Wall of glass acts as a true charmer

The wall of glass is a window looking out onto the Mount Washington house's patio and saltwater pool.

It is easy to overlook the stunning black lacquer piano just inside the marble-tiled entrance of Bill Magruder and Stanley Scherr's Mount Washington home. Only a focused eye would spy anything other than the spectacular wall of glass just beyond the foyer.

"The windows and the brightness sold me on the house," said Scherr, 59, a teen outreach worker.

No denying either of those features. In the cathedral-ceilinged living room (a step up from the foyer), the entire back wall is a window looking out onto a wrought-iron and glass-furnished patio where a perfectly manicured lawn - including sea grass - surrounds a 32-foot by 14-foot heated, saltwater pool. Blue and lime-green lounge chairs nestle up to the pool's far side.

From the front door, the view seems a life-sized travel poster.

Scherr and his partner, Magruder, 50, a Realtor with Coldwell Banker, bought the 2,000-square-foot house in 1997 for $125,000. The two needed only to make minor upgrades, such as painting, carpeting and purchasing a new water heater. Their biggest expense, outside of turning a portion of the lower utility room into a bedroom and bathroom, was the addition of the pool and privacy fence around it. Another clever addition to the couple's outdoor living is a covered side porch decorated in wicker furniture.

Indoors, a half-level up from ground level houses three bedrooms and two full baths, while a half-level down from ground level is the family room.

"It's a funny kind of a split-level," Magruder said. "Or you could call it a raised rancher."

The combined living and dining areas include unique pieces of furniture, such as a table, chairs and buffet created of acrylic that resembles beige marble. The living-room furniture is a pleasing combination of beige and beige-gray striped tuxedo styling.

"We use and enjoy everything in every room in this house," said Scherr, as he demonstrated the inner workings of the family-room jukebox.

With the wall of windows "wow factor," he added, "I still get that excited, happy feeling every time I'm here."