From the rear, 6501 Scott Lane in Crystal Lake looks like a towering, expensive three-story cedar-sided home on an expansive lawn.
From the front, it appears to be a small one-story contemporary on a corner lot.
On the inside, however, the home is actually somewhere between the two exterior images. There`s the standard number of rooms for a typical, middle-class suburban house, yet the home`s open design gives you the feeling of being in an enormous space.
The 5-year-old home, which is on the market for $214,900, is located on a quarter-acre lot in Laurel Estates, a hilly subdivision on the eastern edge of Crystal Lake. The home is one of several contemporary houses in a neighborhood filled with ranches, split levels and colonials.
The entrance to this home is rather modest. The front sidewalk leads past a 2 1/2-car garage to a set of blue steel insulated doors, which real estate agent Sue Orton said are known for their energy-saving capacity and security. Orton was sitting in for listing agent Mary Jayne Williamson during an open house Sunday.
Inside the front doors is a two-story entryway, painted white and aglow with natural light from two 8-foot windows above the doors.
Across the beige and white vinyl tile floor is an open stairway to the second floor. Left of the stairway is a hall to the kitchen and bedrooms, while to the right through a wide, 12-foot-high doorway is the 15-by-23 living room.
Cathedral ceiling
A white fan hangs from the cathedral ceiling in the living room, which is painted white and has beige carpeting-like almost every room in the home. The only color accent is the reddish stained pine trim around the floor and windows.
On the west wall is a brown brick fireplace, which has an indent in the hearth for firewood storage. But the most striking thing about the room is the abundant natural light.
”Almost every way you look, you can see out the windows,” Orton noted.
Long windows do seem to be everywhere: two facing the front yard; one on either side of the fireplace; and an oversized set of sliding glass doors that lead out onto a wood deck that runs the length of the home.
These glass doors are several feet from a second set of sliding doors, in the 12-by-12 dining room that branches off of the living room.
The dining room is completely open to an 11-by-16 kitchen, which features a beige vinyl floor, center island/breakfast bar with two stools, and, by the sink, three windows that offer a view of the back yard. There also are beige counters, oak cabinets and a ceiling fan.
Between the dining room and kitchen is a short walkway with a door to the partially finished basement, where the main room has a concrete floor and two sets of glass sliding doors to a wood patio beneath the deck.
The basement also has a long storage and workroom area as well as a full bathroom with a toilet, cabinet, sink and whirlpool tub.
Going back upstairs and continuing on the walkway out of the kitchen area, you wind up in the hall that branches off the entryway. The hall leads to a 6-by-8 laundry room, which is adjacent to a full bathroom and a linen closet.
On the other side of that is an 11-by-14 bedroom with a double-folding-door closet. A cartoon character border circles the room at eye level.
A similar bright border decorates the adjacent 12-by-14 bedroom.
Above that second bedroom is a master bathroom with two sinks, a shower stall and a border of decorative beige ceramic tile around the floor.
The bathroom is part of master suite that takes up the entire second floor. At the head of the stairs to the suite is a square hall, with the 12-by-17 master bedroom to the right. A ceiling fan hangs from the bedroom`s vaulted ceiling and a wide window stretches across the south wall.
Across from the bedroom-to the left of the stairs-is a 10-by-11 dressing room/closet, an adequate stash for even the most devoted clotheshorse.
At the end of the hall, between the closet and bathroom, is a doorway to a 9-by-14 den.
