Staff Writer

Home and Garden TV designer Michael Payne says no one would believe the transformation of the Nonantum bridal suite was done by anyone but a team of professional designers.

That’s high praise for students in Mary McCarthy’s seventh and eighth grade classes at Middle School of the Kennebunks who conceptualized and completed the redesign with a little help from Payne.

The designer originally visited the students during planning stages in January and was back for the unveiling June 16 along with a small crowd of parents, school and hotel staff. All were blown away by the students’ accomplishment.

“They are so talented,” said Payne as he looked around the finished room. “To think these kids are 13 years old.”

This is the fourth year art students in McCarthy’s design classes redecorated a room for the hotel, but this year the students had a larger space and more money to spend – the entire three-room bridal suite and $6,000.

“It was quite a challenge,” McCarthy said.

The students used the money to transform the scratched wooden floors and flowery walls into a more modern oasis. The budget included addressing plumbing needs in the bathroom, including a new sink, removing wallpaper and sanding the floors.

The worn floors were transformed to a smooth, deep chocolate brown wood. The outdated wallpaper is gone, replaced with pastel yellows and light lavender.

“I helped with the bathroom colors,” said Josh Kuun, one of the few male students working on the project. “I like the lavender, it looks nice. The colors complement each other well.”

Beginning in January, McCarthy’s classes started working with Tina Hewett-Gordon, the resort’s general manager, to hear her expectations for the room.

“The class did a lot of research, looking through many magazines at suites of rooms,” said Claudia Dalton, another teacher who helped McCarthy with the project.

“It’s a suite of rooms they sell as a complex so we had to make sure it wasn’t too ‘bridaly.’”

Beside using the bedroom, bathroom and sitting area as bridal suite, the hotel also rents out the room to other guests, so Hewett-Gordon wanted a space that could be used by a bride and her bridesmaids without focusing too much on weddings.

While ideas floated inside students’ minds, Payne came to the classroom with more concrete design advice, including what to do with a pipe running across the ceiling of the room. 

The pipe was an obvious distraction for Marie Jarowicz the first time she saw the room, but after taking Payne’s advice and painting it the same color as the walls, it lost its prominence.

“It’s amazing, I did not expect it to be that nice, it was way better than I expected,” Jarowicz said.

Payne said when he thought his first classroom visit would last only a few minutes, but he ended up staying over an hour and into lunch. Payne has since agreed to come back every year to help with the hotel project.

Once the problems were solved, classes were divided into groups to work on the bedroom, bathroom or living room. Different students focused on furniture, bedding, technology and a host of other categories.

Alexander Vesenka, a member of the technology group, helped make the pamphlet inside the room that explains the design and where the furniture can be purchased, but he seemed more excited about the iPod dock.

“We wanted something so people could listen to podcasts in the room so they knew what to do on vacation,” he said.

Students recorded short informative broadcasts that can be heard on the Nonantum website or on a mobile device that informs hotel guests of entertainment options in the area.

The students learned how to budget by pairing expensive items, such as an oversized $600 headboard and inexpensive items, such as chairs from Bob’s Discount Furniture in South Portland.

The classes also kept costs down by decorating the rooms with photographs taken by students Lauren Tishkevich and Jarowicz.

The designers also used environmentally friendly fabrics and blackout curtains that keep light in and insulate the room.

“We hope this project evolves and goes back into the (students’) houses,” McCarthy said. “We hope they take what they learned back home.”

Colby Kingston, whose parents helped bring Payne to the school, said she enjoyed getting to see the project from vision to reality.

“In classes we usually look at something online like ‘wouldn’t this look nice’ but here we got to do it, we really got to see it through,” Kingston said.

Jarowicz’s mom, Cheryl, was proud of her daughter’s photography and the entire class’s success.

“I would love to stay here myself. It’s perfect. It’s timeless. I think it’s so clean. They did it just right. It’s so impressive, I’m so proud,” she said.

Equally pleased was the school’s principal, Jeff Rodman.

“It’s just fabulous,” he said. “I’m tremendously impressed. They did such a great job.”

Staff Writer Suzanne Hodgson can be reached at 282-4337, ext. 233.