Sited in the midst of a protected wildlife conservatory, Gordon and Susan Boone found their dream acres. Their most popular neighbors are the blue heron, wild geese and other migratory wildlife that stop by.
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Out house hunting 15 years ago, Gordon and Susan Boone turned into the tree-lined driveway of their future home located in the heart of My Lady’s Manor in Monkton and were mesmerized. “We fell in love,” Gordon recalled, still touched by the moment. “We knew this was where we wanted to be.”
» STYLE PHILOSOPHY — Eclectic country comfort.
» STYLE SECRETS — Do what makes you happy and comfortable, but don’t forget to take a chance.
» GOT STYLE FROM — My childhood and travel.
» COMFORT VS. STYLE — For us, comfort is a style. We’re not out to impress anyone. While our home is a mix of contemporary and traditional, it’s a home first. We have boys and dogs, so dirt and mess are part of what makes it home.
» FAVORITE COLOR — Last week, Ravens purple. Other weeks, coral.
» WHAT DOES COLOR SAY TO YOU? — We like brighter colors. They stimulate and keep one’s attitude positive.
» MUST-HAVES IN YOUR HOUSE — Wood-burning fireplace, outdoor hot tub, weight room, Weber grill, tiki torches, multiple ice makers, garbage disposal, guns.
» MOST BELOVED OBJECT — We have three: our king-size water bed, a lacrosse sculpture by Frederick Kail and our hot tub.
» WHAT PEOPLE WOULDN’T KNOW ABOUT US — We’re big-time homebodies.
» WE WOULD NEVER — Use glass or mirrors outside of the bathroom or gym, or have a black lacquer dining room set or shag carpet.
» FAVORITE DESIGNERS — Kim Eastburn, L.L. Bean, Orvis
» HOT TIP — For a resale in Baltimore, a home needs to have a more traditional exterior and contemporary, open interior.
Beyond the driveway was an expansive pastoral scene of undulating grassy knolls, a spring-fed pond with a floating dock, wildlife acreage that was home to blue heron, nesting geese, a five-stall barn and a surrounding of thousands of protected acreage deeded to the Maryland Agricultural Trust.
The added attraction for the couple was they could live comfortably knowing that their young son could play safely outdoors out of the danger of traffic speeding through the neighborhood.
That was the upside of the outside. Closer in, there was overgrown vegetation up to the second-floor windows to consider. It would take tough love to chop it down and update the look, feel and function of the neglected interior of the five-bedroom, four-and-a-half-bath house built in 1938 with 8,000 square feet of living space.
“There were these tiny doorways,” said Gordon, a commercial real estate agent and owner of a legal courier company. “We knocked down walls and opened it up.”
During the renovation, one of the sunlit home’s greatest uncovered treasures proved to be the tiger maple wood flooring in the kitchen beneath six layers of linoleum. They modernized the large kitchen and added new appliances, marble countertops and blond Maplewood cabinetry.
Among the Boones’ updates is the formal dining area that comfortably seated 27 people at a recent holiday dinner. They turned a portion of the third floor into a playroom, where family and friends congregate for hours. Staying fit is as close as the fully equipped gym they built above the two-car garage that is connected to the house by a breezeway.
Music through an outdoor sound system makes relaxing in the outdoor hot tub “one of our favorite places around the house,” Gordon said. In the winter, the pond freezes over into an ice skating rink.
The Boones’ choices in contemporary and antique furnishing live well together. A surprising accessory and ode to another kind of hunting is the wall mounting on one side of the main fireplace — a mounted cougar perched on a tree limb. While Gordon didn’t bag it himself, he did see the wildcat as an appropriate addition to his surroundings.
