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Martha Stewart Defended Her Maine Summer Home Update After the Internet's Harsh Critique

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Martha Stewart Defended Her Maine Summer Home Update After the Internet's Harsh Critique


No home renovation is safe from the brutal judgment of the internet. Not even Martha Stewart, whose Maine summer home apparently did not pass muster with Instagram commenters, is immune.

On July 2, Stewart posted to Instagram with photos from her newly rearranged living room, writing, “We switched the living room from grey blue upholstery to a creamy pale buttery yellow ( all the yellow came from lily pond lane which I sold two years ago!) the library is much more comfortable now and the faux Bois table is now the card table I love the rustic yet elegant charm of this lovely 1925 house.”

But I guess her social media followers were not that charmed.

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Comments from unimpressed Instagram users included, “Looks old and stuffy,” and, “Going to be honest…you could hire a better decorator,” and, “Doesn’t look homey and inviting,” and, “Yuck. It looks like a Marriott suite living room in 1987.”

But if you were expecting Martha Stewart not to respond to all this criticism, you’d be deeply mistaken.

“I rarely read all the comments that come in after I post but because I was so happy at the transformation of my Maine living room I did go through many of the comments and was surprised at the harsh judgment so many displayed,” she wrote in a follow-up post on July 4. She continued that it took her and her helpers three hours to replace all of the furniture, and that they were pleased with how well everything fit, adding that it was not a professional installation from a decorator, just a quick facelift. “Making a house a home, or a room a beautiful livable space takes a lot more than three hours. Of course there will be color, plants, mirrors, a new rug or two and other art and objects Stay tuned!!!!”





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Maine

New York Times names The Place on list of top 22 bakeries across country

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CAMDEN — We knew all along how excellent The Place bakery is, at the top of the hill in Camden. That is why folks line up outside waiting for the doors to open.

But the New York Times also figured out how special The Place is, and in a Dec. 24 article, 22 of the Best Bakeries Across the U.S. Right Now, included the Camden bakery, lauding its, “ethereally flaky croissant dough (made with local flour and butter)….”

The Place, tucked off of Route 1 at 117 Elm Street, Camden, has plenty more going for it, thanks to its owners, Chelsea Kravitz and Chris Dawson, who are community-minded and always giving. They opened their enterprise in Summer 2023, and were instantly appreciated.

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Congratulations for making the national scene! Lear more on Instagram.





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Maine

3 comparisons putting Maine’s housing crisis into perspective

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3 comparisons putting Maine’s housing crisis into perspective


Mainers consider the housing crisis to be a bigger problem than any of the others facing our state.

The lack of housing inventory at all income levels, which was caused by historic underproduction and higher migration rates, has sent home prices soaring in recent years. It is harming Maine businesses and shutting many out of the housing market entirely.

Average home values and median home prices increased more in Maine in the last year than they did nationally. Other northeastern states have seen bigger hikes. But other metrics show that the crisis is virtually as bad here than anywhere else nearby, especially when you account for the fact that incomes are lower in Maine than in any other state in the region.

Here are three datapoints putting Maine’s housing crisis into perspective.

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Sale prices are growing nearly as fast here as anywhere in New England.

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Median home sale prices are growing nearly as fast in Maine as they are in any other northeastern state. Regionally, they’ve increased by anywhere from 5.9 to 11.3 percent in the last year. Maine is riding the middle at 8.2 percent, higher than any New England state besides Rhode Island, according to Redfin.

To purchase the median home for sale in Maine right now, you need an income of just under $112,000 a year, assuming no debts and a $20,000 down payment, according to Zillow’s affordability calculator. The median household income here is a little under $72,000, according to census data. That shows how out of whack the housing economy is for the average person.

Home values in Portland are growing as fast as they are in Boston.

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Over the past year, there have been signs that Portland’s red-hot pandemic housing market is slowing down. But that’s all relative. Home values here still grew by 3.8 percent over the past year as of November, which was only slightly below Boston at 4 percent, according to Zillow.

But when stacked up against the other largest cities in each New England state, Portland is second only to Burlington in seeing the lowest increase in home values in the past year. Providence, Rhode Island, has seen the largest hike, followed by Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Both those cities are facing major shortages and price increases, although they are still far cheaper markets to buy in than Portland. The typical home value in Providence is just over $400,000, which is roughly in line with Maine’s statewide average.

Maine’s rental crisis is worse than in this nearby Canadian city.

The southern Quebec city of Sherbrooke — only 40 miles from Maine’s western border — is in the midst of an “unprecedented housing crisis,” according to a local news outlet.

The city had a vacancy rate of only about 1 percent in October and 25 percent of households are spending more than 30 percent of their income on rent. Here in Maine, that latter figure is far worse.

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Nearly half of all renters in both Bangor and the Portland-South Portland area are spending at least 30 percent of their income on housing, data from Harvard University found. Roughly 45 percent of renting households in those areas pay over 30 percent of their income on housing, and 24 percent pay more than 50 percent.

As in Sherbrooke, officials here attribute the crisis to a low vacancy rate, a lack of affordable housing supply and the high cost to construct new units. The reasons for the crisis are clear everywhere, but the solutions are coming slowly.



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Maine State Police searching for man accused of strangling pregnant partner

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Maine State Police searching for man accused of strangling pregnant partner


State police are searching for a 41-year-old man they say strangled his pregnant partner.

Dusty O’Brien is wanted for domestic violence aggravated assault, reckless conduct and violating conditions of release, state police said Wednesday. He is out on bail for a separate domestic violence arrest, according to police.

Police say O’Brien strangled his pregnant partner on Tuesday and fled his residence before police arrived.

He is known to frequent the Porter area and other parts of Oxford County.

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The Wrap: Portland on Tap returns; a potluck with a twist



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