An Eclectic Maine Cottage

Upon entering Barbara Kurgan's Maine retreat, it's wise to give your eyes a moment to adjust. At first, everything feels comfortingly familiar, traditional even. The cottage's soothing coastal palette, primarily grayish-greens and blues, lulls you into a quiet calm. But wait: Is that ceramic bust in the living room wearing a necklace made from...golf tees? And doesn't the dining room's "rag rug" sort of resemble a Spirograph drawing? As for the fine antique English secretary anchoring one living room corner, it's packed to the gills with the kind of flea-market folk art most people call junk.

In this photo:Thank-you notes adorn an Ingo Maurer chandelier. The table — ringed by 1940s birdcage Windsor chairs — is Martha Stewart, and the rug is from Tucker Robbins. Barbara Kurgan has collected Last Supper paint-by-numbers for nearly two decades.

Lilacs, irises, and lupines invigorate a 1930s Haeger urn. The ocean scene, by Kris Ruhs, is painted onto magazine pages.

Bright Idea: A 19th-century Masonic hat and a golf-tee necklace lend levity to a formal bust.

"I've always liked piles," Kurgan explains. "I have a slag glass vessel full of 100 wishbones that I've kept. I love to see stacks of the same thing. I can't stop adding to them." She confesses to being "terribly sentimental," buying up ceramic pencil holders made by children, because "I feel bad when I see them at garage sales — people should hang on to those!" She also saves sand from her favorite beaches, storing it in glass test tubes.

In this photo: An African basket and a 19th-century amber wine vessel top a cabinet packed with curi­osities — ranging from sand-filled test tubes to a log cabin bank, an old American flag to a bird's nest.

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The living room's armchairs, slipcovered ottoman, and faux-suede settee are all by Mitchell Gold. The mahogany mirror above the mantel dates from 1910.

Situated in the living room, a 1920s oak secretary hosts a vignette that includes an aluminum change sorter, a papier-mâché mushroom, a scorpion puzzle, and a pair of ceramic pencil holders.

Beneath a woodcut used to make trolley-station signs, a lacquer tray and chrome butler's stand, both from West Elm, function as a bar.

"I'm not a fan of bold colors, but I love messing around with size and scale," Kurgan says. "I like putting big objects on top of delicate things."

Chenille blankets and pillows­ from Martha by Mail warm up 1920s Czechoslovakian sheet-metal beds.

Kurgan's bathroom boasts a circa-1900 amoeba etching; a cut-paper image of Mao Tse-tung; and a pen-and-ink drawing by a friend. Equally alluring: the cast-iron radiator from Architectural Antiques.

Bright Idea: A tall plant stand keeps bath-time necessities within easy reach.

Kurgan stationed a basswood moose head on her front porch, where she stores wood in an Ikea basket.

"When you have a lot of 'stuff,' you have to figure out how to contain it," Kurgan says. "Everything here is controlled chaos."

A hand-painted sign found on a North Carolina roadside admon­ishes guests in the mudroom.