Oak Park indigenous Laura Christensen and her partner, Mark, constructed their desire house for the duration of the pandemic on a spectacular parcel of wooded land adjacent to the Cantigny Golfing Program in Wheaton. The Arts and Crafts-fashion masterpiece they developed hearkens back again to Laura’s youthful activities in Oak Park, the position where by Frank Lloyd Wright and other exceptional architects experimented.
“We experienced lived in Wheaton for 30 decades and needed to build the home we had been building in our minds for many years — and do it on a huge parcel of property considering the fact that I am a landscape architect and preferred area to plant and get pleasure from,” Laura claims.
The couple and their developing crew hit that mark and other people.
“Also, considering the fact that I grew up to enjoy excellent architecture as art, I recognize that we are certainly dwelling in a piece of artwork,” she suggests.
Prior to the residence was created, Laura stumbled upon a “for sale by operator” indication on residence bounded on two sides by the Cantigny Golf Program. Just before extensive, the pair was capable to purchased it and yet another great deal upcoming doorway, assembling 4.5 acres of top quality assets.
“We finished up with a Wisconsin escape house with out having to go away town!” she recollects.
“I cherished the clean up strains, amazing woodwork, major home windows and other details inherent in a Craftsman household. I actually take into consideration this style of home to be the quintessential ‘homey, cozy home’ and wished to establish one particular,” Laura states.
Once they had the land, they moved ahead to assemble a collaborative group of gurus to make it a reality and, luckily, experienced requested most of the materials they needed prior to COVID strike, making constructing supplies additional scarce. Mike Sparks of Sparks Architects Inc. of Elmhurst created the dwelling, Brad Drendel of Brad Drendel Builders Inc. of Naperville was the builder and Joan Kaufman of Interior Scheduling and Design and style Inc. in Naperville did the interior style.

























“The team built the Christensen residence from the ground up, starting off in September 2020 and it took about a year to comprehensive,” Kaufman suggests.
The unbelievable 4,200-sq.-foot residence capabilities a first-flooring master suite a spectacular, cathedral-ceilinged family space with a stone fireplace flanked by window seats and topped by assertion-producing ceiling rafters a pretty condition-of-the-art kitchen area showcasing alder cupboards and beautiful Versailles-patterned tile get the job done a gentle-stuffed 3-season space from which to take pleasure in Laura’s gardens and substantially far more, together with a basement wine room.

The kitchen area features a hanging blue agate backsplash on the array and blue Alaska granite countertops.
– Courtesy of Chip Haines Images & Pictures
Exceptional touches abound in the property, this kind of as a kitchen countertop with a dwell edge prime produced from a large, 120-year-aged oak the owners ended up compelled to reduce down from the residence a custom wooden dining booth in the kitchen, built by Metropolis-Residing Structure in Chicago custom made artwork glass cabinet doorways in the kitchen, designed by Kaufman and fabricated by Alpine Stained Glass in Plainfield a
placing blue agate backsplash more than the array and blue Alaska granite counter tops Arts and Crafts-model mullioned windows through and a porcelain kitchen area ground with tumbled edges, manufactured to look like serious stone.
“Tons of small mother-and-pop enterprises in the Chicago space had been aspect of the procedure and we appreciated that,” Kaufman says.
The overall construction process was all about element and nature due to the fact Laura, as a landscape designer, is heavily interested in health and wellness, Kaufman adds. Only nontoxic and no-VOC products ended up selected and all of the cupboards were left in a climate-controlled warehouse to “off-gas” for a month right before being set up in the home. Tile was put in on the ground of the kitchen area to far better keep up to the Christensens canine. William Morris mother nature layouts appear on drapes, pillows and even on the stairway runner.
Even the bogs are hanging with the grasp tub featuring a cost-free-standing soaker tub and a roomy stall shower with a huge sheet of colorful quartzite as its again wall.
“The Christensens let our workforce design and style every thing, from the huge photograph down to minutiae like the knobs on each individual cupboard door,” says Kaufman. “We pooled our resources and awareness to make this residence exclusive and the Christensens totally like it.”
Laura Christensen concurred. “We are emotion like the house turned out even much better than we envisioned. A team of us contributed our special expertises and established a excellent dwelling,” she claims. “It is so tranquil right here and we really feel like we are living outdoors, even when we are inside our house.”
