Sun archive: Dream Home
Dream Home takes readers into the houses of Baltimore area residents who have found their ideal home, whether it be a mansion, rowhouse or two-room cabin.
Have you found your dream home? Tell us about it at homes@baltsun.com.
Dream Home photos | Share your Dream Home | Top-selling properties photos | Area home sales database
7:54 PM EST, November 15, 2011
A fresh start
With two sons grown and out on their own, it seemed that it would be a cinch for Mark Hyman and his wife, Peggy Brennecke, to downsize from their large home in shady, hilly Mount Washington in northern Baltimore City.
6:49 PM EST, November 8, 2011
Dream Home: Townhome on harbor makes staying put easy
Debbie and Ben Zager moved around the greater Baltimore area five times in the past 20 years. Three months ago, they moved into a townhouse in the Harborview residences in Baltimore, and now the couple plans to stay put.
6:07 PM EDT, November 2, 2011
Dream home: Sudbrook Victorian is a home for the holidays — and beyond
If you have ever seen a Currier & Ives holiday greeting card— snow on the roof of a Victorian house, a wreath at the door and a Christmas tree glowing warmly in the front bay window — then you can picture the home of Michael Sotir and his wife, Carolyn Black-Sotir.
7:06 PM EDT, October 26, 2011
Couple's Howard County dream home is mission fulfilled
On a country lane in Howard County, the letterbox for Cathy and Steve Klein sits directly at the driveway's edge for easy mail delivery right off the carrier's truck.
5:41 PM EDT, October 12, 2011
Dream home: Finding sweet comfort at last
The Cape Cod-style home appears to have been dropped into the middle of a beautiful copse of trees among several acres of landscaping. Copper maple trees fill the front yard with shade while behind the property a stone-floored patio is cloaked in trellises covered with mature grape and jasmine vines.
September 15, 2011
Dream home: Couple goes back to the basics with Fenwick bungalow
Many people imagine having a little bungalow by the beach. In 2005, Kurt and Gail Zanelotti were lucky enough to make that dream a reality.
7:10 PM EDT, September 1, 2011
Couple gets custom treatment for Charlestown condo in Catonsville
After living in the same home for 43 years, John and Pat Kasuda found that downsizing was a cinch.
1:41 PM EDT, October 7, 2011
Hillside home has Italian villa vibe
The Alcarese home, built into a hillside in Baldwin, could not appear more like an Italian villa if it was built overlooking a valley in Tuscany. The only thing missing from the vista surrounding the home are tall, lanky cypress trees of the scenic wine-growing region.
12:56 PM EDT, September 9, 2011
Dream home: Delaware cottage celebrates culture of summer
"Don't look for seashells and crabs on the walls of my beach house," said Steve Appel, of his Dewey Beach, Del., cottage, circa 1960 "modern."
3:05 PM EDT, August 18, 2011
Pikesville condo is treasure trove of memories
In life, you don't always get exactly what you want. But once in a while, when you do, it turns out to be something wonderful. Such is the case with Marlene Koeppel's dream home.
12:47 PM EDT, September 29, 2011
Cross Keys condo sparkles with personality
Just inside the front door of Jeri Goodman's 10th-floor condominium unit, a highly polished silver sculpture of a pug rests on a hall table, frozen in puppy playfulness. Across the room, a bright red ceramic Buddha on a desk smiles a broad welcome.
1:09 PM EDT, August 4, 2011
Dream home: A casual, comfortable cottage on the bay
The best way to view Peck and Patti Miller's home on Assawoman Bay is from the stern of their 22-foot runabout — to slice the water across the little cove and to see the gables of their cottage in Ocean City come closer and closer as people wave from the pier.
3:33 PM EDT, July 21, 2011
Dream home: Ocean City's Harbor Island has mayor in residence
Where the salt air blends with the smell of tropical flowers, and the bay beyond the deck blooms with the masts and rigging of fishing and leisure boats, you will find the leader of Maryland's summertime playground.
3:55 PM EDT, August 11, 2011
Federal Hill renovation brings generations together
Just as houses come in all different designs and sizes, so do the families that live within them.
7:18 PM EDT, July 28, 2011
Former garage coaxed into cozy cottage in Ruxton
When John Sullivan's search for the perfect house came to an end more than a decade ago, he did not consider it odd to have spent $112,000 for the property — even if it was just a one-car garage built in 1927.
9:32 AM EDT, June 30, 2011
Dream Home: Creating an Ocean City oasis
Picture a narrow lane on the Assawoman Bay in North Ocean City, where mansions of differing styles are year-round residences. Dr. Bill Allen, an Ocean City dentist, lives in one of these homes with an exterior design of his own choosing.
June 2, 2011
Dream home near Chestertown is a Colonial classic
By all accounts, Frank and Wendy Bunch's farm in Kent County would be an appropriate — and historically correct — setting for any film or documentary on America's Colonial past. One would only need to replace the couple's late-model cars with carriages along the private road that enters onto a breathtakingly long driveway lined with 134 cedar trees.
1:31 PM EDT, July 14, 2011
Mays Chapel townhouse is shining example
No one who walks into Jeri and Jesse Hannon's townhouse in Mays Chapel North is likely to forget the dining room chandelier.
3:14 PM EDT, June 9, 2011
Couple restores historic log home in Aberdeen
In 1988, with only three months to relocate from Fort Monmouth, N.J., to Aberdeen, Stephen Hoffman and his wife, Sharon, set out to find a house in Maryland.
7:53 PM EDT, June 21, 2011
Couple's dream home showcases French connection
Just two years ago, Bill and Jennifer Bartley were living on a three-acre property in bucolic Mount Airy.
5:03 PM EDT, May 13, 2011
Royal duty: Anne Arundel estate was a king's obligation
Obligation is the appropriately named Anne Arundel County estate owned by retired attorney John F. Wilson Jr. The vast chunk of property on which his 17th-century home stands was a land grant issued in 1671 by Charles Calvert to Thomas Stockett, who had immigrated from England.
12:34 AM EDT, July 8, 2011
America's past inside Baltimore's history
For Pat Stout, what started as a return on an investment with urban housing developers became an in-town address to enjoy on the weekends before finally morphing into her sole residence as well as the breathtaking repository for her vast collection of American Indian artifacts.
4:52 PM EDT, May 25, 2011
Dream home: Shore perfection in Bethany Beach
From the foot of their driveway, Leslie Kopp and Chuck Coltman's three-story, seaside retreat is as imposing a Victorian structure as one is likely to encounter along the shores of Bethany Beach, Del.
12:35 PM EDT, June 15, 2011
Dream home: Fenwick Island Victorian has sea charms
If the courtyard that greets visitors to Denny and Cindi Mather's beach home in Fenwick Island, Del., looks like the entrance to a motel, that's because it once was.
5:39 PM EDT, May 17, 2011
Dream Home: Malt House condo showcases couple's art collection
Like so many skeletons of Baltimore's industrial past, the brick and steel bones of sturdy buildings — devoid of innards — are found all along the harbor. Or maybe it should be said they were found along the harbor, since more and more of these previous eyesores have been redeveloped into unique opportunities for city living.
1:03 PM EDT, April 8, 2011
Modular home is classy assembly in Butchers Hill
From the sidewalk in front of the Butchers Hill home of Jay Rubin and Frank Mondimore, a reminder unique to Maryland sport gives passers-by pause. Stubby and banged-up duckpins, alongside shiny bowling trophies, line the sills inside of two street-level windows. Next to that hometown image, a flower urn sits on a concrete slab in front of double oak doors, their arched windows reflecting the corner grocery store across the street.
5:22 PM EDT, March 23, 2011
Dream home: Comfort and harmony
Karen Foltz finds comfort in symmetry. Add order and neatness and you have her version of the ideal home design.
2:06 PM EDT, April 21, 2011
Dream home: Silo Point is urban base for ex-military man
For Mark Romero, showing off the communal areas of the Silo Point condominium where he lives is just as important as touting his own place.
3:46 PM EDT, May 5, 2011
Dream home: Ruxton carriage house is perfect roost for Watts family
Back in 1967, Dick Watts, a widower with two young sons, was renting the carriage house on the large estate of Philip Poe, a descendant cousin of Edgar Allan Poe. He was comfortable living down the hill from the manor house, which backs up to Roland Run in Ruxton.
2:08 PM EST, February 11, 2011
Southern comfort
The serene beauty of the Magothy River can be seen in the spaces between the houses lining the road leading to Steve Goldberg's home.
2:14 PM EST, March 3, 2011
Dream home: Modern remake
In 2003, Mike Dufton purchased a 2,200-square-foot townhome on tranquil Back Creek just outside Annapolis in the community of King James Landing.
March 31, 2011
Dream home: Estate of zen
The approach from the long, circular driveway reveals Dick and Susan Wolven's brick home is unmistakably Georgian in style.
10:50 PM EDT, April 12, 2011
A home of precious stone
In this house of variegated Butler stone and stained pine, the eye is constantly drawn beyond each room's floor-to-ceiling windows and out among the trees and sky. The effect evokes the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, and with good reason.
7:01 PM EST, February 24, 2011
Dream home: Putting it together in Taneytown
At a time in life when retired couples often consider downsizing with the goal of uncomplicating their lives, Jean and George Smorse took a different path.
1:25 PM EST, March 9, 2011
Dream home: A perfect fit
Behind the doors of Baltimore's thousands of rehabilitated brick rowhouses, any number of interior designs can be found. Many are based on size, others on architectural dictates and still others on individual tastes. Some surprise, while others delight.
3:42 PM EST, February 18, 2011
Dream home: On level ground
The story of Fred and Jan Hallahan's dream home is one of a near miss.
6:50 PM EST, January 25, 2011
Couple's retreat
It's not every couple that can take full advantage of a 3,500-square-foot townhouse.
January 23, 2011
Traditional living
After their two sons headed off to college, Bill and Carolyn Walter thought the time might be right to downsize. Coming from a large, single-family home in Timonium, they wanted something smaller with a strong community association to handle outdoor maintenance, and also in the same area of northern Baltimore County.
January 9, 2011
Grand plan
It wasn't until Jeanette Cole began feeling uncomfortable surrounded by countless antiques in her Federal Hill townhouse that she and her husband, William, decided to make a major change.
December 26, 2010
Dream home: Historic gift
Almost 300 years ago, Rachael Howard and her betrothed, Charles Ridgely, were given a large tract of land in Southwest Baltimore as a wedding gift from her father.
6:07 PM EST, November 23, 2010
Storefront restored
Chris Currey and his wife, Isabel, have lived in South Baltimore since 1992. Five years ago, the couple moved into their second Locust Point house, in a neighborhood they call "the Mayberry of Baltimore City."