Reno Diary

How This Photographer Manifested Her Dream Home in Maine

Sidney Bensimon is living in a house she never imagined could be a reality
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Sidney Bensimon still can’t get over her dream home in Maine. Every single time she’s sitting on her couch, the water coming into view from the tidal cove, the French doors open to the fresh air, she starts to cry. “It’s so beautiful,” she says, “I can’t believe this is my house.”

And we’re crying too! Sure, it’s one part jealousy, but the other part is just how lovely this space is that Sidney created from the ground up. What's even more refreshing? The house she built didn't come from a trust fund or a wealthy spouse or any number of uncomplicated routes—get Sidney talking about how this or that came together and you might believe she has magic powers. The Paris-born, Brooklyn-based photographer makes finding an ideal location, building a house, and making a home seem attainable. Her story is so encouraging that it might help you realize that your own dream is worth manifesting.

Sidney knew she wanted a disco ball in her home from her days working at Blackman Cruz, an antique and modern furniture gallery in L.A. "They had a giant disco ball at the entrance of the showroom and at 4 pm. every day the light hit and the whole place sparkled," says Sidney. "Now the same thing happens here."

Sidney first started going to Maine because she was dating someone from the Pine Tree State. They would stay around mid-coast Maine with friends, where she met a bunch of like-minded people—many of them fellow creatives based in Brooklyn's Greenpoint neighborhood, just like Sidney.

“We went swimming every day and ate blueberries and went on hikes,” describes Sidney. “Every day my heart felt like it was exploding. I felt so connected to the area.” She had previously been scoping out upstate New York for a town where she could invest in a home. She was yearning to nest, to feel like she belonged. “I travel a lot with my work and felt like if I owned a place I would feel rooted,” she adds.

So she started looking at houses, but everything seemed too big or much too grand to renovate. “My best friend’s dad is a contractor, so she said to me one day, ‘Just buy a property and build a house!’ The idea really inspired me.”

DURING: It look over two years, many visits and lobster rolls, but Sidney eventually found her dream two acres of land with a generous ocean inlet at the far east side of the property line. She made an offer, and from there, project Stella House began.

DURING: The distance between Brooklyn and Cushing, Maine, helped with the many impatient moments of building a house. "You want to see something happening, but it helped me let go and just trust the people working on the house," says Sidney. "It was best for all parties that I wasn’t there to stress and micromanage."

Despite being unsure through the entire process, Sidney took the idea of building a house and went for it: “I didn’t really know anyone who did it this way, and everyone was skeptical of me, but I just kept going.” She found her dream piece of land in Cushing, Maine, and made an offer—it didn’t even matter that the price wasn’t right. “I wanted to pay cash and use the money that I had saved, but that happened to be only about half of what the woman was asking for.” She stuck to her low offer and eventually, amazingly, the owner, a fellow female photographer, relented and let her buy it. “It was everything in my bank account, but she said yes.”

BEFORE: With the help of Alessandro Ronfini, owner of Opifex Studio, Sidney imagined her dream home. Alessandro grew up and studied in Italy, but also spent time working with architecture firms in Denmark, so he's well versed in Scandinavian minimalism. Plus, as a certified passive house designer, he puts sustainability first, and used those principles in the design of Stella House.

AFTER: Once the plans were finalized, Sidney and Alessandro partnered with Nick Wheaton and Jeremy York from Hatchet Mountain Builders to bring the blueprints to life. In just eight months, Sidney was ready to move into her labor of love. Dream meets reality.

Thus started the magical process of the Stella House. “The universe wanted me to have this house,” Sidney says. And if you still don’t buy it, here follows a list of incredible manifestations: She found a passive house-certified architect, who just happened to be her friend's husband, so they met up once a month for pizza and drawing up ideas; she found a contractor who was easy to communicate with, always on time, and texted her updates every single day; a woman Sidney used to babysit for came to town, took her to lunch, and bought her the dream marble kitchen island she wanted; that same chunk of custom Marmoreal broke during shipping, but it broke exactly where she needed to cut it to fit. The list goes on.

The magical Marmoreal kitchen island, which is composed of four classical Italian marbles, is just as fabulous as the story that goes with it. It's custom made by Dzek and Max Lamb.

"Alessandro knew these little things, like how the light would change depending on the time of day," says Sidney. "Every angle shows you that every element had that attention to detail. I see literally everything, and being in a space that pleases me aesthetically soothes me—being here is good for my nervous system."

Sidney and her partner Devin are serious about their coffee. If you pop by the house any morning, they'll likely be enjoying cappuccinos.

Photo by Sidney Bensimon

Stella House is outfitted with Floyd beds and Parachute linens, which fit right in with the sleek lines and minimalism.

The framed photo on the wall by Alex Klein, an Ayurvedic cook, makes for positive dining vibes.

Another view of that disco ball sparkle.

Sidney traded her photography work to help outfit her home with items like this amazing bathroom hardware. Plus, in true form, the tiles came from a friend who had extras from a remodeling project. An interior designer friend helped her get all the "silly things you need" for a new home, at a discount.

"Brendan Ravenhill gave me the lights," says Sidney, "He has a house in Maine, too."

Sidney picked out vintage lighting to outfit the rest of the house.

Sidney wanted the place to be somewhere a home-cooked meal could be shared, friends could gather to revive their human connection, and she could set down roots. As of now, she'd say that it's all come true.