Home of the Week: Jane and Mike Stricker

Down, all the way down, Route 8 in Stevensville is the community of Cove Creek Club. This community began its life as the personal getaway spot of the Kettler brothers, perhaps best known as the builders of Montgomery Village in Gaithersburg.

With a meandering golf course running through it, a handful of ponds and streams, prime eastern Chesapeake Bay frontage and beautiful homes easily distinguished from one another, Cove Creek Club seems to be Eastern Shore living at its best.

That's exactly what brought retired teachers Jane and Mike Stricker here.

"After our boys left home to start their lives, my husband and I decided to downsize with a smaller waterfront home in Cove Creek, a community which provided a marina and a golf course to pursue our retirement interests," Ms. Sticker wrote in an e-mail requesting her home be considered for "Home of the Week."

Though the community was perfect for the couple, the house wasn't, so for the past 11 years, they've been making changes. With her teaching background in art and his in industrial education, they had plenty of experience and talent on which to draw.

"Our small empty-nest home has grown with three additions and a pool," Ms. Stricker explained. "Our home now has a full art studio and a workshop to support our interests. My husband has done the construction. I have added the artistic touch, with wall sculptures and faux finishes."

Now with 3,200 square feet, the three-bedroom home couldn't be more ideal for the couple. Mr. Striker runs Creekside Construction out of the home with one of his sons, while Ms. Stricker tends to her growing art business from her studio.

But what happened to retirement?

"When you teach art, you don't get to do art too much," Ms. Stricker said with a laugh. "I'm having fun in retirement. I do a lot of murals, I do faux finishes. ... I've done baby rooms, bathrooms; I've even done an African-theme mural because they were wild game hunters. I've done a lot with Eastern Shore scenes."

Even before you enter the couple's updated Cape Cod, Ms. Stricker's talents are on display.

In a recessed wall panel next to the front door sits a blue heron relief designed by Ms. Stricker and fabricated by Robert Seely, an Eastern Shore-based blacksmith/artist.

Once inside, there's a bevy of art to enjoy. Landscapes, portraits and other resplendent paintings created by Ms. Stricker are found throughout the home.

In the foyer, a collection of glass paperweights can be found.

"I just started buying them and I never stopped," Ms. Stricker said. "I've got one from Hawaii, I've got one from Scotland. We like to bareboat in the Caribbean, so I've got one from the Caribbean - so it's plethora of paperweights."

An unbelievably detailed and quite striking Eastern Shore bas relief scene in all white has been incorporated on a white wall.

"I went out to his workshop and got some spackling compound and just started building it up. … I sat here with powder all over," Ms. Stricker said. "I wanted it monochromatic."

Though Ms. Stricker said others have wanted color in those she's been commissioned to do, the white on white is stunning in its subtlety.

Once through the foyer, a large, comfortable living room features a floor-to-ceiling, light brick fireplace; a handsome hardwood floor topped by an Oriental carpet in golds and reds; and a sofa upholstered in a terra cotta color.

A separate seating area off the fireplace has two armchairs and a table placed beneath a window, making it the perfect nook for gazing out to the creek or reading.

Beyond this room at the rear of the home is the glass-enclosed porch, which takes full advantage of pool and creek views.

"I would say we use the porch most often," Ms. Stricker said. "It's where the family celebrates Christmas - we have a tree in there, we have all of our kids and the five grandchildren in there."

The room features wicker/upholstered furniture, sage-colored walls and its original red brick floor, which is a point of contention for the couple. "We fell in love with that," Ms. Stricker said.

"You did," Mr. Stricker corrected.

"That, I think, is what sold the house," Ms. Stricker admitted, stressing the "I."

To the right of the entry, down a short hall, is the master bedroom. A beautiful space, it has pale blue-green walls, a bed dressed in florals, and French doors leading to the backyard.

The adjoining master bath suite features a beautiful, stand-alone, oval massage tub in white. An entire wall of whitewashed, bead boarded cabinetry with double sinks and a built-in vanity is aesthetically pleasing and provides plenty of useful space.

"This is all for me," Ms. Stricker said. "I wanted it to look like this because I wanted it to look like a cottage."

A recurring element can be found high on the far wall.

"The circular windows are replicated in all the additions," Ms. Sticker explained.

Heading toward the opposite end of the home, the kitchen adjoins a casual, light-filled dining room. French doors in the room provide access to the patio and pool. As in the rest of the home, the soft, muted colors of nature in tandem with the casual furniture give a cottage feel.

Mr. Stricker, who built many pieces of furniture in the home, made a great built-in cabinet for this space, which ties in with the white cabinetry of the kitchen.

At the far end of the home, Ms. Stricker's art studio is a work of art itself. With a sloped wood ceiling, an abundance of light flowing from the windows, beautiful views and walls in a faux finish painted to look like the sky, this room could bring out the artist in anyone.

"So I end up here and he ends up upstairs, and believe it or not, that's the secret to 44 years (together)," Ms. Stricker said.

As for what brought them here originally, it's what will keep them here.

"This is the final resting place," Ms. Stricker said. "It's a very unique community - 107 homes. We have our own golf course, tennis courts, marina, recreational facilities. I would say that was the main reason Mike and I moved here. We had a beautiful home on the bay, but we're community people."

Heading out of the community, golfers were sharing the greens with gaggles of geese, the sun was shining, the bay was sparkling and a woman was Rollerblading along the peaceful, scenic and flat terrain.

It is indeed Eastern Shore living at its best, and the Strickers seem to have found the perfect retirement spot.

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.