| Phi Home Designs:
What We Do |
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Midcoast Home Show 
Join us Saturday and Sunday May 30th and 31st at the Maine Home & Design Midcoast Home Show. This years event will be held at Point Lookout in Lincolnville. Phi is a promotional sponsor for the show and will be opening up our Mobile Workshop to the public. We will have furniture makers demonstrating various aspects of their craft: including: lathe turning, hand carving, hand cut dovetails and more. We will also be introducing our interior design services and designer Leslie Curtis to the Midcoast community. Attendees to the show will be eligable for special promotional offers from Phi. Stop in and say hello, we would love to see you; and while you are there enter our raffle for a chance to win a custom made piece of furniture. For more information about the show check out Maine Home & Designs website.
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Current Work: Megunticook Cottage 
After thinking about some of the feedback that we received on our previous newsletters, we thought that it might be nice to profile a project "in process" occasionally. This issue we chose a small lake front cottage that is currently being "dried-in". As we all know, Megunticook Lake has one of this area's most coveted shorelines for a family retreat and is one of the midcoast's most glorious spot for a summer getaway. Phi Home Designs is currently building a modest three season cottage on the western shore of this historic lake. We have been able to use entirely local materials for the framing and siding for this house; with diagonal pine boards pulling double duty as siding and interior wall surfaces. The interior framing is exposed as well lending to the "cottagy" feel. The clean lines and uncomplicated flow of this building lets the beauty of the backdrop and coziness of the woods do the talking. It nestles into the site and will lend itself well to its purpose - a sanctuary for family and friends to enjoy each other, the lake and summer in Maine.
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| Employee Profile:
Tommy Uhll |
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An engaging and beneficial force on our jobsites, Tommy Uhll joined the Phi Home Design's as a Project Supervisor in 2007. After serving four years in the United States Marine Corps, he focused his energy as a partner in the family construction business in New York and subsequently became owner upon his father's retirement. After 15 years of wearing all the hats that make a construction company successful, Tommy and his family moved to Maine in 2006 and with that he has brought along his construction knowledge, site management skills, and dedication to customer service. As Project Supervisor, he is dedicated to maintaining the Phi standard of quality which stems from a well organized, efficient, and positive jobsite. An effective communicator, talented carpenter, and an all around fun person - we at Phi are proud to have Tommy on our team. |
| Quick Links
Phi: |
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Related Links:
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We are conveniently located off of Route 90 in Rockport and just a few short miles from Route 1. Our office and shop facilities are tucked behind Carver Hill Gallery at 270 Meadow Street.
Please visit our kitchen
displays at:
Carver Hill Gallery
264 Meadow St.- Rockport, ME
207-236-0745
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Letterboard:
"It's been a pleasure working with you all and we very much appreciate the level of professionalism and responsiveness that you have applied to this project. With the finish line almost in sight we're most excited about our upcoming summer spending it in Maine in our lovely home.."
-Homeowner of an extensive, multifaceted coastal renovation project
"It has arrived and is spectacular. Thank you so much!! We're thrilled!! Brings new life to our living room! Well done!"
-A furniture client after receiving a custom designed and built coffee table
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Happy New Year!
Hello from the folks at Phi!
Well, since our last newsletter the weather outside has become quite a bit more inviting, we are starting to see some signs of life in the arenas that we make a market and the downturn has hopefully bottomed out and will start heading in the other direction. We here at Phi have taken the past few months to look at our systems, policies, and workplace culture and evaluate what is working and what needs to be improved upon. We have fine tuned our operations and feel confident that we will move forward as a leaner, more productive, and more focused company than ever. Through all of these changes, however large or small, we have been able to keep our eye on what makes us Phi - exemplary customer service, attention to detail, superior quality and fine craftsmanship. From foundation to furniture Phi is equipped to tackle and manage any project - more competitively than ever.
In case you were wondering, we decided to send this newsletter out quarterly instead of monthly. So here is our latest installment. Enjoy!
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Introducing: Interior Design Services |
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Phi Home Design now offers full interior design services. We have brought the extraordinarily talented Leslie Curtis onboard as our in-house interior designer. Leslie has owned an interior design business and retail antique store on Cape Cod for twenty five years and in Los Angeles a custom furniture studio and design store for twelve years. Her work in and around Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket and Los Angeles with discriminating clients has been greatly respected for many years.
Leslie Curtis grew up in and around Boston. She studied at the Museum School of Fine Arts and Boston University. She lived and worked in NYC and Europe, finally establishing residences in Los Angeles, London and Italy. She traveled extensively passing extended periods of time in Japan, Turkey, Iran, France and the Fiji Islands.
Her first design work was in London on a Georgian townhouse in Chester Square which served as home base for ten years. It was decorated in a comfortable American style, mixing old world England with avant-garde London design and New England comfort. She also lived and studied in Rome. She had the fortunate opportunity to be invited to live at the Villa Medici with the great artist Balthus and his extraordinary wife Setsuko. This particular experience gave her an even deeper admiration and appreciation for the beauty of design history and the value of simplicity. The beauty of the Villa Medici and the surrounding gardens had not been compromised by the clutter of modern living and the historical décor was respected by the inhabitants. This was another great lesson in the concept of design and respect for art and history. Returning to the U.S. she worked on restoring and decorating the Mediterranean style villa which had been built in the 1920's by the film producer Howard Keck.
Phi is very happy and proud to welcome Leslie to the Phi team. Her work on the East and West coast has provided her with a unique perspective on the ever changing world of furniture and design. Stop by our booth at the Midcoast Home Show and meet Leslie for yourself, we think that you will agree that she is a true treasure and an invaluable resource to the Maine design community.
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Fine Furniture  Phi Home Designs began as a custom furniture shop and as our company has expanded out into new areas we have never lost site of our beginnings. We are dedicated to creating precisely the furniture that our clients desire, whether it be a faithful reproduction of a classic design or something out of the ordinary.
We respect and admire traditional designs and are skilled at producing historically accurate pieces. We also enjoy adapting established designs to today's uses, such as a hutch whose doors conceal a flat panel television or a desk that accommodates a computer set up. And we love the challenge of entirely new concepts.
Regardless of style or period, we endow each piece with a pleasing balance of aesthetics and function. We work closely with our customers to ensure that they their piece is exactly what they want, carefully crafted from their choice of the finest solid woods - whether it be a traditional species like cherry, mahogany, or walnut, or a more exotic one such as bubinga, holly, or ebony. Responsibility for your project will be assigned to one of our master craftsmen, who will be personally involved with it from start to finish.
We engage with our clients from concept to completion. An initial meeting defines the need that the piece of furniture will satisfy, the preferred style, and any and all details. From there we graphically create the piece using detailed computer-assisted design drawings coupled with time-honored methods of style, joinery, and finish. In most cases we can produce full-scale renderings to help ensure that the furniture will perfectly fit your environment.
While a project is underway, we invite our clients to be as engaged in the process as they would like, keeping them apprised of the progress by providing photographic documentation, and always welcoming them to visit our workshop.
Each piece of furniture we make must meet and surpass a series of rigorous requirements. First, it must be made of the finest materials, and even the smallest details must be beautifully executed. It must also do an exceptional job of fulfilling the functions for which it was intended. And it must be as handsome and graceful as a piece of sculpture. and truly enhance the surroundings into which it is placed.
Making furniture to the highest standards requires skill, patience, art, and experience, all of which our craftsmen offer in abundance. We employ tradition methods of joinery including mortise and tenon and hand-cut dovetails; then carefully assemble all parts for a perfect fit.We are adept in a broad range of techniques, including hand carving, and intricate turnings. Possible finishes range from hand-rubbed oil to sprayed lacquer, varnish and paints, including milk-paint and high-gloss marine finishes. We can also incorporate inlay, marquetry, stone, glass, leather, or metals into any custom piece.
Every project commands our complete attention and each piece of furniture is made with the utmost care and precision. Unstinting commitment to excellence and attention to detail are our hallmarks. Simply put, we strive for perfection in every piece we make - quality is always our goal.
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Bungalow Garage 
This snug little one car garage was designed to visually compliment and tie-in with the existing bungalow home on a small wooded lot in Rockport. Nestling into the tree line with a seasonal stream running along one side, the site and orientation provided some interesting challenges. Working with the homeowner we were able to place the building on the land so that it could functionally work and also in a way that tied the whole lot together aesthetically. Though simple in form and function, elegant detailing really brings this building to life. A reclaimed arched divided-light window in the single gable of the modified hipped roof adds a nice architectural element. A covered overhang is supported by three gracefully tapered columns. A beautiful capped stone knee wall provides the foundation for the columns; custom red cedar lattice panels provide screening. A study in refined simplicity, this little bungalow garage was a pleasure to design and build.
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As we move into summer here in beautiful Maine I would like to say thanks for taking the time to check out this newsletter, and as always your feedback is welcomed.
I hope that I will get to see many of you in person at the Midcoast Home Show. We are proud to be promotional sponsors this year and excited to introduce the community to our new interior designer Leslie Curtis. We will also be utilizing our mobile workshop as our "booth" for the show and will be showcasing some of the many facets of Phi. We will have demonstrations, a raffle and special promotional offers for show attendees, so make sure that you stop by. See you there.
Sincerely,
Michael
Michael Roy
Owner Phi Home Designs |
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