Dream Home 2001

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The 2001 Dream Home

Located near Camden, Maine, HGTV's 2001 Dream Home is a classic New England shingle-style cottage overlooking historic Penobscot Bay. Its picturesque exterior reflects two centuries of sturdy Maine construction, designed for beauty, strength and practicality.
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Glorious Penobscot Bay
Inside, though, the house takes on a decidedly contemporary twist. "One of the interesting things about this project is that it looks like a pretty traditional house," says architect Doug Govan, "but once you enter that house, you'll be blown away, because it opens up, big time, both in itself and out to the ocean."
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The house is designed to maximize the coastal experience.
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The central "hub" of the Dream Home.
The house was fabricated in sections and transported to the building site. Like all of HGTV's Dream Homes, this one was custom designed for the very spot on which it was built. The roof is supported with stout, rough-hewn beams strong enough to support a heavy New England snowfall. Instead of securing them with conventional metal straps, which would have detracted from the handsome wood, engineers devised a system of internal bolts countersunk and hidden from view by wooden plugs.
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The living room

But the real proof of New England ingenuity and resourcefulness is an inventive floor plan that takes full advantage of the spectacular view. The design allows 180 degrees of viewing space, so that one can look both up the coast and down the coast. This architectural innovation floods the open-air interior with light, setting the stage for the playful sense of ease, so apparant in interior colors and furnishings.
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The kitchen
"We knew we were putting the house in a totally perfect spot," says interior designer Linda Woodrum, "and we wanted the house to be special, to fit, to belong here. And the colors were the first step. The birches (outside) are so important, and we were very aware that everything in the room had to be strong enough so that it isn't overpowered by the outside."
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A relaxing nook adjacent to the living room.

This Maine retreat, thoroughly grounded in the past, with a wonderful future to come, was a working formula for a dream come true. The 2001 Dream Home was given to surprised winner Kathy Hedrick of Gladstone, Missouri, by HGTV's Claire Berger.