Sixth home is a charm

By Marie Gullard | Special to The Baltimore Sun

September 20, 2008

Stacy and Ed Hill put cherry wood floors and multipaned glass doors on the first floor of their 2,700-square-foot house in Pikesville. (Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis / September 10, 2008)

In June 2006, Ed and Stacy Hill bought and moved into their sixth house in eight years of marriage. The reasons had nothing to do with restlessness, wanderlust or dissatisfaction. Ed Hill, a private contractor, simply loved to renovate houses and then move on.

But the couple see the home they've had for two years, a two-story Dutch Colonial, as the place in which they plan to grow old.

Sitting on 1 acre of tree-shaded property in the heart of Pikesville, the circa-1901 home features a two-toned exterior - a ground floor of cream vinyl siding and a second story, with three gables, garbed in burgundy aluminum siding.

The exterior is as they found it, but they were told by the original owner's children that at one time it was covered in cedar shake. Covered front and back porches embellish the exterior, and wicker furniture adds a homey touch.

In many aspects, the 2,700-square-foot home's interior bears the earmarks of the Arts and Crafts period. This is most evident in the living room and dining room's beamed ceilings; door and window frames of carved, bull's-eye molding; and the house's four-square design - that is, four rooms on the second level and four on the first with a center hall.

Stacy Hill has added her own touches, such as ceiling fans and stained-glass hanging lamps and table lamps. Warmth is achieved in downstairs walls painted a soft shade of cream - except for a contrasting burgundy shade on the dining room walls.

"Ed has great vision; that's one of his amazing skills," said Stacy Hill, a 40-year old executive assistant at Johns Hopkins Health Care. "He came in here and knew where things would go and what to change."

After expanding their kitchen, the couple plan to make upstairs renovations their next big project.

"You put so much of your heart and soul into fixing up a house, making it your own," Stacy Hill said. "I get emotionally attached and can't see leaving again."

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making the house their own

The Hills estimate they have spent $60,000 to renovate the house they purchased for $350,000. Among the changes the couple made:

•Added crown molding throughout the first floor and chair rails that are consistent with the Arts and Crafts detailing of the home.

•Enclosed exposed radiators and installed multipaned glass doors between the living room and dining room and the hall and living room.

•Installed flooring of variegated cherry wood throughout the first level.

•Expanded their kitchen. The new room, which Ed Hill designed and built, has warm European styling. Highlights include 42-inch cherry cabinets and backsplashes made of tumbled marble.