Home of the Week: Sharyl Belka and Mike Bryant

Who knew? There's a community of newer homes at the edge of Lee Airport in Edgewater, yet it's a great secret that no one seems to know about - even GPS and MapQuest.

This great secret (at least it used to be, before this article) was discovered by Sharyl Belka and Mike Bryant in 2005.

Having moved from Crofton, the couple and Barker, their Shih Tzu/poodle combination, are now very much at home, as they continue to modify and personalize their 6,400-square-foot, six-bedroom home overlooking a field of about 100 small planes.

So is it true what they say about people who move next to airports? Do they complain about the noise?

"We love it - we sit on our deck and watch the airplanes go up and down," Ms. Belka said. "We knew ahead of time - we fell in love with it."

The community, too, seems well loved.

"This place is just unbelievable," said Mr. Bryant, who through his Bowie-based company, Classy Chassis, restores classic Corvettes to works of art on wheels.

"We all party together every weekend," Ms. Belka added. "We have a game room so everyone will come over here, one person has a pool, so we'll go over there, and one person has a projection TV and we'll go over there - very close-knit."

And there are a lot of young families.

"We're the oldest couple - the rest are starting out with kids," explained Mr. Bryant, who has a long way to go before qualifying for old, as does his girlfriend.

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Having found the community in its infancy as a new development, the couple never saw the home before purchasing it.

"There was nothing back here," Ms. Belka said. "All I had was a floor plan - there was nothing built."

The home is deceiving from the front - it's long, but not wide. With a facade of natural stone, vinyl siding and shingles in an earthen-putty color, white trim and blue shutters, it offers a classic appearance with the charm of a cottage-community-styled home.

The roofline, featuring a variety of pitches and eaves, gives the home a dramatic and apparently unique distinction, in addition to being an issue for the builders.

"They couldn't figure out how to get all the angles of the peaks together," Mr. Bryant said.

In this community, it was apparently the last time the builders attempted such a roof.

"We have the only one because they said no more - never again," Ms. Belka explained.

The pathway to the front door actually extends all the way around the house, with a patio on one side of the home, a carport at the rear and a large garage on the other side.

"The cement goes all the way around the house," Ms. Belka said. "We didn't want to walk on the grass to get to the garage."

Inside the front door, or more appropriately side door, the foyer features an open staircase with views to the finished basement and up to the second floor. A beyond-huge mirror is at home on the landing.

"We went through two sets of people - one to get it into the house and one to get it on the wall," Mr. Bryant said, shaking his head.

"When I get an idea in my head ..." Ms. Belka began.

"She gets an idea and I have to make it function," Mr. Bryant finished with a laugh.

To the left of the entry is the exercise room - yes, a gym where normally you wouldn't find one.

"A lot of people put their gyms in their basement, and I'll tell you, honestly, if you put a gym in the basement, you don't use it," Ms. Belka said.

Beyond this room is an office used by Ms. Belka.

With window treatments on every window, a mix of subtle and daring wall colors, lots of details and considerable effort given to interior design in the home, the woman responsible for it all, whose full-time career is in law enforcement, is clearly multifaceted.

But the interest in interior design is not an inclination the couple shares.

"It's a good thing she's got it, because I don't have it," Mr. Bryant said.

"I let him do the outside, he lets me do the inside," added Ms. Belka, who even goes so far as to change fabrics on the windows and beds depending upon the season.

To the right of the entry and down the hall, a large, open space incorporates formal and informal dining areas, kitchen and family room.

Both Mr. Bryant and Ms. Belka have children who visit often, so the large space comes in handy for entertaining or just hanging out.

In the living room, a soft beige upholstered semicircular sectional provides plenty of comfortable seating atop oak floors and an area carpet in dark black trimmed in burgundy. The burgundy is picked up again as an accent on the partition wall between this room and the formal dining room.

Between the two rooms a curio cabinet with an extensive collection of police figurines and collectibles is displayed. Ms. Belka has been acquiring the collection throughout the span of her career.

"I'm almost 20 years in January," she explained.

The dining room is home to a handsome, hand-carved dining table and chairs accompanied by a matching china cabinet that's equally impressive.

"It was my mother's," Ms. Belka said. "From Taiwan - it's all hand-carved, teak wood. It's at least 50 years old."

She points to the engraved brass handle on the cabinet.

"That's my maiden name," Ms. Belka said.

The large open kitchen features a center island, oak cabinetry, and a builder upgraded appliance package of a larger refrigerator/freezer and double ovens. A light beige tile backsplash, recessed lighting and an informal dining table complete the area.

The basement provides ample space for a guest room, a large recreation/TV room and a game room that features two slot machines, a pinball machine, a roulette table and video games.

Upstairs, there are his and hers bedrooms for a couple of reasons - the first of which is the kids.

"We're trying to show the kids, we're not married, so we don't sleep together," Ms. Belka explained.

Secondly, she works nights, he works days.

In addition to these two rooms, Mr. Bryant's 14- and 15-year-old sons each have their own rooms.

Ms. Belka's room is enormous, featuring an entry sitting area with a full coffee bar and refrigerator.

Coffee brewing in your bedroom?

"It wakes me up at two in the afternoon - the smell of coffee," she said. "This is my room - I love it," she added. "Of course, I had my ideas what I wanted to do in here."

A reading swing in the corner was just such an idea.

"That's where I read," she said. "I love to read."

In the master bath, a corner tub is positioned to take full advantage of the view out to the airfield.

Also incorporating that view, plus a whole lot more, is the second-floor deck, which runs the entire length of the house and across the back.

"I picked this house just for the deck. Based on the floor plans, I drew this out," Ms. Belka said. "They kidded us - the planes were going to confuse this for the runway."

It's a good thing that hasn't happened, for this "Home of the Week" in a great, "secret" neighborhood has a lot going for it, including and most especially Sharyl, Mike and, of course, Barker.

Donna L. Cole is a freelance writer living in the Annapolis area. If you'd like your home considered for "Home of the Week," e-mail her at writerdle@aol.com.