Chicago Tribune
April 12, 2007
By Lisa Bertagnoli, Special to the Tribune

Staring at a slow housing market, homeowners in the mood to remodel have several choices: Remodel but scale back on plans, not remodel at all, or say “what the heck” and continue full-steam ahead.

Heather Smith chose Plan C. Smith, 38, and her husband began an extensive remodel of their five-bedroom, 4 1/2-bath Winnetka home in February. The project has three basic components: improving the roofline, moving and enlarging the entryway and making the garage — “a really obvious part of the home,” according to Smith — less obvious.

The project, scheduled to be finished in May, also will add an en-suite bathroom to one bedroom, a second-floor laundry room and an extra master-bedroom closet.

The price tag: $300,000. “We are definitely not scaling back,” Smith said. Nor are the Smiths sprucing up their home to sell it. The couple plan to live in the home “at least through raising our children,” who are now 8, 5 and 18 months old, Smith said.

Not that resale doesn’t matter. The remodel will strengthen the house’s curb appeal and “will make the house more salable,” Smith said.

Nationally, the remodeling industry has slumped, along with the housing market. Remodeling expenditures in 2006 rose 6 percent, to $291.5 billion. Spending this year is projected at $294.5 billion, an increase of less than 1 percent over 2006, according to the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.

Returns on remodeling jobs are diminishing too. In 2005, an upscale bathroom remodel with a $38,000 price tag promised a 93 percent return on investment, according to publisher Hanley-Wood’s annual Cost Versus Value Survey. In 2006, that same remodel returned 77 percent of the investment. Along similar lines, a $57,000 basement-refinishing job returned 90 percent in 2005, and 79 percent in 2006.

Those figures don’t seem to be stopping Chicago-area residents from remodeling their homes. NARI’s research shows that Chicago is the country’s third-largest remodeling market (after New York and Los Angeles). Last year, area residents spent a total of $2.8 billion on remodels.

Area remodelers agree that remodeling is hot, with homeowners planning extensive improvement projects, especially in desirable areas.

Homeowners “are maxing out great locations,” said Pam Albrecht, vice president of sales and marketing at Ferris Homes, a Northbrook Builder/Developer. Ferris Homes works primarily on the North Shore: “People love their location and have a tendency to invest money where they live, literally,” Albrecht said.

“It’s amazing what people will do to stay in a certain location,” she said, offering zoning challenges and “all sorts of challenges working with the city” as examples of remodeling trials and tribulations. “This is not, ‘let’s do a new toilet for you,’ ” Albrecht said. Homeowners look for a reputable builder that provides services.

Chicago Tribune
Friday, March 30, 2007
By Leslie Mann, Special to the Tribune

Imagine buying a new house with ceiling lights in some rooms, wall lights in the bathrooms and a pair of outdoor fixtures flanking the front door.

Sounds like a Spartan lighting plan? That was the norm just 20 years ago, when lighting was an afterthought and “lighting plan” was an oxymoron. Along came home tours, the Internet, HGTV and a flurry of home magazines that enabled consumers to, literally, see the light. Manufacturers multiplied their light-fixture offerings, lighting plans were attached to architectural plans and home buyers upped their lighting demands. Big time.

“What used to be “upscale lighting” has moved down even to tract homes, too,” reports Debbie Kosters, vice president of Inland Electric in Shorewood, which supplies builders, architects and homeowners. “Consumers want it and the builders are giving it to them. It’s not necessarily that lighting is a bigger part of the house budget because there are just so many more products, with better finishes, available now at all prices.” Ditto for lighting control, adds Kosters, which now routinely includes such features as motion sensors and dimmers, at least.

The notion of hiring a lighting designer, once limited to builders of pricy residences and commercial buildings, has trickled down also.

“I’m not just working with the very high-end buyer anymore,” says Peter Hugh of Hugh Lighting Design LLC in Oak Park. “Even if the client doesn’t hire me to do his whole house, he may ask me to do a special room such as a media room. And you’d be surprised what you can do on a modest budget.”

For those with tight budgets, Hugh recommends concentrating on the kitchen and the master bathroom, if the latter is your retreat. When a client shows him magazine pictures of a room she likes, he asks her to describe what she likes about the room’s lighting, not the specific fixture featured. “Is it romantic? Spa-like? Exciting?” he asks. “You can achieve these things with different fixtures.”

For a multipurpose room such as a great room or a finished basement (lighting designers’ greatest challenges), Hugh helps a homeowner design lighting that can break up the room into different zones. Then the homeowner can program the correct ambience for each zone.

Arch Ahern admits he spent lots of time shopping and combing magazines before choosing the lighting for his new townhouse in Libertyville, built by Ferris Homes in 2005.

“This is my fifth house, and I’ve learned from each one,” said Ahern. His lighting includes everything from down-lit stairway walls to up-lit bathroom vanities to cans aplenty that showcase his art collection. The most practical: a coat closet light that turns on automatically when you open the door.

Every lighting plan takes into account natural light and that, too, is expanding.

To preview lighting in tomorrow’s new house, look to top-dollar high-rise residential buildings such as the Mandarin Oriental Tower, slated to open in Chicago in 2009. Its lighting contractor, Ken Johnson of Premiere Condominium Technologies in Chicago, will include a light-emitting diode lighting system as an upgrade.

“Instead of a bulb, the LED is a little semiconductor that produces light,” explained Johnson. “It lasts for years, so you don’t change bulbs, and it uses much less electricity than bulbs. Until recently, these weren’t used in residential buildings because they weren’t bright enough and they cost too much. But that’s changing. Now we can use them anywhere we’d use a traditional fixture.”

Also on the horizon, say builders and designers, is a greater use of whole-house, automated lighting controls. ART-Allsmart Residential Technology Inc. in Lake Forest, for example, offers a system that enables the homeowner to pre-set the house’s lighting for “vacation,” “entertainment” or “sleep,” for example, and to control any light from any room so a homeowner can, say, turn off the kids’ bedroom lights from her bedroom. While these systems are too pricey for homeowners of modest means, they are already popular among high-end buyers.

In the meantime, lighting contractors tell home buyers that it costs much less to include lighting during construction than to add it later.

“One thing I’ve learned is to do as much as you can upfront,” said Ahern. “Even then, you will think of something else you left out.”

Chicago Tribune
November 18, 2006
By Allison E. Beatty

Looking for a cozy place to sit and have coffee in the morning? Consider adding a morning room to your new house.

Want a small cubbyhole for your laptop? Try adding a computer niche in the kitchen or loft. There are many ways to carve out charming personal spaces around the house. All it takes is a little square footage and plenty of creativity. In some cases, there is extra space around a staircase landing, between a garage and mudroom or alongside a kitchen or great room.

This approach is particularly important in condominiums, where the space is finite — and often smaller than in a single-family home.

At Shoemaker Lofts in Chicago, for example, the builder offers buyers the option of having a computer niche in a section of the great room. Shoemaker Lofts is at Belmont Avenue and Pulaski Road on the North Side.

“These tech centers were born out of our looking at unused space and recognizing the value of every square inch in these condos,” said Erik Carlson, home finishes manager for the builder, Dubin Residential.

“Home buyers can create a computer area without having to use a bedroom or have a computer sitting in the middle of a great room,” Carlson said.

The spaces, which typically are 5 by 8 feet, can be customized with built-in cabinetry, file drawers and extra wiring. The cost for such upgrades ranges from $3,000 to $5,000.

“Some people will do something very basic and others will put in nice bookcases and a desk with a stone top,” Carlson said.

Loft spaces also are being converted to more specialized uses, depending on the buyers’ needs. Ferris Homes has a model at Liberty Grove in Libertyville with a large loft area that can be finished in several ways.

The floor plan includes a loft and master bedroom at the rear of the house, behind the staircase landing. The other bedrooms are at the front of the house and separated from the master bedroom by the staircase area.

The loft, which is about 7 by 20 feet, provides a transitional space between the secondary bedrooms and master bedroom.

“It has a dramatic feel to it, yet it’s still a private space,” said Pam Albrecht, vice president of sales and marketing for the Northbrook-based builder.

A little cabinetry and creativity can turn that open space into a bill-paying area, a home office or a study area for children.

“It’s a really nice spot that could be put to good use,” Albrecht said.

Other unique spaces are born out of areas around staircases. The area underneath a staircase can be used for an extra bathroom or a computer area or children’s playroom, for example.

On a second or third floor, the area around the staircase landing can be used for a home office or study area.

Depending on how much privacy is desired, a niche could be outfitted with a wall or half-wall to separate the space from the main walkway.

Another popular space option is the “morning room,” a room near the kitchen that is similar to a sunroom. Kimball Hill Homes offers this option at some floor plans in Legend Lakes in McHenry.

The room typically is 16 by 11 feet and is adjacent to the kitchen. This design allows buyers to use the same cabinetry in both rooms, creating continuity. They also can add a countertop overhang between the two spaces for a snack bar area.

“It opens up the kitchen to make it feel larger,” said Ruth Stefl, sales manager for the builder. “Some families will move their breakfast room there to create a much larger breakfast area.”

When adding a morning room, buyers are expanding the floor plan, which costs about an extra $15,000.

While adding space is nice, it is not always practical or affordable. The good news is there are many sitting areas and computer or study niches that can be added in small spaces.

In a kitchen, many buyers like adding a desk along the perimeter or in an alcove near the laundry room. That space can be used for storage, bill-paying or studying.

Many buyers can make do with a 24- to 36-inch desk, cabinetry for storage, extra lighting and an Internet connection. As computer equipment gets smaller and goes wireless, it also reduces the need for large spaces.

The same is true for a great room, where buyers can carve out a small area for a kids’ study area or home office. This space might be alongside a fireplace or near a bank of windows along a back wall.

When buying a new home, look closely at the floor plan. There may be a few opportunities to turn an oversize hallway or odd shaped nook into a more functional space.