WAYNE -- If you tour Linda Gatti-Fyler and Robert Fyler's home, you'll see how the couple have managed to reuse a number of items that are past their prime.

In the yard, four windows removed from the 1840s Wayne home enclose an area where Gatti-Fyler incubates nascent seedlings before moving them to any of her multiple organic gardens.

The stone slab steps that lead to the Fylers' front entrance were salvaged from the original foundation of the farmhouse before the structure underwent extensive remodeling.

And the hardwood floor of the house's great room was previously the basketball court at a high school in Guilford.

"Recycle, reuse," Gatti-Fyler said. "That's what it's all about."

Hundreds of people will see that philosophy on display Saturday as the Fylers and the owners of a dozen other Wayne properties open their doors for the Homes of Wayne Tour. Homeowners such as Gatti-Fyler have been at work in recent weeks sprucing up their properties for the expected influx of visitors.

The first Homes of Wayne Tour, held in 2007, brought nearly 400 tourists to the town of 1,200.

The tour is a fundraiser for Cary Memorial Library and Wayne Community Church, and it "gives the homeowners a chance to do the projects they've been putting off for years," joked Dee Richardson, a summer Wayne resident and one of the event's organizers.

The Homes of Wayne Tour in 2007 focused on a selection of properties near the town's center, Richardson said.

"This year, we're expanding the footprint," she said.

The tour route will take participants on an 8-mile loop through Wayne, showing visitors a range of properties from the Fylers' farm on North Wayne Road to Roger and Paula Tamborlane's remade, winterized 1939 camp on Pocasset Lake.

"We have so many wonderful homes in town," said Ann Clement Fossett, another summer Wayne resident and tour organizer.

Roger and Paula Tamborlane transformed their home off Lord Road into one of those homes in the 18 years they've owned it.

When the Tamborlanes bought their waterfront property in 1991, it was a small structure suitable only for summer living. And that's what the now-retired couple from New Jersey used it for until last year, when they moved in year-round.

As they prepared for their move to Maine, the Tamborlanes had a screened-in porch overlooking Lake Pocasset enclosed in glass.

"We wanted a lot of windows to get a view of the lake," said Roger Tamborlane, a retired dentist.

The couple faced a challenge as they converted their summer home into a structure hearty enough to get them through Maine winters. Due to zoning restrictions, they could expand the house's footprint by only 30 percent.

So they got creative.

Some of the modifications were designed to save space. For example, the Tamborlanes installed a spiral staircase leading up to the house's loft "so it wouldn't take up as much room," Roger Tamborlane said.

And the couple took advantage of the fact that they wouldn't have to count basement space against their square footage limit. The Tamborlanes put their bedroom, a sewing area and a television room on that lower level.

After the renovations, a fireplace and a two-bed, outdoor guest house are among the only original features that remain from the rustic 1939 camp, Roger Tamborlane said.

But a rustic feel remains in other parts of the house. A mix of traditional furniture from garage and estate sales and quilts by Paula Tamborlane dot the house.

"It's always fun going to garage sales," Roger Tamborlane said. "You never know what you're going to come home with."

The Fylers decorated their farmhouse with effects they collected while living in Italy and traveling around Europe.

In the great room that overlooks 42 acres of sprawling fields, Gatti-Fyler has lined ledges on each of the walls with decorative plates.

"There's a lot of memories with a lot of the plates," Gatti-Fyler said.

The house also features its share of artwork and needlework by Gatti-Fyler, who painted floor cloths and sewed pillows. And the property boasts a random assortment of vintage items, including a Schwinn bike on the patio and a cabinet with an 1894 doll, a miniature 1911 calendar and an old teddy bear.

"I've really liked old, vintage items and putting them together and displaying them, and rearranging and rearranging," Gatti-Fyler said.

Matthew Stone -- 623-3811, ext. 435

mstone@centralmaine.com