The colonial at 725 College Place in Highland Park could be the set for any sitcom centered around an upper-middle-class family.
Note the convenient circular drive, the neatly landscaped lawn, the 2-foot hedge on either side of a central front door along the front of the home, the light-red brick base topped by a light-gray aluminum-sided second floor. The house is surrounded by similar-sized, well-kept homes in the community locally known as the Highlands, said Adele Bensinger, a real estate agent with Baird & Warner. It went on the market two weeks ago at $349,000.
This corner lot home was built on about 1/2-acre in 1962. The owners have updated the decor (from the avocado green and burnt orange hues of that era), with new carpet and fresh paint, Bensinger said. They also have added a new dishwasher, refrigerator, off-white vinyl floor and white counters to the kitchen.
The central front door opens to a black slate floor entryway that takes you past a white-carpeted stairway on the left and the 22-by-14 living room on the right.
The oak-floored living room is painted bright white. A large window-about 7 feet wide-offers a view of the front yard.
At the end of the slate walkway bordering the living room, you can either go through a doorway to the 24-by-13 family room or veer left past a coat closet and half bathroom to the dining room beyond.
The family room also has an oak floor as well as wood paneled walls. An off-white brick fireplace with a raised hearth is set in the room`s north wall. The entire east wall is taken up with an over-sized patio door that leads to an 18-by-25 concrete patio, which covers half of the private, fenced- in side yard.
Opposite the patio doors is a set of wood French doors that open to an 10-by-8 eating area and 13-by-9 kitchen combination. The room has plain wood cabinets, a five-shelf pantry, a U-shaped kitchen and sink workspace and two doorways in addition to the family room entrance.
The first doorway leads to an 18-by-10 room that Bensinger describes as a play room, although it has the hookups to be a large utility room. There`s a white vinyl tile floor and 2 feet of dark paneling at the base of the walls, which are painted white above a chair rail. There`s a door to the narrow back yard, a door to the 2 1/2-car garage and a door to a small unfinished basement.
The second doorway in the kitchen leads to a 15-by-12 dining room, featuring an oak floor and white and slate-blue floral wallpaper. Three windows look out on the front yard.
The dining room has a doorway to the slate walkway, which winds around to the stairway ascending to the second floor. Besides its new white carpeting-also found in several of the bedrooms-the hall features a double-sliding-door linen closet and a full bathroom.
On the east side of the bathroom is a 17-by-13 master bedroom with a private full bathroom.
The bedroom is painted putty color and has a walkway that passes the door to a large walk-in closet en route to a bathroom with white ceramic tile on the floor and halfway up the wall. White stucco covers the rest of the wall and ceiling.
Adjacent to the master bedroom is a 14-by-13 bedroom with speckled blue and green carpeting and medium blue-painted walls. Two sets of double-sliding- doors open to one long closet.
The blue bedroom is next to a basic 12-by-11 bedroom-with white walls and carpeting-that is immediately to the right of the stairway. On the left side of the stairs is a 17-by-12 bedroom with light gray-painted walls and white carpeting.
Just across the hall is the last bedroom, 14-by-9 feet, which also has white walls and carpeting.
Altogether, it`s a clean-cut kind of place that would handily accommodate a `90s Beaver Cleaver clan.
