Family Room

Pulte Home Corp. is down to its final 24 homes at Windgate in the Bestgate Road area of Annapolis, where the company is building 167 three-level townhouses with gas cooking, heat and hot water.A sprinkler system, six-panel Colonial doors, Merrilat brand kitchen cabinets, prewiring for telephones and cable TV are some of the standard features in the Anne Arundel County community.The Rhodes and the Severn are 2,048-square-foot homes with a starting price of $147,990.In both models, the lower level houses a laundry area, utility room and space for an optional 19-by-19-foot family room and full bath.

Q: It's time to redo our family room, which has sustained a lot of wear and tear from three super-active children. What sort of furnishings would you suggest? My own stylistic preference can best be described as relaxed and comfortable.A: While the size of your budget will be the determining factor, I hope your do-over can involve more than just the furnishings. Floor coverings, fabrics and various bits and pieces contribute just as much to a comfortable and relaxed look as do tables and chairs.

The Kirchhoff family home at the end of a quiet cul de sac in Sykesville in southern Carroll County looks pretty much like any other 30-year-old rancher built of concrete and aluminum siding. But pass through the front door under a three-column portico, and that changes. "It's your typical rancher," Diane Kerchhoff said matter-of-factly. "We just opened it up and doubled the size." No interior walls define any specific area in two-thirds of the home's living space. An open banister for the stairs to the lower level is the only break in an open floor plan that sweeps 50 feet in depth and 35 feet in width.

Chateau Builders has opened a model at its Rider Mill community in Owings Mills.The community, which features public water and sewer, gas heat, has five floor plans available.The model, the Tilghman, is a four-bedroom, two-story transitional that starts at $205,990 for 2,430 square feet.The first floor features a foyer, 14-by-12-foot living room, 11-by-12-foot dining room, 11-by-13-foot kitchen, 11-by-11-foot breakfast nook, 20-by-15-foot family room and a two-car garage.The second floor consists of 12-by-13-foot bedroom, bathroom, 12-by-13-foot bedroom, 12-by-11-foot bedroom, 15-by-16-foot master bedroom with master bath and walk-in closet.

Sturbridge Homes has opened four models at Seabreeze of Annapolis, a townhouse and single-story flat-styled community in Annapolis.Public water and sewer, gas heat and hot water and electric cooking are standard features in this Anne Arundel County community.The Poplar and the Tilghman both start at $126,900 for 1,470 square feet of finished space.The Poplar has a 19-by-14-foot great room, an 11-by-14-foot dining room, a 10-by-10-foot den and a kitchen with a morning room. A 14-by-14-foot master bedroom with a walk-in closet and master bath, a 13-by-9-foot bedroom with a walk-in closet and another bath complete this flat.

Bob Ward Homes has opened four new models at Deer Spring, a cluster-home community in Forest Hill that features 28- or 24-foot-wide floor plans.Public water and sewer, gas heat and hot water are standard features in the Harford County community.The Avandel starts at $148,900 for 1,750 square feet of finished space.A storage area, 17-by-12-foot family room and an 11-by-10-foot den make up the lower level.The first floor consists of a powder room, 17-by-10-foot garage, 10-by-9-foot breakfast room, 11-by-9-foot kitchen, 12-by-12-foot dining room and a 16-by-12-foot living room.

Eaton SquareRyan Homes has opened two models at Eaton Square at Castle Creek, a townhouse community in White Marsh.Public water and sewer, gas heat and hot water and electric cooking are standard features in the Baltimore County development.The Fairfield starts at $112,400 for 1,840 to 2,272 square feet of finished space.An optional powder room, laundry room, 19-by-19-foot family room and 9-by-10-foot study make up the lower level.A 20-by-11-foot living room, 10-by-8-foot dining room and a 12-by-10-foot kitchen make up the first floor.

Masonry Macks Homes Inc. has begun construction at Wellington Trace, a planned community in Frederick where the firm is building 213 single-family homes, 198 traditional townhouses and 154 back-to-back townhouses.Starting at $174,200 for 1,700 square feet, the Biltmore is the least expensive single-family home offered at Wellington Trace.A two-story foyer is flanked by a 10-by-11-foot living room and 10-by-11-foot dining room. Completing the entry level are a powder room, guest closet, 16-by-11-foot family room, 17-by-11-foot kitchen and one-car garage.

When newlyweds Karen and Kevin Carbough decided to buy a home three years ago, they started their search in the typical way -- with a Realtor and a wish list that included a big back yard, an open floor plan and a good school district.Their house-hunting excursions began with existing homes in Howard and Carroll counties. It ended with a custom-built Colonial in Mount Airy, tucked just inside the Frederick County line."Many of the existing homes had problems," said Karen Carbough, 31. "Some had structural defects, others included decorating ideas I didn't like.

EMMITSBURG -- Looking at Jim Phelan's cluttered office at Knott Arena, it is difficult to tell that he is the winningest active Division I coach in the country or that he's on the verge of doing something only three others have accomplished in their careers -- win 800 games.There are more family photos than team pictures, more references to Phelan's life as a husband, father and grandfather than to his now legendary 45-year career at Mount St. Mary's. "If he has a bad side," said his wife, Dottie, "it's that he doesn't promote himself."

These are big houses on tiny lots," Eileen Jacobs says of her two-story, all-brick traditional home in Owings Mills. Her decorating challenge, therefore, was not the exterior but rather the interior space of 3,400 square feet, not counting the basement. She was more than up to the task, and while the house was being constructed, she designed rooms and bought furnishings working only from floor plans. "The [design] was all in my mind's eye before we moved," she said. "One to two months afterward, I had everything in place.

When they became engaged last year, Ed Stone, a Perry Hall native and Kathy Merz, who lived downtown in Federal Hill, began to look for a home. They wanted a new place where they could start their life together. "[Ed] didn't want the city," Kathy Stone remembered. "And I didn't think I could leave it." Then the couple found the new community of Quarry Lake, northwest of the city off Greenspring Avenue. "It was a great compromise," Kathy Stone remembered. "[Quarry Lake] has shops, restaurants and a drugstore for me and greenery and open spaces for Ed."

When Todd Taylor suggested to his wife of three decades that they become the fourth generation to live in his family's Sears Roebuck kit house in Ellicott City, she thought he was kidding. They couple had finally gotten their place the way they liked it, and the old homestead needed more than substantial work. "He said, 'You could have a dog,' and I said, 'I want carte blanche and two dogs,' " Candace Taylor recounted. Deal. The couple wanted the home to reflect its history. But they wanted it to suit their family's lifestyle, exude a welcome to friends and be thought of by Todd's sister and brother as the family home.

It is easy to overlook the stunning black lacquer piano just inside the marble-tiled entrance of Bill Magruder and Stanley Scherr's Mount Washington home. Only a focused eye would spy anything other than the spectacular wall of glass just beyond the foyer. "The windows and the brightness sold me on the house," said Scherr, 59, a teen outreach worker. No denying either of those features. In the cathedral-ceilinged living room (a step up from the foyer), the entire back wall is a window looking out onto a wrought-iron and glass-furnished patio where a perfectly manicured lawn - including sea grass - surrounds a 32-foot by 14-foot heated, saltwater pool.

A traditional floor plan? Almost. Lots of light? Absolutely. Convenient storage? Everywhere. Those were among the key points in discussions with an architect when Mary Ellen and Leon Kaplan sought to have a home built in Cockeysville 15 years ago. They wanted a traditional house with substantial areas open not only for guests, but also so they could watch their four children. "We've had parties with up to 100 people, and you can do more in the summer when you use the patios," Mary Ellen Kaplan said.

The white house on San Domingo Creek in St. Michaels is where Jeanne Ruesch has taken to stretching summer weekends into five days with extended family and friends. The home, which has a cottage look and is featured in the current issue of Architectural Digest, reflects what Ruesch dreamed of in a retreat: an inviting place in harmony with the Eastern Shore's slower pace of life and a world away from suburban Washington, where her primary home is. In many ways, it embodies the vision her late husband had for an idyllic escape that lets all comers be as lively or private as they'd like.

Growing up, Louise Finkelstein loved visiting her parents' friends' home in Owings Mills, associating the spacious house with good times. Years later, when the house became available, she was ready to make it hers. That meant putting on an addition that was easy to maintain while offering even more space for entertaining a crowd. Over more than three decades, the addition of a game room and family room leading to an in-ground outdoor pool and whirlpool has been the venue for so many children's birthday parties, family events and gatherings for grown-up friends that barely a week has gone by without guests, she said.

With warming lights built-in over the kitchen buffet, a club-style bar and game rooms in the basement, and a backyard pool and pool house, Kandi Slade's home in Baltimore County's Wakefield community has long been the place to gather. There have been holiday parties, pool parties, big family dinners, children's birthday parties and a later addition - grandchildren's parties. "I have had a Christmas Eve party in this house since 1979," she said, describing Santa Claus handing gifts to kids and groups gathering for songs at the player piano.

On top of one of the small hills in Dayton sits a brick house that backs up to a wooded preserve. For Michael and Hilary Yoder, it's offered a quiet place to unwind, raise children and operate a lighting business. From the breakfast area by the kitchen, walls of windows look out to the forested area and the wildlife living there. Much of the year, the choice evening spot is a wet one outdoors. The lower tier of the deck has a hot tub that seats six, and the semi-rural location of the home provides a great view of the night sky. "We go in the hot tub almost every night just to look at the stars here.

To make their young son's room distinctive as well as create easier access to attic storage, Katherine and Robert Dwyer ripped out the ceiling of his bedroom. They left the exposed wood beams and added a skylight and a loft, reachable by ladder. That was 20 years ago. A few years later, in their daughter's room, they built an enclosed area they called a "nest," with louvered doors and a window. Those bedrooms in the Ten Hills house in the city were fun spaces for the children back then.