A Maine House, a Maine Barn, a Maine Brand: Nicola Manganello’s Restoration Journey and the Growth of Her Maine Design Firm

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In the second half of my conversation with Nicola Manganello, founder and principal designer of Maine's Nicola’s Home, we move from her early creative evolution into the heart of her current work: sustaining inspiration, building and leading a high-performing team, and navigating the complex process of designing high-end homes that are meant to be lived in, loved, and gathered in.

Nicola shares how she keeps her creativity vibrant after more than 25 years in the field—through collaboration with her all-women team, through travel, through magazines, gardens, and the tactile inspiration of materials in her design barn. We talk about the balance required to run a growing business while maintaining a creative soul, and the clarity she has gained from restructuring her company to free time for what fuels her.

This episode also turns toward the personal: the role of gardening, cooking, and time in nature; the grounding she found while caring for her mother who was her first business partner and inspiration; and the importance of making space for life, not just work. Nicola reflects candidly on leadership, responsibility, and the internal resilience required to navigate a very public design career in Maine.

And then, we dive into her signature new project: the full restoration of an 1858 Greek Revival home at 37 South Street in Yarmouth—a two-year endeavor that required vision, persistence, and enormous craftsmanship. Nicola shares how she purchased the home sight-unseen while on safari in Africa, the challenges of working within a historic district, and why bringing this property back to life—rather than tearing it down—felt important both for the village and for her own creative journey.

This conversation reveals the depth behind Nicola’s design philosophy: that homes are not simply beautiful objects, but places that keep people together, strengthen families, and anchor lives.

Key Themes

• Creative longevity: how collaboration and continual learning sustain her design perspective
• Leadership and growth: building a team with complementary creative strengths and expanding her firm’s capacity
• Personal grounding: the influence of gardening, cooking, travel, and intentional routines
• The emotional side of building homes: the weight of responsibility, client relationships, and the courage it takes to lead
• Restoring an 1858 gem: the vision, obstacles, and triumphs of her Greek Revival renovation in Yarmouth
• Elegance in Maine: her belief that Maine’s natural beauty, simplicity, and authenticity define its elegance

Featured Project

37 South Street, Yarmo

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