When it comes to decking out the domicile, there seems to be a little Martha Stewart in a lot of us.
From swimming pools and tennis courts to flower gardens and plastic pink flamingos, it’s those personal touches that add comfort and character to the home.
“Homeowners are able to express their individuality and reflect who they are. They would like their home to reflect their lifestyle and not look like everybody else’s,” said Virginia Parsons, sales manager for custom-home builder Spring Acres Hills in Dundee Township.
Popular amenities these days are game rooms, offices, hot tubs and steam showers, Parsons said.
Then there are those unusual accouterments not always found in a catalog or on the builder’s list of options. Through creative thinking, some northwest suburban homeowners have managed to embellish their property in interesting and novel ways.
And by adding a rooftop observatory or a basement bowling alley, these homeowners are creating a place that is truly their own.
In 1987, George Guritz decided he wanted to do something with the huge basement space in his 9,600-square-foot Long Grove home, which he and his wife, Georgeanne, had built four years earlier.
It had one particularly long area, so a bowling alley seemed to be a suitable use.
“I’ve bowled once a week for 22 years and I average between 174 and 185 a game,” said Guritz, 49, a stockbroker who just started his own firm, Shepherd Financial, out of his Long Grove home. “I also thought it might be a neat thing for parties and family functions. When my family gets together, we always seemed to go bowling.”
The search was on.
Guritz hooked up with Ken-Pin, a Richmond company that specializes in finding equipment for setting up bowling alleys. Ken-Pin located the ball return and pinsetters that used to be in an old alley somewhere along U.S. Highway 12. It also found the lanes at a local American Legion post.
But the basement wasn’t quite long enough to accommodate the 100 feet needed for the alley: 16 feet for the approach, 60 feet for the two lanes and the balance for the mechanical equipment. So Guritz dug under his garage floor for the needed space.
Because the basement ceiling is 10 feet high, Guritz was able to install the angled, lighted ceiling panels exactly like those in a bowling alley.
When finished, the gleaming maple wood lanes, circa 1955, complemented his ’50s motif basement area, which includes a vintage Coke machine and Wurlitzer jukebox.
The alley also is equipped with some 30 pairs of bowling shoes, more than 30 balls and a ball polishing machine.
Guritz, the father of two daughters, ages 4 and 10, said the lanes and equipment cost around $30,000 but said the decorating and custom carpentry added a “substantial amount” to that.
While Guritz might be enjoying some moonlight bowling, John Hipsky is surely gazing toward the stars at his house.
When Hipsky and his wife, Loxia, began reviewing blueprints for their proposed 10,000-square-foot Barrington home situated on 14 acres, they knew they had to include a spot for his telescope. An avid astronomer since childhood, Hipsky felt an observatory would be the perfect amenity for the house. Plus, he was tired of lugging the scope onto the patio each time he wanted to inspect the heavens.
“It kind of takes you out of your everyday environment. It gives you the feeling there is more to life than commuting to Chicago,” said Hipsky, who estimates he has invested at least $15,000 on the equipment and materials.
The result is a tower capped by a special dome that juts up from the attic, above the roof peaks, measuring 47 feet above the ground, said Hipsky.
The piering and other wood in the observatory were dampened for vibrations by a plastic used by NASA for the same purpose on the space shuttle. The slightest movement can change the picture by “millions of miles,” Hipsky said.
Inside the observatory, red Christmas tree lights are strategically placed to provide some light but not affect the ability to see through the telescope, he said.
The dome, reached by climbing a narrow set of stairs, has a retractable panel on top and can rotate 360 degrees.
A door in the structure leads to an outdoor deck that allows inspection of the entire sky, a view not possible through the opening in the dome.
Currently, Hipsky has a telescope with an 8-inch diameter lens, but he will soon add one with a 20-inch lens that will be capable of picking up Pluto. With that new equipment, Hipsky can wire it to remote control and cable so he can watch the skies from his television.
The sight of the observatory has created confusion for some passersby, said Hipsky, who has six children.
“Some people have thought that we were Muslim. Or that we were a mosque,” said Hipsky, a former battery corporation engineer who now owns a battery-distribution firm and a company that sells concentrated, liquid iced tea. “But it’s really enjoyable for having parties or a few folks over.”
Itasca resident Susan Capps also enjoys inviting people over to her house and does it about once a week. So the installation of a state-of-the-art home theater and audio system couldn’t have been more appropriate. “I entertain a lot. It’s nice for me to be able to select the music I want and not worry about it.”
In the viewing room, a cabinet full of electronic components includes a laser disc player, two videocassette players and stereo equipment. The system is wired to the 53-inch television and surround-sound speakers in the room and at four other monitors around the house. Several other speakers in the house, including four built into what appear to be rocks placed around the outdoor pool, are also integrated.
Control pads have been placed on walls in various spots in the house for remote operation. The system allows for simultaneous operation of the various machines, so the Capps’ two kids-a 4-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter-can watch a movie in the family room while the adults view a program in the viewing room and music plays somewhere else.
Capps said her husband, Richard, wanted the large-screen TV to watch golf. She was more interested in the music.
The Capps’ system was designed and installed by ISR Inc. of Naperville, which creates “intelligent electronic environments,” according to ISR president Keith Rich.
Equipment similar to the Capps’ can run between $35,000 and $45,000. But there are more elaborate systems that far exceed that price tag, he said.
Dressing up one northwest suburban couple’s home involved almost no gadgetry, just the talent of a local artist and some ingenuity on the part of the homeowners.
Last September, Crystal Lake artist Nancy Williamson completed painting a trompe l’oeil mural around the walls of the couple’s indoor pool.
The mural style, which translates literally to “fool of the eye,” gives the illusion of continuing space, according to Williamson.
To provide a suitable surface for the humid conditions, special wallboard was installed. From there, Williamson, with the help of artist friend Lynda Wallis of Island Lake, used chalk lines and a special tape to “draw” the picture to ensure she would maintain the proper perspective.
Then, using acrylic paint, Williamson began working on the rendering of the Mediterranean villa. In a quick three weeks, she had finished painting the mural, which covers two walls, 7 by 26 feet and 7 by 24 feet, of the walk-out basement.
The artwork makes the villa appear to continue past the narrow walkways around the pool. Soft pastels and earthen tones are pepped up by the bright colors of roses and other flowers and the blue of the sea. Included in the mural are the couple’s three children and dog.
