Draw inspiration from these 4 stylish New England inns

Start your journey at Midcoast Maine’s castle by the sea. When architect Will Tims bought this magnificent stone mansion, which has overlooked Penobscot Bay since 1886, the interior hadn’t changed much since its 1984 debut as a B&B.

Tims and his partner, Brett Haynie, immediately saw the makeover potential. After operating the inn “as is” in the fall of 2022, they shut down for a winter of transformation.

What emerged, with assistance from New York City– and Miami-based interior design firm Studio Cake, is an environment that feels vintage and fresh all at once. One where comfort reigns, and guests feel as if they’re in the home of a worldly traveler—like original owner Joseph Stearns—who’s eager to entertain. The Norumbega’s sophisticated cocktail and small plates menus add to that spirit.

Of the inn’s 11 rooms, the most dramatic is the Library Suite, where an English needlepoint screen conceals stairs that lead to the mezzanine’s mahogany library and stained glass window. Turret rooms like Windsor, with a clever wood easel to hold the TV, and Sandringham, with checkered walls and treehouse-like views, absolve you of the pressure to spend your entire stay reading.

“We’re finding that many guests are booking with us because they’re attracted to the décor,” Tims says. He and Haynie delight in watching them discover the inn’s subtle surprises, such as the Showa-period Japanese wall panels in the breakfast room. “It’s a joyful composition featuring 2 roosters that are not fighting one another, which we’ve come to understand is rather unusual.”

Tims also likes Lilies, a large Colin Page painting above the parlor fireplace. “It’s dreamy, nostalgic, and full of innocent fun—just like The Norumbega.” Rates start at $229.

Shop: While you’re in Camden, find a beautifully curated selection of artisan-made home accents at Jessie Tobias Design Shop, and outfit your home (and yourself) in coastal chic style at Motifs.

In an 81-mile drive south if you take the scenic route, you’ll make this inn-to-inn tour’s lone urban stop. But this is Maine, where even the largest city feels manageable, relaxed, and pulsing with creativity.

Home to the Portland Museum of Art and Maine College of Art & Design with its Institute of Contemporary Art galleries, the city had plenty to inspire decor lovers even before 2020, when Lark Hotels undertook an extensive renovation of the first of 2 homes in the city’s West End. Lark renovated the second in 2023.

Blind Tiger Portland consists of a Federal-style 1823 mansion on Danforth Street and an 1869 Victorian townhouse a short walk away on Carleton Street. What marries them is an interior aesthetic devised by Massachusetts firm Elder & Ash that modernized spaces with moody colors, plush textures, and a mashup of new furnishings and vintage finds.

Each of the 15 guest rooms reflects Portland’s artistic heritage. Eight Bells, for example, pays subtle homage to that Winslow Homer painting. Here, though, leather armchairs and a wood-burning fireplace offer refuge from any storm.

Event Records, a king-bed room with a tile-framed wood-burning fireplace, is a tribute to late local musician Al Hawkes. The Danforth building has a Peloton Studio, open to all guests, but with walkable streets and bike paths beckoning, why stay indoors?

Then again, one of the coolest things about Blind Tiger is how it invites the city in. Locals are welcome to register for workshops or to work or unwind in public spaces, like living and bar rooms where natural woods and botanicals contrast with bold paint colors and abstract art.

You might find your most interesting conversations about decor and design are with new friends, not your travel companion. Rates start at $201 per couple; $50 per additional person. Free parking at the Danforth building; parking is $20 per day at Carleton Street.

Shop: Designer Rachel Ambrose’s 8,000-square-foot showroom, Home Remedies, teems with customizable new and one-of-a-kind vintage treasures, plus everything from linens to lighting, to zhuzh up your home.

If midcentury designers had Instagram, would they have taken their era’s curvy silhouettes, earthy touches, and pops of color to extremes? At this boutique inn on Massachusetts’ North Shore about a 115-mile drive from Portland, it’s easy to imagine the answer is yes.

Marshall and Courtney Tulley opened the property in the summer of 2019. Courtney's playful eye has made the interior of the 1851 Georgian-style home a fun blend of furnishings that feel comfortably familiar—if your grandma’s house was stuck in the ’60s or you grew up watching The Brady Bunch—and wildly contemporary.

You’ll find plenty of backdrops for your own Insta stories, like the old-timey telephone nooks where you can totally imagine Ken waiting by a rotary-dial relic for Barbie to call.

Of the 7 guest rooms here, Dog Watch is the top dog. It’s a 2-story suite with a king bed and full kitchen, perfect for extended stays. But even a quick getaway will reset your biorhythm to coastal calm and your mood to lighthearted. It’s a reminder of how much your surroundings can impact your well-being. Rates start at $203. AAA discount available.

Shop: Bearskin Neck, a short walk or bike ride from the inn, is known for its shops and fine art galleries. If an original canvas that captures Rockport’s luminous light isn’t in your budget, pop into The Pewter Shop—in business for 89 years—to find vibrant accents for at-home entertaining.

Drive about 95 miles inland to New Hampshire’s Monadnock Region, which takes its name from New England’s most-climbed mountain. In less than 2 hours, you’ll be turning between fieldstone posts and arriving at an inn with a history that dates to 1797, but a decor approach that feels completely in step with the needs of 2020s vacationers.

In 2019, chef Carolyn Hough and her husband, Charlie, acquired the original Wilson’s Tavern, which had been a private home since 1834. In October 2020, their first guests arrived at a tranquil haven with gentle colors and soothing textures.

At a time when shops were closed and sourcing was challenging, Carolyn augmented her own possessions with some lucky finds to furnish the inn in a way that feels refreshingly minimalist, inspired, and sustainable.

“I didn’t want anything to be too striking, too loud,” Carolyn says. “You’re able to just be in the space and not be taken over by the space.” There’s nothing to distract guests from views of the pool, gardens, and leafy surroundings. Nothing to pull them out of their own reveries.

Of the 8 rooms, Scott is perhaps the most intriguing. Its hand-hewn moldings and wide-plank hemlock floor date back to when tavern VIPs stayed in this high-ceilinged space.

How clever, though, to see a wasp’s nest on a branch hung like modern art. How luxurious to step into the steam shower before snuggling beneath the king bed’s buttery sheets. How nurturing to wake to the aroma of savory quiche and sweet hand pies, wafting from a bright, windowed kitchen so immaculate and well-designed that it belongs on TV. Rates start at $385.

Shop: At Bowerbird & Friends Antiques in downtown Peterborough, owner Katherine Forrest’s eye for the unusual will spark creative ideas for your own home and garden.

Kim Knox Beckius is Yankee magazine’s travel editor and a co-author of the 2024 edition of Frommer’s New England.