Home of the Week:Cozy and comfortable

Not everyone has a secret weapon right under their roof, but Severna Park couple Regina and Michael Hawks do. It’s their talented son, Steve, 37.

Steve Hawks owns Hawks Custom Carpentry, and his exquisite skills as a craftsman turned a great home redo into a stunningly gorgeous one.

The family has lived in the Manhattan Manor community of Severna Park since July 1983. The Hawkses raised three children, all grown. Their other two children and five grandchildren live nearby, so the couple is staying put in the family nest. The family also includes a black Lab named Gunner and a Brittany spaniel named Jake.

In a spurt of upgrading, the couple built an in-ground pool and a small redwood gazebo in their backyard 19 years ago. But aside from the poolside environment and Mrs. Hawks’ green thumb with her gardens, not much distinguished the outside of their five-bedroom split foyer home from the rest of the cookie-cutter split foyer houses found all over the east coast.

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That all changed several years ago, when the Hawks’ home began getting crowded on the holidays thanks to the 20-some members of the extended family assembling there for dinner — inspiring the Hawks’ imagination to take flight.

So, less than a year ago, Speight Studio Architects of Eastport created a plan to transform the home into a Southern Low Country-style house, gaining an extra bedroom and a wide front porch. One of the firm’s architects, Stephanie Cook, explained that the style generally features a big elevated front porch with columns, a low roof profile and a low gable roof usually running side to side. It’s usually a one- or one-and-a-half-story house. “Cozy, not big,” she added. The contractor was Cypress Construction.

The lower part of the front porch is constructed of paving stone walls and archways, similar to homes of the Civil War era. Instead of the bland doorsteps of the original split foyer, visitors sweep up a grand outer set of stairs to the porch, which is wide, shady and inviting. At the base of each column is recessed lighting. The woodlike decking is made of AZEK, a new type of extruded cellular polyvinyl chloride lumber that requires very little maintenance.

Next to the main building, the attached one-car garage was stretched out to shelter two vehicles. A second floor was added to the garage, forming the master bedroom suite, which connects to the house on the second floor. Half of the garage is partitioned off and used by Steve Hawks as his wood workshop.

Inside the main entry to the home, visitors stand on a landing that appears to float above an elegant flight of wooden stairs lavished with a delicate, wrought-iron balustrade. This is Steve’s handiwork. It’s easy to imagine an entire cocktail party held in the stairwell, with guests leaning over the banister to pass a drink or hors d’oeuvres.

Three years earlier, Steve also rebuilt much of the main floor. Working with his mother on the floor plan, he broke down several walls to install an open area incorporating the kitchen, dining and living rooms. To make the refrigerator more accessible — and keep the heavy door from bumping walls — he built an alcove for it in the middle of the wood plank floor. On the three outer walls, his mom found more space to hang her collection of Asian art and ceramics.

The kitchen was furnished with glass-paned hardwood cupboards that extend to the ceiling, providing a showcase for Mrs. Hawks’ collection of rustic, hand-painted tableware and crockery. This was also Steve’s handiwork, as was the selection of tile for the backsplash and slabs of granite for the kitchen’s prep island and countertops.

Down a hallway, one suite of rooms is intended as a playroom and bedroom for visiting grandchildren. Inside the bedroom, which is decorated with tiny birdhouses, Mrs. Hawks hand-painted a picket fence and a “tree” blooming with apples.

The downstairs is kept cozy with a gas log fireplace in a second living room. The knotty pine paneling installed by a former owner has been painted over with a shade of russet. Eventually, the couple plans to tear out the paneling and install new walls. They’ve also pulled out the wet bar and plan to install a wine library instead.

“It’s passé to have the big bar with all the liquor on display,” Mr. Hawks said.

A sunny sitting room at the rear of the house — filled with comfortable sofas and urn-shaped lamps — is an ideal spot to curl up with a book or newspaper. Mrs. Hawks’ office suite, in what was once a bedroom-bath combo, is also located downstairs. Trimmed in oak with an oak desk, oak file and storage cabinets, bookshelves and glass-front armoires, the space looks modern and efficient. It has its own doorway to the backyard.

After years of working for CEOs, now Mrs. Hawks is one. She owns a travel business, Friends and Family Travel. Mr. Hawks is employed as a civilian with the Department of the Army at Fort George G. Meade. He handles claims for the Judge Advocate General office.

Mrs. Hawks grew up in East Pepperell, Mass., and France; her husband is a “farm boy” from Iowa. They met in Europe during his first career with the Army. Tasteful, well-chosen souvenirs of their tours of duty in the Far East, Panama and Germany are placed throughout the home.

The master bedroom boasts a hand-carved, four-panel teak screen in one corner, and in another, a filigreed teak breakfront cabinet. Elsewhere, the couple has on display a mix of earthenware from Central America and ceramic ginger jars from Asia.

And they’re not done redoing yet.

“Eventually, we plan to glass-in the back porch and turn it into a Florida room,” Mrs. Hawks said. “Hmmm. And we’re not finished with that wall in the grandchildren’s room.”

They better get their projects under way soon, though. Before they know it, Steve will be skiing in Colorado again. ——— Wendi Winters is a freelance writer living on the Broadneck Peninsula. If you’d like your home considered for Home of the Week, please contact her at writerdle@aol.com or 410-271-2568.