PORTLAND – The red starfish that brightens the tan doormat also gives a hint of what’s in store within this cool waterfront condominium in the city’s Old Port.

In updating the home, one of the seller/designer’s stated goals was to create a master bath that gives one the sense of being in a glass-bottomed boat. She succeeded not only in doing that, but also in fashioning an interior whose nautical touches are adroitly in keeping with the outside environment.

The Portland Pier home, barely a block in off Commercial Street, is in the heart of the working waterfront. The second-story condominium’s east-facing windows look across the slip of water to Custom House wharf and the backs of the Harbor Fish Market and Sea Bags buildings, and over their roofs out to the harbor and Fort Gorges. To the west are marina and cityscape views.

In the two-bedroom, two-bath, two-level condo, decor such as starfish ornaments and a pretty porthole-style mirror in the living room; paint colors (sand, Caribbean blue); and the wire-frame pendant lights in the kitchen, reflect the nautical theme. But in the bath, the allusions become more direct.

The sink is shell-shaped; the cabinetry pulls are spotted like pufferfish; the ceiling light fixture imitates a sea anemone. Above the gray beadboard wainscoting, a blue-glass accent band seems to wave like seagrass.

The inside of the zero-entry shower’s arch is pebbled; in the shower, a school of tropical fish swims through a circular, blue and green mosaic, with circles around them suggesting bubbles rising to the surface. The matching chrome makeup mirror and medicine cabinet are both modeled after the portholes of a 19th-century ship.

The shower enclosure and wall are onyx, and heat in the bath is radiant, luxurious additions to a home in which everything is indeed shipshape.

The 1,256-square-foot condominium, No. 19 at 40 Portland Pier, Portland, is listed for sale at $419,900 by Diane Libby of Portland’s Choice Realty, and is being shown by appointment.

For more information or to arrange a private viewing, please contact Diane at  878-3035, ext. 204; 232-8579; or at diane@portlandschoicerealty.com.

Produced by the Marketing Department of the Portland Press Herald, the Design feature is provided at not cost.

Photos courtesy of Lynn Dube, Wave5 Productions.

Send design feature suggestions to jrolfe@pressherald.com.