Page 54 - WCM 2019 Winter

Courtesy Meldrum Design
Meldrum Design provides clients with living spaces that are functional, efficient, and beautiful.
on Portland, but Kingfield called to them, and Mel- drum Design became one of the town’s newest busi- nesses. From her home office, she works with people across the region, state, and nation on projects ranging from remodeling cabins, to designing breweries and apartments, to decorating entire living spaces. Her specialty is small spaces, which she defines as, “a space as small as is comfortable to fit all of your needs.”
Living in a 350-square-foot RV provided valuable ex- perience with how to optimize space. Hopwood-Far- rar’s perspective is also informed by another unique experience: her parents are first-generation immi- grants from Britain, who followed a cultural tradition of vacationing in foreign countries. As a child, Ashley traveled a lot with her parents to places such as Spain, France, Thailand and Mexico. She got to see how dif- ferent cultures solve their architectural problems with different materials and layouts. She combines those experiences with a set of guiding principles: function- ality, sustainability, efficiency, and beauty. Her focus on sustainability includes not only environmentally friendly design and energy efficiency, but durability as well. She likes to help owners spend less time doing things, like re-staining decks and replacing roofing because, “A living space should facilitate your way of life instead of consuming all of your time.”
Take a peek at www.meldrumdesign.com to see some of the beautiful spaces where she’s worked her magic.
The glowing praise that clients have for her reflects
the emphasis that she places on carefully listening to people, and working with them to understand their needs, preferences and budget. When asked what keeps her motivated, Ashley was quick to respond that while she, “Loves drawing something and seeing it built, it’s almost entirely giving clients a better life that they didn’t think could have for the money that they have.”
Mahoosuc Pathways/ Bethel Community Forest
Gabe Perkins was born and raised on a small tree farm on the side of a hill in Albany Township. As a child, he was in the woods every day, tagging along as his dad actively managed the farm. “The woods was where my family felt most comfortable,” he says. It should be little surprise that, as an adult, he should be working to build trails through the woods of the Ma- hoosuc Region near Bethel, as the Executive Director of Mahoosuc Pathways.
He’s spent most of his life in and around Bethel, but it was time spent in Phoenix, Arizona where he helped to build houses as a volunteer for Habitat for Human- ity, that instilled in him a sense of community service, and a desire to work for a mission-driven nonprofit. While he was working on a degree in Environmental Policy and Planning, his wife saw a notice in the paper looking for board members for a brand new local
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