1-443-415-5061

Crafting Dream Storybook Homes

Storybook Classic Homes is a woman-owned green custom home builder in Ellicott City, Maryland.  We specialize in the English Cotswold, French Château, and Tudor storybook-style homes with a curious twist. We have designs from four leading architects that specialize in storybook-style homes.  Our custom homes are built with stone, brick, and stucco exteriors.  Our homes never have vinyl siding!   Each home is unique to suit the homeowner’s lifestyle.  We build on your lot, or help you to find the perfect lot for YOUR new home.  We build homes to suit all budgets.  Our unique floor plans offer a home that is like no other.  We build exclusively in Carroll, Howard, and Baltimore Counties.

Meet Our Team

Storybook Classic Homes' success is accomplished by working relationships with leaders in the custom-home industry.  We have procured top local and nationwide architects, craftsmen, vendors, and service providers to help build our extraordinary homes.  Our team of professionals will provide quality products and services with the goal and promise to make YOUR dream home become a reality.  Below are some of our team members:

Elizabeth J. Morse-Rhodes

CEO & Principal

Elizabeth has been in the real estate industry since 1994 as a Realtor and as a Certified Residential Appraiser.  Her real estate business specializes in new home construction.  While searching for a new home for her family, Elizabeth grew frustrated with the homes offered by builders in the market area. She found that most builders were building uninteresting home plans from the same architect pool.  The designs lacked imagination and the building materials lacked longevity and character.  Not wanting a typical colonial, she wanted something different.  Something that would spark curiosity from the curbside.  A house that would make you want to explore.  Two common themes Elizabeth sees in the hundreds of homes she tours a year in her real estate practice are Thomas Kinkade and Disney artwork.  One day on an appraisal, she was chatting with a homeowner about a Thomas Kinkade painting hanging on their wall.  The owner stated they dreamed of owning a home like the one in the painting.  Apparently, Elizabeth wasn't the only one wanting something different.

After viewing homes built in Europe, Elizabeth was drawn to the "olde world" character of these homes.  These charming homes were described as Storybook homes.  They have a timeless design with fine craftsmanship.  The homes were built with materials that had to last a long time.  With stone, brick, and stucco exteriors, the premise was to house generations of a growing family.  There were no vinyl siding exteriors that would melt, crack, and look like plastic!  No brick front veneers that looked like wallpaper.  After a tedious search, she found talented architects that designed these special homes. 

Elizabeth also set out to use the latest green building techniques and products.  Building materials that mimicked non-practical materials used centuries ago such as synthetic thatch and cedar-like shingles that are fireproof, resists pests, snow, and hurricanes.  Energy efficient homes are a must in today's real estate market.

Using her real estate background with a woman's touch, Elizabeth decided to start a home building and design company that would offer home buyers that shared her desire for a truly unique home.   Romantic custom homes not built by a typical home builder.

        "These homes are truly a work of art.  It's not a cookie-cutter house.  Each home is different and has its own personality. Storybook homes are homes we dare to daydream about when we see them in fine oil paintings.  I build homes that  cater to home buyers that desire olde world design to meet their modern needs." - Elizabeth

Storybook Classic Homes builds custom homes in Carroll, Howard, Frederick, and Western Baltimore County.  Contact Elizabeth at 443-415-5061 or StorybookHomes@aol.com to preview available home designs or use her architects to design a custom home to unlock your own unique dream.  All house plans can be revised to fit one's budget.  We also have plans for detached and attached carriage houses. 

Elizabeth holds a real estate salesperson license with


  3290 North Ridge Road, Suite 150, Ellicott City, MD  21043
                                               (443) 574-1600

An associate appraiser with


  2200 Aquilas Delight, Fallston, MD  21047