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3. From the loft-like living
room of their Portland
condo, David and Nancy
Machesney enjoy views of
the city and Back Cove.
A painting by Eric Hopkins
hangs above the fireplace.
5. 40 OLD PORT oldport.com
ON A CLEAR
DAY, FROM
NANCY
AND DAVID
MACHESNEY’S
ROOFTOP ON
MUNJOY HILL,
YOU CAN
SEE MOUNT
WASHINGTON.
At dusk, Back Cove blushes with the colors
of the setting sun, and the Portland skyline
switches on for the night. Taillights and
headlights form a steady stream over the streets
leading downtown. If it’s a Friday evening and
the weather is just right, a few neighbors might
be on their way up for a cocktail; afterwards
they’ll walk to dinner at one of the restaurants
nearby. Life outside these walls is always calling.
The city invites you to participate simply by
virtue of existing, right there before your eyes.
For the Machesneys, this lifestyle came about
intentionally, albeit abruptly. The couple had
been living in a 4,300-square-foot house on
five acres in Cumberland. One summer day,
after receiving the tax bill, David came home
from work and told Nancy that he was “done.”
He was tired of the house maintenance, the
property upkeep, the expense. The couple
was at the age at which their children were
grown and out of the house, but they were
still working, still busy. As the owner of Pratt
Abbott dry cleaners, which he bought with
his father in 1991, David runs 14 locations
in southern Maine, as well as a full-service
uniform and linen rental business. Nancy is a
physical therapist for Interim HealthCare. “We
were finding that we couldn’t get out and do
what we loved,” says David. “Weekends were
spent working on the house.”
Within a week of David’s declaration, the
Machesneys met with a real estate agent—“just
an exploratory meeting, to see if Dave was
serious,” says Nancy—and before the house
even hit the market, they had an interested
buyer and closed within 45 days. The search
for a condo in Portland, and the simpler living
that comes with it, was on. David wanted easy
parking (“We’re not fighting for parking, not
at this age”), and Nancy, with her experience
in physical therapy, wanted a home where they
could age in place. The brand-new Munjoy
Heights development, with its two-car garage
and option for an elevator, fit the bill.
The complex of 29 townhomes, developed by
Redfern Properties and built by Wright-Ryan
Construction and architect Ryan Senatore,
sits on the western slope of Munjoy Hill and
was designed to be highly energy-efficient. The
Machesneys bought in early enough to choose a
four-story unit plus roof deck with an especially
open view of Back Cove. During their two-hour
consult with interior designer James Light, a
service Redfern provided to all potential buyers,
the Machesneys clicked with him immediately
and decided to bring Light on to do the interior
design of their entire unit. Light was at a similar
stage in his life, with a daughter in college, and
he loved living on Portland’s West End. He
helped the couple articulate their style, which
was an extension of how they wanted to live:
simple, yet sophisticated; not fussy.
6. Clockwise from top: David, the owner of Pratt Abbott
dry cleaners, takes a call in the nook outside his and
Nancy’s bedroom. Views of Back Cove fill the expansive
windows and are offset by a colorful painting by Marci
Spier of Cape Elizabeth. Munjoy Heights is its own micro-
neighborhood. The couple often have neighbors over
for impromptu cocktails on the rooftop deck. Here,
they’re pictured with their friends Paul Andrews, Kevin
Michaels, and designer James Light. An upholstered
headboard wall hides the fireplace flue that runs the
height of the unit. Opposite: The powder room packs an
unexpected punch. Interior designer James Light chose a
Scalamandre zebra print. “When we developed the color
palette,” says Nancy, “James showed me this whimsical
paper and it was just perfect.”
7. 42 OLD PORT oldport.com
The transition from big house in the suburbs to
townhouse in the city included envisioning an
untraditional floor plan. The ground-floor entry
features a mudroom and off of it the garage.
The Machesneys chose to make their second
floor the guest area with a den where Nancy
reads or practices yoga. The third floor is where
the main living spaces are—a powder room and
kitchen, dining, and living area with fireplace,
as well as a deck overlooking the city. Above
that on the fourth floor is the owners’ suite and
sitting area, and then above that, the icing on
the cake: a rooftop deck with panoramic views,
making the four flights of stairs well worth the
climb. This kind of stacked living is admittedly
not for everyone, but the Machesneys don’t
mind carrying groceries up two flights of stairs,
and they certainly don’t mind having an entire
floor between them and their guests.
One of the upsides of downsizing is that
it forces you to reconsider everything you
own. Over the years, Nancy and David had
accumulated a lot of stuff in their Cumberland
house: a collection of antiques, all the items
you amass while raising kids, furniture from
nearly every member of the extended family—a
lot of things they no longer needed or wanted.
“People are like goldfish,” says Light. “We
grow to our containers.” With everything they
owned out of sight in storage while their condo
was being built, the Machesneys were able to
“forget” what they had and start fresh. The
purge was not without some hesitancy at first.
“There’s this Yankee frugality that says ‘Oh my
gosh, how much did we pay for that bed way
back then?’” says Nancy. This is where Light
guided them gently down the path of letting go.
“The truth is, that bed would’ve never fit in this
space,” he says. “We designed everything down
to the inch.”
Portland living has not only simplified their
lives, it’s made them healthier as well. The two
traded in square footage for more time spent on
their feet. Munjoy Heights is directly connected
to Portland Trails for easy walking, and there
is a bike path to Back Cove. After they wake
up and eat breakfast, Nancy does her “loop”
on the picturesque paths. Both of them live
closer to work now, and with everything they
need within walking distance, they spend far
less time in the car. With a farmers’ market just
down the street and easy access to Rosemont
Market and Whole Foods, they find themselves
grabbing whatever looks good on the way home
to make dinner. “Not only do we walk more,
we eat lighter and fresher since moving here,”
says David.
As their amount of space and belongings went
down, David and Nancy’s quality of life and
freedom went up. “It’s really been a rebirth,”
says David. Now, on a summer Saturday,
instead of being strapped to the lawnmower or
a rake, they’ll have a golf date or walk to the
Old Port. “You can’t buy time,” says Nancy.
“But in many ways I feel like we have.”
Living in Portland has even changed the way the Machesneys cook and eat. With a farmer’s market nearby, they have easy access
to fresh, local produce. “We’ll grab whatever looks good on the way home to make dinner,” says Nancy, who is a physical therapist.
Opposite: The Machesneys made a life-changing move from a rambling property in Cumberland that required constant upkeep to
this Munjoy Heights condo, which requires zero maintenance and is energy-efficient. The one thing the couple almost misses is their
garden—although even that has an urban solution: “Now we grow herbs and vegetables in containers on the decks,” says Nancy.
