If not for the two dogs who greet you at the door, and the warm atmosphere that makes you feel welcome the minute you walk into Ron Sanchez’s home on Birch Point Road in Wiscasset, you might feel like you're entering a showplace for an interior design firm.

That's because you are, sort of. Sanchez has been in the business of interior design all his adult life, and his and his husband, Tom Cramer's, entirely remodeled home, which they call Ledge Cottage, reflects that.

The couple moved to Wiscasset from New York just over a year ago. In that year they have transformed the nice, but in no way outstanding, house they bought into one worthy of any glossy magazine that features exceptional home interiors.

Sanchez started out in the home design field in California, outside Los Angeles, where he grew up. He was passionate about interior design even as a child.

Another passion of his was music. As a young teenager he sang and traveled throughout the U.S. and Europe with a boys’ choir group, and through that gained an appreciation for other cultures and their architecture.

After graduating from Woodbury College, now part of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Sanchez went to work doing what he already knew would be his life's passion. He landed a job with a high end furniture store which led to jobs on Robertson Boulevard, at that time a mecca in Los Angeles for interior designers.

Before long he had worked his way up to becoming one of three home fashion directors for the May Department Store Company.

In 1975, Sanchez met the man who would become his husband, and the two left their jobs — Cramer owned a hair salon business in Beverly Hills — and embarked on a year-long trip to Europe. “It was a door of enlightenment in so many ways,” Sanchez said. “The people we met, the architecture and design, everything about it was fantastic.”

After returning to California, Sanchez opened an interior design studio in Fullerton, in Orange County.

The business, San-Pri Interiors, grew, and flourished, and in 1979 Sanchez opened a satellite office in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands. He became a member of the International Interior Design Association and was eventually elected president of the California chapter.

In 2006, the couple moved to Red Hook, on the Hudson River in New York. Sanchez kept his staff in California and continued his work, flying back and forth every few weeks. He started getting work in New York City and East Hampton.

In September 2015, Sanchez and Cramer, who had never been to Maine, came to this area for a vacation. They stayed in a little cottage in East Boothbay and fell in love with the area. That little vacation resulted in the purchase of their house in Wiscasset.

Designing interiors of homes isn’t simply a matter of choosing the right carpets and furniture. Sanchez actually designs carpets and fabrics. “The technical aspect of designing has become so available to us that you can sketch a design and send it to a manufacturer, and they’ll make it.”

Among his design projects is the the Adelman house, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, in Fox Point, Wisconsin. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. “To be involved in the Frank Lloyd House was probably one of the biggest highlights of my career,” he said. Sanchez said he had to design carpets and fabrics that would suit owner Craig Adelman’s tastes, “but still carry the essence of Frank Lloyd Wright.”

In 1993, Sanchez was presented with a Design of Excellence Award by the International Society of Interior Designers at a ceremony at the Museum of Modern Art. “Looking at it always humbles me,” he said. “It reminds me that I need to continue.”

He likens his work to his other passion, music. “It’s like bringing a group of musicians together to play a piece. You want them all to play together. That’s what you do with design. It is an orchestration.”

The couple have no plans to move again anytime soon. Sanchez still maintains his business in California, where JoAnn Molina holds down the fort. Molina, who has worked for Sanchez for 16 years, has nothing but praise for her boss. “He’s a very kind, caring man, and his clients always come first, in everything he does,” she said.

Sanchez said he won’t continue to work at the rate he has been working, but he doesn’t plan to retire anytime soon. “I might be on the road, but I’m far from the bridge.”

Sanchez may be reached at 207-687-8331.