Lake Ellyn Coastal Eclectic Meets 80’s Basement Arcade – And it Works.

This project was biiiiig. A whopping 9,000+ finished square feet of new-build, all-details-considered, floorplan-to-final-furnishings big.
Our role on this new construction in Glen Ellyn was what we’d call “the works.” We did it all. We’re talkin’ all-all. And while it did take two full years to complete, which sounds like an eee-terrrr-nity, it actually clipped right along at an extraordinarily efficient pace thanks to one key factor. Trust. It was one of those rare and blissfully welcome instances where the homeowners just handed us their full confidence on a silver platter. It was like we lifted that polished dome and saw the words “Go for it.” So we (secretly woo-hoo’d and) proceeded accordingly.

While the family’s original intent was to remodel the existing late 1940s house on the lot, they realized the cost was only nominally higher for new construction. Plus, they were envisioning a full-on basement arcade, but the current home’s low ceilings and mechanicals would have cramped its style – badly. So we shifted into new construction gear, with a clean slate on a killer lot facing Lake Ellyn. Not. Too. Shabby.

Glen Ellyn Exterior Project

We started with the DNA for the house as we always do, and once we got the initial nod on that, the homeowners’ response to everything we presented was yet more nods. No requests for photos of similar treatments. No wavering or direction-changing. No stall-outs due to mulling. No kooky new ideas they saw on one of those crazy design shows. Nope. None of that. All responses fell somewhere along the continuum of Yes – everything from “Love that” to “Let’s do it.” Case in point: when we presented the idea to go with black on JUST the family room windows and doors, we got an “Ohh, that’s sounds cool” – aka: the immediate go-ahead. (Side note to the homeowners: This is not normal, and we say that as the highest of compliments.)

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