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Ascending the cupola in Rudy Woodard’s coastal Maine home is not unlike climbing the crow’s nest in an oceangoing vessel. Clutching a rope railing that loops through brass rings, you first climb a switchback staircase up to a narrow landing with walls of white grooved bead board fitted with round marine lights. You then scale a teak ship’s ladder to the summit, where on a clear day the Gulf of Maine spreads far and wide before you until the water’s edge meets the sky.

Four-paned windows of white wood crank open to welcome in the ocean’s brisk and salt-scented air. And if you are capable of turning your eyes from the sea to the left—or “port side” as a sailor would say—lie wide stretches of beaches and a bustling harbor tucked landward below.

It is this view that Rudy enjoyed, but also contemplated, while living in a small cottage on the site for six years before deciding to act out a life’s dream and create the summer home he calls “Easterly” in observance of its ocean orientation.

“The potential for the property consumed my imagination and creative energy for six years. Over the weekends and summers, I visualized every detail in my quest for authenticity and architectural gentility,” explains Rudy. 

Rudy, who lives in Boston during the rest of the year, moved to the Northeast from his home state of North Carolina more than a decade ago for work. “As vice president for Brookstone, I head the concept, design, and development of some of the world’s most innovative products,” says Rudy. “My work requires that I travel outside the U.S. frequently so, as you can imagine, the slower pace and beauty of the Maine coast is my escape.”

Though the little cottage was well-loved, Rudy says it was too small for entertaining, and he loves spending time with friends who are equally busy during the week. “Weekends have become our social connection,” he says. “Here we dine, dance, play golf, garden, and simply enjoy each others’ company. We all look forward to these special weekends.”

Despite the high-tech requirements of his job, Rudy says he wanted his summer home to have a timeless feel.

“Architecturally, I wanted to recreate my romantic vision of Southern Maine when summer homes were elegantly formal. I have always been obsessed with the elegant simplicity of turn-of-the-century ‘cottages,’” says Rudy.

To make his vision a reality, Rudy enlisted residential designer and builder Bob Reed of Robert Reed Associates to design a shingle-style home, a classic coastal design. “I knew when I was ready to do this, he would be the choice,” says Rudy. “We met for two years almost every Saturday morning. I can’t imagine doing this project without him.”

Bob first trained as an architect but now works as a residential designer and builder so he can see his work through to completion. He says some clients have a difficult time visualizing the results, but Rudy was not one of them. “People who really understand design really push your skills as a designer,” he says.

The location, though spectacular, presented challenges. Before the house could be built, large rocks were hauled in to terrace and reinforce the land alongside the cliff’s edge. The angled lot faced east then bended north, dropped  off steeply before the water, and contained a large amount of ledge that couldn’t be blasted from the site because of the nearness of the neighbors, whose close proximity presented another challenge in the home’s design: privacy. Within those confines, it was also important to both Rudy and Bob that the home’s design fit in with the proportions of the surrounding neighborhood.

“We spent a lot of time at the site,” explains Bob. “The key with all the projects we do is that the buildings fit the site.”

Bob designed the house’s plans from scratch, taking into consideration the lot’s challenges and Rudy’s specifications, which included real arches in a number of doorways, a two-story octagon turret and—just as the drawings were almost complete—a cupola, which presented the particular challenge of incorporating a staircase into a narrow space. Bob, who says he liked solving this puzzle the most, designed a switchback staircase. The top of the cupola was framed within the home’s driveway then lifted up with a crane.

“The cupola was my fantasy of giving the house a sea captain’s perch, a place to take the helm,” says Rudy. “From this little nook one can pretend to steer this great ship into the strongest headwinds.”

In order to gain privacy and maximize the ocean views, Bob designed the house to turn with the lot easterly toward the water. An uninterrupted line of vision is upheld in the house, where one can stand in the kitchen at the back end of the house and see out to the water through the home’s ocean-side great room. Both rooms are on the second floor, along with a guest bedroom, in a reverse floor plan that puts the living space higher with bedrooms underneath to take full advantage of the expansive views.

To soften the design and add a custom character, Rudy was adamant that all materials be natural and authentic. Those exquisite details can be found inside and out in the real cedar shaker roof, cobblestone driveway, limestone bathrooms, pickwick paneling in the garage salvaged from the cottage, and authentic uncut field stones for the foundation and the fireplace, some of which Rudy personally collected from North Carolina.

“Sometimes he would show up with stones in the back of his Jaguar and tell the mason where he’d like to put them,” remembers Bob.

For the house’s 70-plus windows, Rudy wouldn’t compromise by using aluminum clad though the house takes the brunt of coastal storms. “My windows are all solid wood from Marvin and it was probably not the smartest thing to do, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it the other way.”

In the great room walls of curvy oak overlook old-growth “heart of pine” floors by Carlisle often transform into a dance floor when guests are over. www.wideplankflooring.com

“The wood in here and the craftsmanship is extraordinary,” says Rudy. “It’s really such a warm elegant room. It contrasts beautifully with the water. That’s where we dance a lot. We come back after dinner and have a great time.”

Heart of pine also graces the top of an island in the large kitchen with custom cabinetry, spaciousness, and top-of-the-line appliances that would be any cook’s delight, though Rudy does not boast of his culinary skills. “My friends laugh at me because I’m not an established cook,” says Rudy. “It’s not one of my favorite things.”  But, he points out the size of the kitchen allows room for plenty of other cooks to give him a hand. “I love architectural kitchens, and it’s the entertainment hub of the entire hub of the entire house. I have great living spaces but like every other home the kitchen has this gravitational pull.”

Modern conveniences aren’t immediately apparent, but there are some here. Music enters the living room through speakers atop the hand-hewn beams of the great room and a subwoofer behind wood paneled walls. More wood paneling in the kitchen conceals both a television and a dumb waiter that travels down into the basement, where Rudy consolidated the rest of his electronics in a media room.

“Convenience is important, but it doesn’t trump elegance or authenticity for me,” says Rudy.

Rudy describes the interior design as a work in progress though the home was completed almost two years ago. “I am very selective,” he says. “I would rather have nothing than to have something I compromise on. That’s why it’s a very slow process.”
To find just the right objects, he has been working with Louise Hurlbutt of Hurlbutt Designs in Kennebunk.

“With Louise, she embodies classic Maine home décor so I have a lot of respect for her and her ability,” says Rudy. “She just understands a lot about the spirit of New England and Southern Maine.”

The interior design reflects the home’s timeless elegance yet in a simple style. “Even though the house is very formal, I have a lot of sisal rugs and a lot of slip-covered upholstery, he says. “I want it to be very at ease and very comfortable.”

Ever present in the home’s interior, the ocean offers endless entertainment as it alters from calm to churning, and features continuous activity as lobster and fishing boats make their way from the shore to the Atlantic Ocean. It almost surrounds the two turret rooms, which makes it easy to see why the upstairs one is Rudy’s favorite spot in the house. This reading room is paneled in authentic wide bead board and features a custom built bookcase and two chairs in white sail cloth—though he admits it’s hard to focus on reading with such a view. 

Often, it is in this room where he will gather with friends for the “final gesture of the weekend,” enjoying a glass of wine and watching the sunset to the west create a “rainbow like” backwash of color on the eastern horizon.

But the biggest event at Easterly is when the full moon rises over the ocean.

“Every time there’s a full moon, the activity starts, everybody’s ready to come over to watch the moon rise. When you get them just right they’re spectacular,” says Rudy, and he describes an awe-inspiring sight:

“From the great room and deck, the view of the moon lifting out of the Atlantic is breathtaking. One gets the sense of being on the edge of the universe as this magical orange ball breaks the horizon.” 

INTERIOR DESIGNING
Timeless design for timeless architecture: Interior designer Louise Hurlbutt of Hurlbutt Designs says she was inspired by Easterly’s timeless architecture designed by Bob Reed. To complement the beautiful woodwork and rich moldings, Louise says she departed from her usual classic coastal style of blue and white. “But in Rudy’s house it was very different because it really has an Old World look to it,” she explains.

She brought in mahogany and cherry pieces along with antiques and textured fabric to complement that richness. In the dining room she covered two chairs in a woven bouclé fabric, based on designs that once graced the seats of luxury passenger trains. Her classic coastal style does makes an appearance in the turret reading where she contrasted white slip-covered chairs with bright blue pillows.

Another thing Louise kept in mind was although Easterly is on the water, it is not just a summer house.

“He’s there a lot in the winter—he’s there every weekend—so I wanted him to feel cozy sitting by the fire,” says Louise, who brought rich textures into the living room with chenille pillows and an Oriental rug with a marine design to complement all those water views. “I love the living room; I love the fireplace,” she says. “I can imagine I’m sitting  there on a December day with the snow falling outside, and the view of the ocean, and the fire on, and I bet it’s thrilling.”

Antiques are an important part of design for Louise. Her design center features 4,000 square feet of treasures she and her husband, Ralph, acquire during 6-weeks long trips to Europe and Asia every year. Recently, they traveled to Argentina where they found many French and English antiques Argentineans bought when their country was one of the wealthiest in the world, before and during World War II, when it fed all of Europe. 

Louise’s tips for decorating with antiques? “I always tell people to buy at least a couple good antique for each room because of the wood, the history and because of the value,” she says. “And it sets rooms apart when you can have an antique or two in it.”