Forty-five minutes northwest of the Lincoln School lies Orono, Maine, a college town of 11,000 and the home of the University of Maine flagship campus. We took the scenic route to Orono. Here’s how.

A ninety-minute drive east of Mariaville lies the U.S.-Canadian border. There, the town of Calais, Maine (pronounced callus; population ~3,000) is kept alive by regular border-crossing traffic and the occasional holiday-maker.

Just know that when it comes to renovating in real life, your schedule is not your own (unless you’re doing it all yourself), the process costs top dollar, and there’s no Joanna Gaines or Jenn of No-Demo Reno to take the hard work of decision-making, and the harder work of Plan-B-making, out of your tired, callused, bleeding hands.