from the original house were recycled and became the doors for a handsome credenza.

The only completely new structure was the master bathroom. "There was no space off the first-floor master bedroom for a bath, so we created a small room with a shed roof and a bank of two-over-two windows, which match the windows in the dining area," says Ferzoco. On another antiquing foray in France, Scott found a deep antique claw-foot tub—the perfect finishing touch.

Today, this ancient Cape house has a contemporary layout with comfortable, well-designed living spaces on the first floor, an elegant master bedroom and bath, a light-filled kitchen, and a creatively sophisticated living room—yet none of the house's historical integrity is lost. Despite stunning interior design elements that are the essence of 2012, the house glows with a sense of respect for Cape Cod's past.

→ click here to download and read the full article.

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