Its acre-and-a-half site attracted Karen and Evan Johns to their Lake Forest home 10 years ago, but today they prefer to spend their leisure time golfing rather than gardening.
”Even with someone else to cut the grass, we have a massive amount of yard work,” said Karen.
In the back yard are two patios and a semi-circle of flower beds that spans the width of the property. Beyond stands of mature trees is an above-ground swimming pool. The family enjoyed many an outdoor activity here but as soon-to-be empty nesters, Karen and Evan are very attracted to the idea of a maintenance-free condominium or townhouse.
Their plans are to get the home in tip-top shape this year and put it on the market, perhaps next spring.
Kate Winburn-Smith, Realtor for Century 21 Country Corners in Lake Forest, recently consulted with Karen on how to maximize the selling price.
The three-bedroom ranch-style home was built in the early 1950s, and a large family room with a fieldstone fireplace was added a decade later. Additional features include a formal dining room with closet, a total of four fireplaces, an eat-in kitchen with pantry and broom closet, 2 1/2 baths, an enclosed sun porch with a boxwood hedge lining one wall, a finished basement, a two-car garage and a circular driveway. Off-white carpeting and dark wood molding flow from room to room.
The Johns have remodeled one bath and plan to re-face the kitchen cabinets. Another pro- ject on their ”To Do” list is to have an exterior corner tuckpointed. Karen is also in the process of papering the kitchen with a muted off-white print.
”You`re definitely headed in the right direction,” Winburn- Smith told her. ”People like to see newness and they like to see neutral colors. They want to feel they can move in, unpack their bags and go to work the next day.”
”Well, good, that makes me happy,” said Karen. ”You never know what other people see that you don`t.”
One of Karen`s concerns is her son`s room, which is highly stylized with posters, collections and other memorabilia. The color scheme is black and white, with red accents. Should they neutralize this room, too? she asked.
”There are two ways of looking at it,” answered the Realtor. ”One is to take it all down and make it more generic, and the other is to leave it. I`d leave it. You can tell this is a younger person`s room. It is neat and well-done.”
”That`s my idea, too,” said Karen. ”Someone will think, `My kid could live in here.` ”
Where she doesn`t have any ideas is for the third bedroom, which doesn`t show with the same sharpness as the rest of the home. Here, the two major pieces of furniture are Evan`s massive wood desk and a day bed covered with a ruffled pale-blue spread. Because the room serves dual roles, as work area and guest room, both pieces must stay. On the floor is a red and blue Oriental rug.
Winburn-Smith thought for a few minutes about how to better tie the decor together and then suggested, ”You could make the day bed more masculine by adding a plaid bedspread in dark colors.”
”You might have hit on something there,” agreed Karen.
The full bath between the second and third bedrooms is obviously older but still attractive, with yellow fixtures and blue ceramic tiles. The Johns plan to re-face the vanity, but Winburn-Smith advised to go one step further and replace the counter as well.
Age-stamped
”This one has an age stamped on it,” she said. ”You`d be amazed what a new white countertop will do to a room.”
The basement, which features a fireplace and full kitchen, is not Karen`s favorite area of the home. Previous owners treated the paneling with a dark mustard-colored stain, which Karen is thinking about covering with an off-white textured wallpaper.
Winburn-Smith cautioned her against putting too much effort or expense into the basement. ”It would be easier just to paint,” she said. ”I`ve seen a lot of homes with very expensive finished basements that don`t sell. People will be attracted to this house because of the size of the property and the price range. In this area, this much property usually means a high-ticket new house.”
