A 1920s Wilmette Abode Is Redone For An Active Family

It isn’t always love at first sight when you find your dream home. Just ask this Illinois couple that purchased a house in Wilmette’s CAGE neighborhood–an area with charming brick homes and Victorians with wraparound porches.

Built in the 1920s–yet renovated in the ’90s–the home needed to be greatly reconfigured. “The layout was a little bit of a quagmire, with a lot of little rooms that didn’t flow together very well,” architect Elissa Morgante recalls. “We turned it back into a center-home Georgian with open and airy rooms that flow into each other.”

The design team filled the interiors with pieces durable enough for the couple’s three children and dog, including a built-in banquette with a live-edge table and various neutral upholstered pieces.

A limestone-and-steel addition with skylights and concealed screens bring light into the back of the home. “On a summer day, the homeowners can lower the screens, and the entire area becomes an outdoor room,” Morgante explains. “They really loved the idea of bringing the light and outdoor space inside.”

For the exterior of the home, the design team added an outdoor kitchen, as well as a bocce court, fire pits and a large heated swimming pool the family uses year-round.

Get a deeper look into the home’s modern-day renovation.