Best Home Room: Bob Marston (Supply, N.C.)

IF THERE'S one story you don't hear much anymore, it's the individual who finished school, went to work, and subsequently worked for the same employer and no other in his or her entire career. But that's the case with Bob Marston, a Boston native retired to North Carolina, who spent 35 years with Otis Elevators, the last 20 or so as a director of field operations. (You needn't point out that his life has probably had its ups and downs. He's heard that one already. A few times, in fact.)

Bob's award-winning home billiard room is found in the intriguingly named town of Supply, about halfway between Wilmington and Myrtle Beach. That's where he and his wife built a magnificent 4,200 square-feet home, eventually adding on the room you see here to accommodate his Brunswick Gold Crown (the chairs, balls and sticks are all from Brunswick too; the 52-inch TV and Home Theater System are from Samsung). Its marvelous floor is all white Oak and Brazilian Cherry.

This is Bob's second table; he enjoyed the previous one for 20 years before giving it to a son, one of his three kids (all out of the house; there are five grandchildren too). He describes himself as an intermediate player in both 8- and 9-ball, and recently had his game refurbished by none other than Ewa Laurance and Gerda Hofstatter, whom he met at a pool fund-raiser in nearby Wilmington. His room plays a big part in his social life; he and a crowd of about 10 get together weekly, and the Marston home is one of three rooms in which they meet.

Best Home Room - Runner-Up: Steve Uchytil (Atwater, Minn.)

AMONG THE entries for this year's "Best New Home Room" category, it'd be quite difficult to find an applicant who stayed on budget.

So it was with the entry from Steve Uchytil from Atwater, Minn. It's not so much that he's upset that his basement-turned-poolroom cost a bit more than expected. It's more a badge of honor, a way of saying he and his wife, Melissa, did what needed to be done to have his vision become reality.

Take the light above the 9-foot Brunswick Dominion table. "We didn't like the looks of commercial box lights," Steve said, "so I built my own. We stained each side of the lights to match the table."

The other side of the room houses a Brunswick Gold Crown snooker table, though it was in pretty rough condition when Uchtyil first discovered it.

"It was missing a corner and all of the nuts, bolts, screws and hardware," he said. "Someone had stripped the wood to be refinished, the bottom of the table was beat up and it had a crack in the slate. Other than that, it was in perfect condition!"

For 50 bucks, the price was right and Uchytil went to work restoring the table to more than playable condition. Add a bar set, a pair of couches and a 65-inch TV with surround sound, and the Uchytils have plenty of entertainment options.

Best Home Room - Second Runner-Up: Ed & Nancy Franke (Hathaway Pines, Calif.)

A COMMON first step in building a dream rec room is stashing a pool table in the garage. Unfortunately, though, it seems that the impetus created by that initial investment often ebbs, leaving it the only action taken toward what was once a dream fully intended to be realized.

The case of Ed and Nancy Franke, though, proved an exception to the rule. Bouncing back from a run of poor health, Ed decided it was about time to get that Brunswick table in the proper setting, insulating it from the fickle weather in central California at the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

In total, the Frankes spent five months turning a portion of their backyard into a 22-by-22-foot billiard lodge. The north-facing windows allow plenty of soft light into the room, while the surrounding pine and cedar trees make for a serene backdrop.

What wall space is available holds a trove of personal items, from a collage of photos collected over a few decades of attending various pool events to a series of acrylic paintings created by the room's patriach.

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