“It started with a dream and a doorknocker.” So said Eileen Moran while standing outside the door of her new home.

Forty years ago, she took a trip to Ireland and came across a Celtic doorknocker. She bought it, with a promise to herself that she would someday build a cottage and put it on the door. “I didn't know where it would be, but I've always wanted a cottage.” She built the cottage on Westport Island, and that doorknocker is on the door.

She bought her property in 2010. There was a small camp-style home on it, and it took five years to get it to what it is now.

When you drive down the Westport Island road and turn onto the winding dirt road that leads to the Sheepscot River, you're not expecting to see the pristine little house with the matching outbuilding and the perfectly manicured lawn and gardens at the end of it. It all sits on a lovely plot of land with the sparkling salt water as a backdrop.

Eileen Moran said when she first saw the property she became enamored with the peaceful serene beauty of it. But that was with rose-colored glasses on.

“When I drove down the road it was all roots and dirt. There was a cottage, or camp, sitting here with an outhouse, and a lot of trees.” The camp, built in the ‘50s, was brown with dark green trim, and it had been sitting empty for about 10 years. It needed to be completely redone.

“It's not for the weak of heart to take on something like this,” she said. “It was a nightmare at times. I really didn't think about what I was up against, and if I really knew what was entailed, who knows if I would have done it. I basically built a brand new house.

“This was a massive project.”

Moran said the original builder she hired left the job soon after he began, and she had to find a replacement. Luckily, she found two who have been there for her throughout, and are now friends.

Nate White, from Brunswick, helped finish the project, along with Rick Morris, a plumber and electrician, also from Brunswick. “They're such good guys,” she said. “They rescued me.”

“And Moses Sousa, from Boston, has been my painter throughout. He stained and painted inside and out, while sleeping in a hammock with no electricity.”

Moran, who has a condominium in Boston, said she was the “general contractor” for her house while living in Boston. The fact that she had no background in architecture or landscaping didn't deter her. “I designed the house and all the landscaping,” she said. “I love to design things and I love to decorate.”

What was the shed is now a quaint little building she uses as an office for her work in the publishing business. The refurbished screen door and windows were recycled from the original camp, and the entire interior is made from recycled materials. There's a built-in desk in front of a large window overlooking the Sheepscot.

The house is entirely new, but the footprint and shape remain true to the original structure, except for the 30-percent expansion that is allowed on existing, grandfathered buildings on the water. The compact space houses an open kitchen, dining area and sitting room, three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

Moran is nothing if not thrifty. Many of the well-appointed furnishings were stripped and repainted by Moran after being given to her by friends. “I love to take old things and bring them back to life,” she said. A lot of the furniture was bought on sale. Most of the lighting was crafted by a Maine artisan, and there are lamps from Saltbox Pottery, right up the road, with lampshades made by a Bath woman.

And all of the appliances were acquired through travel points. “I traveled all over the world for my job (in publishing) and used the points to buy the washer and dryer, refrigerator, stove, dishwasher and microwave. And the lawn mower.”

Due to a lack of closet space, there are hanging racks in most of the rooms, some using doorknobs from the original camp as hangers.

A large, wrap-around, partially covered deck is accessed by French doors on the front and side of the house. French doors lead to the deck off the master bedroom, which has a sliding recycled barn door leading to it, too.

“A deck off my bedroom was part of the dream,” Moran said. “In the summertime I open the doors and sleep with the sound of the water. And the sunrises are incredible.”

“It was a lot of heartache, but now it's a lot of joy.”