Sitting Room

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.

Stone ManorMasonry Macks Homes Inc. has opened a new model in the final section of its Stone Manor development in Eldersburg.There are 89 wooded homesites available in the community, which features a fitness trail, tot lot and multipurpose field.The Westbrook starts at $235,900 for 2,606 square feet with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.The first floor includes a laundry room, powder room, 12-by-13-foot living room, 12-by-14-foot dining room, 19-by-13-foot kitchen and breakfast area, 10-by-10-foot library and 19-by-14-foot sunken family room.

Stanley Halle Homes completes our look at builders in Waverly Woods, the 680-acre planned community in the Woodstock area of Howard County.Waverly Woods Development Corp. is developer of the golf course subdivision. It announced recently that a 53,000-square-foot Weis Market will anchor the Waverly Woods Village Center, a 14-acre retail and commercial site.Stanley Halle Homes calls its Coventry model a "Colonial-style" townhouse. It has 2,500 square feet and a base price of $239,900.A two-car garage and utility room are found on the lower level, which can be enhanced with optional powder and recreation rooms.

Leigh Halstad pinches herself each morning when she wakes up."It's like I am living in a bed-and-breakfast," she said. "I cannot believe I live in a house that is so beautiful."We are really lucky."After about four months of renovations to the 1920s home, Leigh, husband Damian and their 2-year-old son, Walker, moved in last March.The neo-Colonial-style home with a 10-by-30-foot porch sits across the street from the historic Westminster courthouse and is just six blocks from the Halstads' first home."

The Dream Home feature will periodically visit the homes of notable citizens.Not too many people can say a dream house came with their job.However, for the chancellor of the University of Maryland System, living at Hidden Waters, a three-story brick mansion on 120 acres in Baltimore County, is a condition of employment.In 1988, shortly after Donald N. Langenberg took the position as chancellor, the Board of Regents decided that the chancellor should live there. The board leased the property from the University of Maryland Foundation, a private, not-for-profit that manages gifts to the university.

Richard Taylor's house is a work in progress. But then, in the 18 years he's lived there, it's always been a work in progress.You might think that someone who designs other people's houses for a living would want his own to be a showplace, perfect down to the last detail. But that's not necessarily so."Most designers use their house as a lab," says Mr. Taylor, whose firm is Taylor-Siegmeister Associates. "I'm always fooling around with things."The result is a home that's charming and surprisingly au courant.

Grand OpeningThe Willows of Howard CountyA summer ice cream and lemonade party and "balloon art" for the children will be part of the grand opening Chateau Builders is holding from noon to 5 p.m. today at the Willows of Howard County in Laurel.The 44-home community has gas heat and is adjacent to Rocky Gorge Reservoir.One of the six models Chateau is building at the Willows is the Dayton, which starts at $274,990 for 2,589 square feet, with nine-foot ceilings on the first floor.Across the front of the Dayton, there are a 12-by-14-foot living room, a foyer with curved staircase, a 12-by-14-foot dining room and a two-car garage.

Barbara Jane and James Paul Wilson's home east of Bel Air represented a new start for both of them.Both widowed, they married and moved into their new home in 1991."

For the past 17 years, when Fred I. Henry was not driving a new-car carrier, he was likely to be building something at his home in Ellicott City.Right after he and his wife, Ann, moved into the house, which had been built for them and was the first on their street, he remodeled half of the two-car garage to make a family room.He hasn't stopped since.In 1993, he tackled his biggest project -- a new kitchen across the back of the house, hiring outside contractors just for digging the foundation and for tasks requiring a licensed contractor.

Because it's a tricky operation, I seldom advise that a storage area be converted into a space with a different function. &L Sometimes, though, the need for additional usable square footage is so acute that I cast aside caution.Another incentive for taking chances arises when storage room isn't needed any longer. In the case of a bedroom converted into a sitting room, for example, there's no reason to retain all the closets.The same consideration applied in the space shown in the photo. Believe it or not, this used to be the pantry in an old home.

A master suite with a sitting room would be a desirable feature in any house. But what if there were four master suites - in the same house? That's the embarrassment of riches in this Tudor-style house sitting on more than 2 acres in Harford County. Four of the five bedrooms are on the upper level; each spacious bedroom has its own adjoining seating area - some with fireplace - and its own bathroom. "It's not a cookie-cutter house," says owner John G. Berger. "It's unique." Berger, who has owned the property for about four years, has overseen many of the renovations, including transforming a deck into a sunroom, upgrading the floors to a deep-red mahogany and refacing the kitchen cabinets.

Executive-home builder D.R. Horton has made its first entrance into Harford County by building its Willow Chase community in Bel Air. With 12 floor plans, which range from 3,000 square feet to the 7,000-square-foot model, the homes are designed in a classic style but can be customized to fit just about any taste. The floor plans include a rancher plan with 3,200 square feet and two-story plans with first-floor master bedroom configurations. The eventual 51 homes will be built on approximately one-acre lots, many backing the Maryland Golf and Country Club or a woods setting.

The Calvert Street home of Shaun Carrick and Ron Griffin is a house in a permanent state of decorating flux. To walk through it is to bask in a palette of rich colors and styles brought in from numerous travels to places ranging from India to Egypt, from rural Pennsylvania to San Francisco. Make no mistake, the house is no souvenir shop for high-priced trinkets from foreign lands. Sometimes, the influence might be as obvious as a contemporary Indian tapestry framed to dazzle visitors by the front door.

When Joan Develin Coley was named president of Western Maryland College last year, the white Queen Anne-style president's house on the school's Westminster campus was dark and outdated. Coley wanted to renovate the 19th-century house, keeping its historic character and sense of formality while reflecting her taste for lots of light, simple design and contemporary style. During the past year, the 5,600- square-foot house has undergone a thorough $250,000 renovation and restoration, inside and out. In the process, the project caught the eye of the cable network House and Garden Television.

Cone Branch Estates Forty West Builders has 16 home sites available at Cone Branch Estates in Frederick County. The model home will open Sept. 29 to coincide with the beginning of Middletown Heritage Weekend, a historical town fair. The Middletown community, situated near the historic town center, offers seven floor plans on half-acre to one-acre home sites. The homes are on public water-and-sewer systems and come with propane heat and electric cooking. Standard features include a brick front, two-car, side-load garage, gourmet kitchen and 9-foot ceilings.

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.

Stone ManorMasonry Macks Homes Inc. has opened a new model in the final section of its Stone Manor development in Eldersburg.There are 89 wooded homesites available in the community, which features a fitness trail, tot lot and multipurpose field.The Westbrook starts at $235,900 for 2,606 square feet with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 baths.The first floor includes a laundry room, powder room, 12-by-13-foot living room, 12-by-14-foot dining room, 19-by-13-foot kitchen and breakfast area, 10-by-10-foot library and 19-by-14-foot sunken family room.

Stanley Halle Homes completes our look at builders in Waverly Woods, the 680-acre planned community in the Woodstock area of Howard County.Waverly Woods Development Corp. is developer of the golf course subdivision. It announced recently that a 53,000-square-foot Weis Market will anchor the Waverly Woods Village Center, a 14-acre retail and commercial site.Stanley Halle Homes calls its Coventry model a "Colonial-style" townhouse. It has 2,500 square feet and a base price of $239,900.A two-car garage and utility room are found on the lower level, which can be enhanced with optional powder and recreation rooms.

Leigh Halstad pinches herself each morning when she wakes up."It's like I am living in a bed-and-breakfast," she said. "I cannot believe I live in a house that is so beautiful."We are really lucky."After about four months of renovations to the 1920s home, Leigh, husband Damian and their 2-year-old son, Walker, moved in last March.The neo-Colonial-style home with a 10-by-30-foot porch sits across the street from the historic Westminster courthouse and is just six blocks from the Halstads' first home."

Barbara Jane and James Paul Wilson's home east of Bel Air represented a new start for both of them.Both widowed, they married and moved into their new home in 1991."