Laundry Room

Debbie Schwartz has given her upstairs laundry room the star treatment. Her super-capacity washer and dryer sit on marble floors and bask in the light of twin bronze chandeliers. A Romanesque sculpture stands on one of the wide, polished marble counters designed for folding laundry. The large room has the same cabinets as her gourmet kitchen, as well as a tile stall to dry delicates. There's even a garden view. It's a workroom, yes, but, by making it elegant, the chore feels less like drudgery.

A 42-year-old man wanted in the August sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in the laundry room of an Ellicott City apartment complex was arrested in North Carolina, Howard County police said yesterday. Members of a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force arrested Fermin Mejia, formerly of the 3200 block of Normandy Woods Drive, on Tuesday at a friend's house in Marsh, N.C. He was being held in the Wake County (N.C.) Public Safety Center on a $500,000 cash bond and is fighting extradition to Maryland, according to Howard County police.

A fire in a laundry room of the historic Governor Calvert House inn on State Circle in Annapolis forced the evacuation last night of more than a dozen customers, but caused no injuries and only slight damage.A dryer in the laundry room on the upper level of the parking garage of the mansion across the street from the State House caught fire at about 6: 25 p.m., triggering sprinklers that kept the flames from spreading, said Capt. Leonard Clark of the Annapolis Fire Department.All the diners at a banquet and several residents in the hotel's 18 occupied rooms escaped safely when they heard smoke detectors, according to fire officials and hotel management.

A fire in a laundry room of the historic Governor Calvert House inn on State Circle in Annapolis forced the evacuation last night of more than a dozen customers, but caused no injuries and only slight damage.A dryer in the laundry room on the upper level of the parking garage of the mansion across the street from the State House caught fire at about 6: 25 p.m., triggering sprinklers that kept the flames from spreading, said Capt. Leonard Clark of the Annapolis Fire Department.All the diners at a banquet and several residents in the hotel's 18 occupied rooms escaped safely when they heard smoke detectors, according to fire officials and hotel management.

Gemcraft Homes has opened six new models at Hickory Overlook, a townhouse community in Bel Air.Public water and sewer, gas heat and hot water and electric cooking are standard features in the Harford County community.Two weeks ago, the Charleston, Savannah and Calverton -- ranging in price from $97,990 to $110,400 -- were highlighted. Today, the final three models are featured.The Laurelton starts at $110,400 for 1,320 to 2,440 square feet of finished space.An optional powder room, laundry room and a 20-by-18-foot recreation room make up the basement.

Bozzuto Homes has sold 69 of the 126 condominiums it is building at StoneCreek in Russett.A 613-acre planned community in northwestern Anne Arundel County, Russett has 200 acres of nature areas, including Oxbow Lake. Russett also has an outdoor swimming pool, tennis courts, 12 miles of hiking and biking trails, and a new public library.With a base price of $99,990 for 945 square feet, the Brookhollow is the smallest and least-expensive home Bozzuto offers at StoneCreek.It has an 11-by-7-foot patio or balcony, 13-by-14-foot living room, foyer, 9-by-10-foot dining room, U-shaped kitchen, 11-by-13-foot master bedroom with walk-in closet, 10-by-10-foot den, laundry room and a full bath that can be entered via the hallway or the owner's suite.

Winchester Homes is offering the St. Andrews rancher at Shipley's Retreat in the Anne Arundel community of Millersville, where the firm is building 75 homes on quarter-acre to half-acre lots.The 2,879-square-foot St. Andrews is a ranch design with an unfinished basement. The base price is $343,990 with a brick, stone or stucco front.In the right wing of the St. Andrews are a two-car garage, laundry room and master suite with his-and-her walk-in closets, a 19-by-15-foot bedroom, bath with soaking tub and dual vanities.

FairwindsMasonry Macks Homes Inc. is building Colonial and ranch-style homes at Fairwinds, in the Ijamsville area of Frederick County.A total of 46 homes with gas heat and hot water will be built on 1-acre and 1 1/2 -acre wooded lots.The Manchester A Plus is a two-story Colonial with 3,264 square feet and a beginning price of $279,400.Housed in the left wing of the first floor is the owner's suite, which has a 21-by-17-foot bedroom, walk-in closet, dressing area with dual vanities and bath with soaking tub and separate shower.

THIS WEEK I got around to reinstalling the household chin-up bar. The chin-up bar had been taken down a couple of months ago. Its temporary removal was among the first changes in household order brought on by the swirl of plaster dust known as "the renovation."Before the renovation, or "BR" in household time, the bar was wedged in the doorway of an upstairs storage room. There it performed two functions. For our sons, it served as an exercise device, something they employed in their quest to strengthen their muscles.

County police arrested a Glen Burnie man Tuesday on charges of threatening a neighbor with a knife in the laundry room of their apartment building during a dispute about using the dryer.Carl Gordon Schultz, 32, of the 7800 block of Park West Drive was charged with first- and second-degree assault and illegal possession of a deadly weapon.Police said Enethia L. Rollins, 27, of the Park West Drive address, and her roommate, Rufus Hudson, 34, got into an argument with a man who removed their clothes from a dryer while they were still wet shortly before 8 p.m.When Rollins tried to put the clothes back in the dryer, the man cursed her, told her she could not use the dryer, drew a 13-inch knife and and waved it in her face, police said.

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.

Taking a motif and running with it, Elizabeth and Charles Atwood custom-built a house that could sit in the French countryside with wood shutters, timbers and flower baskets against the hand-troweled stucco-look exterior, and an interior to match. In planning the space, they wanted the flow of the rooms to be suitable for large-scale entertaining, family gatherings and children's parties. "It is a timeless generational house. It's French Provincial, with high-set door handles, the same theme throughout," Elizabeth Atwood said.

Somewhere past chicanery and just short of espionage, the NFL draft will blow away all smoke screens this weekend. The truth - as personnel men see it, anyway - arrives with freeze-frame clarity Saturday. Was Miami Dolphins czar Bill Parcells playing mind games with his NFL peers when he began negotiations with Michigan tackle Jake Long as the first pick two weeks ago? Contrary to popular opinion, he was not. Were the Kansas City Chiefs shadow dancing when they sent Herm Edwards - the only head coach in attendance - to Boston College for Matt Ryan's private workout?

Facing the barrel of a sawed-off shotgun on a dark West Baltimore street, Roland Scott fought back. He pulled out his own weapon - a fake handgun - and wrested the shotgun away from his attacker, city police said. Scott ordered the man to strip naked in the middle of Laurens Street, took $800 from him and forced him to march into the laundry room of a nearby apartment building. "He starts beating him, telling him to get more money, saying, `Get me a cell phone or I'm going to kill you,'" said Sgt. Dennis M. Raftery Jr., a supervisor in the Police Department's homicide unit.

"I think the house fits into the woods perfectly," Yvonne Kovacic said of her family's contemporary home tucked into a treed slope in Highland. The natural cedar-plank exterior and unpainted decks blend with the trees. The soaring walls of windows and multiple decks use the serene setting to advantage, with views all around. Even straight up through the skylights in the high ceilings, said her husband, Nick. The couple wants to find a smaller house, as their children are grown. "We've been here for 20 years," she said.

A grand foyer with a 38-foot entrance hall, rooms with 12-foot-high ceilings and deep, detailed moldings mark this stately Guilford home. "It's great for hanging art," said Tony O'Brien, who has lived there with his wife and their two children for nearly three years. Soaring windows, including a dramatic bank of leaded glass windows at the staircase's marble landing, allow the sun to illuminate the house and warm its wood floors. A front veranda greets visitors, a sunroom with a half-moon window lies off the 34-foot-long living room and in the back, huge trees and landscaping seclude the stone patio.

From this home in a residential oasis in downtown Annapolis, every window offers a view - whether a slice of the city and its waterfront, or a peek at a serene garden. "You can see the capitol, the steeples, the cityscape, and it's so open with the big windows," said Gary Richardson who, with his wife, Mary, owns the house overlooking Spa Creek. Eleven-foot ceilings on the first and second floors add to a sense of openness in the house, which is a short walk from the business district, but seems a world apart from its daytime bustle and nightlife.

Nancy Smith of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., sometimes shut her eyes to the mess as she passed through the long hallway that connected her garage to her kitchen. It was there that the items of daily activities piled up -- golf and tennis shoes, rackets, jackets, baseball mitts and backpacks. To cleanse the clutter, Smith recently renovated the space into a mudroom -- an upgrade that more new homes feature and one that can add value to existing residences. "We wanted something so the kids could come in the back door and plop their stuff down rather than drag it through the rest of the house," Smith said.

A 42-year-old man wanted in the August sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl in the laundry room of an Ellicott City apartment complex was arrested in North Carolina, Howard County police said yesterday. Members of a U.S. Marshals fugitive task force arrested Fermin Mejia, formerly of the 3200 block of Normandy Woods Drive, on Tuesday at a friend's house in Marsh, N.C. He was being held in the Wake County (N.C.) Public Safety Center on a $500,000 cash bond and is fighting extradition to Maryland, according to Howard County police.

Howard County police were searching yesterday for a Ellicott City man charged in the attempted rape last week of a 14-year-old girl in the laundry room of an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Oak Green Circle in Ellicott City. Fermin Aseituno Mejia, 42, of the 3200 block of Normandy Woods Drive has been charged with attempted second-degree rape, third- and fourth-degree sex offense, second-degree assault and indecent exposure. Police said the girl was walking to her family's apartment at 2:15 p.m. Aug. 22 when Mejia grabbed her and pushed her into a laundry room, where he fondled and sexually assaulted her. The victim escaped and reported the incident to her mother, who contacted police.