Tour This Self-Taught Maine Artist’s Eclectic, Gallery-Inspired Home

Lover of quirky, oversized decor and all things vintage, self-taught artist Allison McKeen's home doubles as a cozy escape and functioning art exhibit. Together with her artist and collector husband, Matt, they discovered the home of their dreams in Gardiner, Maine, and immediately removed all the color from the walls. “We bought our house in 2019,” Allison says. “And we love that the previous owners kept a lot of the character. But we did things like paint the walls white to give it more of a gallery feeling [so] the objects speak for themselves.”

"When we moved in, we actually did already have a lot of the things that are here now," Allison says. "That being said, we do also kind of rotate things out. We're always out treasure hunting and looking for new things. So things do tend to come and go and we just kind of fit them into this space while they're here."

“Most of the things in our house are found, meaning they're from a thrift store or yard sale, antique fair ... or maybe they're handmade by somebody that we know,” Allison shares. "Like this antique storage bench and our couch were Facebook Marketplace finds."

“When I'm putting together a vignette or a display area, I'm thinking a lot about the flow and the balance of it,” she says. “So it's not necessarily that these objects have a direct relationship to each other, but more aesthetically they balance each other out."

In almost every room, a few pieces really stand out among Allison's vintage wall art and found furniture. "We have acquired a couple of giant crayons, pencils, [a] tooth stool chair, [and] a giant salt and pepper shaker," she says. "I don't think there was a specific intention to end up with a bunch of giant items, but we just keep stumbling upon them and they're always so much fun to be around and just put in our home."

“We do really love a lot of texture, a lot of patina, things that are a little bit beat up and broken," Allison says. "We love things that maybe aren't necessarily decor items, but like, why can’t they be? Trash can be decor if you want it to be."

One of her most unique living room collections groups an uncommon art medium on the wall: clothes. "This old sweatshirt, which I think was a circus play costume, was a plain sweatshirt that somebody sewed stripes onto," Allison says. "I feel like this is a good example of things that are broken and/or maybe not seen as decor objects, but we've made them into decor objects."

“I do see parallels between my home and my artwork," she says. "These objects exist next to each other and they might make sense next to each other, but they might not. But aesthetically, it kind of just works.”

"This piece of painted board was a fragment of a sign that somebody cut up for the purpose to patch a hole in a ceiling," she says. "It was at an antique store, so Matt [said], 'If I bring you a piece to patch your ceiling, can I take that one?' And they said yes. So he actually kind of made their ceiling better. And we got this."

“I love this table. It's from an outdoor flea market,” Allison says. “It was outside for a long time getting rained on. And it was already painted with this checkerboard pattern, which I love. I also kind of like that it’s a bit beat up. We gave it a clear coat and just tightened up the legs."

Allison continues, "The story that the piece brings with it — it's not brand new and shiny. It's been through a lot. And I think that's kind of appealing. It just has such a history and you can feel that."

The kitchen is also bright white to give Allison's favorite collection a proper feature. “I'm just really drawn to the ceramic mug as an icon, as a shape," she says. "And they're all handmade by artists from Maine and across the US. But at a certain point, it definitely exceeded a practical amount of mugs and became a full-blown collection — and there’s no end in sight.”

"There was a cabinet and a backsplash [in the kitchen], and we took those down and put up these super simple, straightforward shelves," Allison says. "It just gives [the mugs] their moment."

“Matt is a sign maker, so he is able to make large vinyl decals,” Allison says. “So that is what our fridge is — the VHS tape. It's also kind of fun because then it keeps us from plastering [the fridge] with all of our stuff. We do that on the side and then this remains like a statement.”

"I work from home sometimes if I'm not at the studio, and typically I will do that in this room," Allison says. "It gets really nice morning light, so it's a very nice spot to start my day." The studio space is where she creates much of her artwork, like painting and block prints.

"I've always enjoyed making things," Allison says. "I've always been an artist in some way or another. Around 2015 or so, something in my brain was like, 'I want to try printmaking.' And I took a couple of classes and that's what kind of kicked it off." Learn what tools to use, materials to buy and tips to block-print like a pro with Allison McKeen's easy HGTV tutorial.