On Laurel LaBauve ’s kitchen counter in early June lay the pieces of a series of doorknobs. They were getting a thorough cleaning and polishing before she reassembled and reinstalled them in the house where she found them a month ago. “Aren’t they beautiful?” LaBauve asked.
“They are Bakelite , with solid brass centers, and the design of the back plate is Art Deco.” LaBauve lives for discoveries like this. As the owner of SoPo Cottage , she has bought, renovated, and sold 21 houses, many in the Willard Beach neighborhood in South Portland, Maine.
Most are modestly sized, dating from the early to the mid-20th century, and all are single-family homes. When she finds historic details like the Art Deco doorknobs, original plaster, old wood flooring, or stylish fireplace mantels, she is delighted. Advertisement “Technically, you could say I am ‘flipping’ houses, but I hate that term,” she said.
“It denotes cheap, cosmetic updates and doing a fast, superficial job so that you can make as much money as possible. For me, the focus is on high-quality renovations where I try to make it as wonderful a house as possible.” This is not Laurel LaBauve’s first career: She launched SoPo Cottage in 2011 after three decades in the corporate world.
“I was working as a corporate vice president in operations and productivity, and my husband, Richard, and I moved all over. Before we moved to Maine, we lived, among other places, in New Jersey , Arizona , [and] New Orleans.
