Mr. Lombardo's companion and love of his life, Diana "Dee" Gray, works as a graphic designer, designer and illustrator. She founded Boomerang Studios 14 years ago. Ms. Gray takes a cloudy idea and gives it form.

The couple met five years ago. "He commissioned an artwork from me as a wedding gift for a friend," Ms. Gray smiled. "He encourages my eclectic edge."

Together, the two are putting their creative stamp on their home on Chandler's Point in Pasadena. From their deck, the two see lots of clouds, jaw-dropping sunsets and an amazing variety of waterfowl.

Chandler's Point is the juncture between Tar Cove and Rock Creek, so named for its white, elephant-sized boulders. The creek runs into the Patapsco River. Just beyond lies the Chesapeake Bay, and off in the distance, the old Sparrows Point shipyard, the Key Bridge and Ft. Smallwood can be spied.

A chandler is an old term for a maker or seller of candles. The house, at the tip of Chandler's Point, was built in 1992 on the site of a defunct marina. The 1-acre lot has 300 feet of curving waterfront. Each room in the sunlit, two-story, pitched roof building offers a spectacular water view.

Moored to their long pier is Ms. Gray's "yacht" - a paddleboat.

"Night heron, osprey and all kinds of birds go about their business on that pier," said Ms. Gray. "My father, who lives in Severna Park, fishes off the pier. Ospreys will walk right up to him and take a fish he's placed on a plank for them." As she spoke, a flock of fat wild Canadian geese casually waddled by.

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Developing a light, coastal feel to the exterior of the home wasn't entirely error-free: The two originally painted the outside a peachy shade they envisioned would meld with its surroundings."It was the color of a Band-Aid," Mr. Lombardo winced. "We quickly repainted." The cedar siding is now a mellow taupe shade.

The wide deck on the rear of the house boasts a hot tub. An awning can be rolled out to shade most of the deck on sunny days. A collection of colorful pots, clustered against a corner of the house, holds a charming mix of summer perennials and savory herbs.

"One thing I really love about this house is people want to visit." said Ms. Gray. "We love to entertain and have barbecues out here on the deck."

"We couldn't bribe people to visit us - to fight the traffic - when we lived in Gainsville, Va., off Route 66," added Mr. Lombardo. "They all want to come here."

Inside, the home has the cozy feel of a coastal cottage. White wainscoting panels and Thomasville whitewashed wood furniture throughout the home blend with warm tones of soft, muted golds, reds and taupes. A subtle leopard print motif repeats on random couch pillows, an office chair, and the shower curtain and floor mat in the small bathroom just off Ms. Gray's upstairs office. Another repeating element is the crescent moon, appearing in sculptures in many materials, shapes and sizes.

The duo ripped out the home's original dark oak flooring and installed wide planks of soft blonde red oak. "It darkens in the sunlight," said Mr. Lombardo. "The soft wood picks up all the dings and scrapes, plus the scratches our 12-year-old Jack Russell, Mickey, puts on them skittering across the floor. It's getting character."

They removed the white shag carpeting throughout the house and put in taupe carpeting with a low pile.

The shiny white tile framing the fireplace was torn out and in its place is a textural mat of blocky El Dorado stone. The hearth and mantle are limestone slabs.

Hanging above the fireplace are one of several beautiful artworks scattered throughout the home. It's a stunning Salvador Dali color lithograph on Japon Paper titled, "Trip To The Moon." Dali pulled only 25 litho prints of it in 1969, to celebrate the imminent landing of man on the lunar surface. Mr. Lombardo said another one of the series hung at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

The spacious upstairs alcove is highlighted by a 7-foot tall flamboyant lithograph dating from 1923 and rimmed with a stark black wooden frame. Next to it is Mr. Lombardo's drum set. Though he's not related to the late, great bandleader, Guy Lombardo, he has been a percussionist all his life, playing with several classic rock bands. He performs "Wipeout" by heart.

Many of the other artworks in the home are Ms. Gray's creations, but her mother is also a prolific artist. They own paintings by Ms. Gray's sister, Deborah Rolig, a painter and owner of the faux finishing company, "Faux-Real." Deborah's husband, Bill, and their son Ryan, are well-known Eastern Shore artists. Several of their stark, moody works adorn the walls.

Propped on a high L. & J.G. Stickley bureau in the master bedroom is a photo self-portrait by Ms. Gray's daughter, Ashlee Wilkins, 27.

The central focus of the main floor is the completely remodeled kitchen. The couple selected a warm, St. Cecilia Gold granite, faintly evocative of leopard spots, for countertops in the kitchen, on a sideboard and wine storage unit and in the small powder room. The cabinets were faced with white wainscoting, save for the powder room where they are black.

Mr. Lombardo is delighted with the appliances. Though his companion admired the stainless steel Wolf stove for its big red knobs and cobalt blue interior, he zoomed in on the fact that many restaurants use Wolf stoves. Theirs is a gas-electric combo unit. It complements the brushed stainless steel Kitchen Aid refrigerator and the two-drawer dishwashing unit. "You can run the upper drawer on a delicate setting, while the lower unit is doing pots and pans," he explained. Unlike most microwaves that are installed at eye-level, their Sharp microwave is below the waist, in a drawer that glides out with just a touch.

The three sinks in the kitchen and small bath are made of hand-beaten copper. "We were vacationing in San Miguel, Mexico, across from a sink factory. That's the first time we saw those kinds of sinks," marveled Ms. Gray. "Tom ordered them on the internet. He also ordered a beaten copper frame to go with the sink in the powder room. That one is also embossed with a large Maryland crab."

Most of the house is painted the Martha Stewart shade "Beehive." Depending upon the light from the sun or the rusticated "fishing shack" light fixtures, the walls transform from shimmering gold to a medium pistachio green.

In the powder room, however, Ms. Gray and her sister applied six layers of a deep, ruby red paint. They finished the walls with a mocha rinse, giving it a patina of age.

The upstairs master bath in the 4-bedroom, 4½-bath home is lighter in feeling. It features a black granite countertop and floors and walls of white tumbled marble. The shower floor is embedded with colored river rocks and its walls are decorated with a band of sea glass mosaic tiles.

While Ms. Gray illustrates her Green Street Garden Party animated characters and designs a children's clothing collection in her sunny, whimsical office decorated with her colorful "spirit boxes," Mr. Lombardo prefers to sit at his drum set and bang away. "Other people love to come up here to jam," he said. "But, when I play alone, I look out the window at the view."

Wendi Winters is a freelance writer living on the Broadneck Peninsula.