Designer Breathes Life Into Her Family’s Historic Home
Take a look inside this lovingly renovated former barn in suburban Chicago
Julie Sheer
July 31, 2019
Houzz Contributor; journalist with more than two decades of experience as a graphics editor and writer at the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune; outdoor guidebook author; lover of all things outdoors, nature and wildlife. Follow me at https://westcentric.wordpress.com/
Houzz Contributor; journalist with more than two decades of experience as a graphics... More
Originally a barn for a Victorian home built in 1895, this house in Glencoe, Illinois, has a storied past. Once home to horses, chickens and cows, the property was subdivided by the owners, who were one of the founding families of the Chicago suburb. The barn was turned into a Colonial-style residence in 1947, had been through various renovations over the years and sat vacant for 18 months before Matt and Jessica Hoenes bought it in 2015. They’re only the third family to live here. The Victorian is still there and occupied by another family. The barn-turned-home’s history appealed to Jessica, who is an interior designer, and the couple began to restore it as soon as they moved in.
House at a Glance
Who lives here: Jessica Hoenes, owner of Found Home & Design; husband Matt; daughter Ellie, 8; son Parker, 5
Location: Glencoe, Illinois
Size: About 2,500 square feet (232 square meters); three bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms
The home’s large vaulted-ceiling family room was what first caught the couple’s eye when they saw the home. During the first phase of renovation, they had the formerly wood-paneled room painted in White Dove from Benjamin Moore, which brightened things up. “It’s a warmer white, but we have natural light so it doesn’t look yellow,” Jessica says.
“It took three years to get where it is, mostly because my husband and I did a lot ourselves,” she says. “We love doing house projects but we do them in spurts.” The couple used Houzz for inspiration, finding professionals and making various purchases, and brought in a general contractor to do the heavy lifting. The result is a home ready for whatever the future may bring. “It’s had renovations that feel timeless and can be passed on to a fourth family,” Jessica says.
Find a local general contractor on Houzz
Who lives here: Jessica Hoenes, owner of Found Home & Design; husband Matt; daughter Ellie, 8; son Parker, 5
Location: Glencoe, Illinois
Size: About 2,500 square feet (232 square meters); three bedrooms, 2½ bathrooms
The home’s large vaulted-ceiling family room was what first caught the couple’s eye when they saw the home. During the first phase of renovation, they had the formerly wood-paneled room painted in White Dove from Benjamin Moore, which brightened things up. “It’s a warmer white, but we have natural light so it doesn’t look yellow,” Jessica says.
“It took three years to get where it is, mostly because my husband and I did a lot ourselves,” she says. “We love doing house projects but we do them in spurts.” The couple used Houzz for inspiration, finding professionals and making various purchases, and brought in a general contractor to do the heavy lifting. The result is a home ready for whatever the future may bring. “It’s had renovations that feel timeless and can be passed on to a fourth family,” Jessica says.
Find a local general contractor on Houzz
Jessica was introduced to their architect, Lesa Rizzolo of L.A. Rizzolo Architects, by their real estate agent, and reviewed her work on Houzz before hiring her. “We used ideabooks to collaborate,” she says. “Lesa helped us with our master bedroom and closet structural design and drew up the plans we eventually used when updating our master bath.”
Jessica loves helping clients with the design of their homes, but working on her own wasn’t as easy. “With a client, we’ll have an ‘aha’ moment and an idea of what a space can become. In my own house, I stare at the same room and have decision paralysis,” she says. “I’m always shopping and looking at things and always have ideas churning. But figuring out what to apply to my own house is difficult.” Jessica says she and her husband used Houzz ideabooks to help with the design process.
How to Create and Use Ideabooks
Jessica loves helping clients with the design of their homes, but working on her own wasn’t as easy. “With a client, we’ll have an ‘aha’ moment and an idea of what a space can become. In my own house, I stare at the same room and have decision paralysis,” she says. “I’m always shopping and looking at things and always have ideas churning. But figuring out what to apply to my own house is difficult.” Jessica says she and her husband used Houzz ideabooks to help with the design process.
How to Create and Use Ideabooks
Before Photo
Before: Wood covered every surface of the family room, from the ceiling to the walls to the floors.
After: The couple kept the original vaulted and beamed ceiling and reconfigured the wall separating the family room from the dining room, shown on the far end of this photo. A new opening was created, along with a half wall between the two spaces.
Many of the furnishings in the family room are from the couple’s previous home, but the beige sectional sofa is new. It’s multifunctional and appeals to Jessica’s desire to switch things up. “I would have loved something more modern, but this is the most family-friendly couch in the universe. I love rooms where I can tweak things to make them different. This couch is sometimes two couches, sometimes a chair, and right now it’s a sectional,” she says.
The black French doors with mirrored glass are original to the house but had been removed from another location. The couple got them from the previous owner and installed them as closet doors.
Shop for sectionals on Houzz
Many of the furnishings in the family room are from the couple’s previous home, but the beige sectional sofa is new. It’s multifunctional and appeals to Jessica’s desire to switch things up. “I would have loved something more modern, but this is the most family-friendly couch in the universe. I love rooms where I can tweak things to make them different. This couch is sometimes two couches, sometimes a chair, and right now it’s a sectional,” she says.
The black French doors with mirrored glass are original to the house but had been removed from another location. The couple got them from the previous owner and installed them as closet doors.
Shop for sectionals on Houzz
This chair in one corner of the family room is a glider from their daughter’s nursery when she was a baby. “I would love to find a leather chair so the room isn’t all microfiber,” Jessica says. “Right now we utilize what we have and work toward pieces that are meaningful.” The little side table fulfills that goal. It’s made from a piece of wood from her in-laws’ ranch in Missouri. Jessica added hairpin legs she found online.
Another special item in the family room is this table that Jessica rescued from the side of the road a few years ago. “It was falling apart and in a million pieces and I was determined to get it into my car,” she says. “It was really big, heavy and awkward, but I managed to get it into my car. It was meant to be. I did some repair and brought it back to life. I love that piece.”
This floor plan shows a previous expansion of the kitchen, as well as the walls the couple removed to open up the space.
Before Photo
Before: This was the dining room before walls came down to open up the space to the family room and kitchen. The homeowners worked with general contractor Neil Fortunato of Green Building Technologies for the kitchen and exterior renovations. The window was replaced with a tongue-and-groove wood wall.
After: This view shows the open connection between the dining room and family room, with the half wall providing a bit of separation between the spaces. When the wall was reconfigured, the column had to stay because it was structural; it also helps provide more definition between the rooms.
The dining table from Chicago furniture store Nadeau is solid acacia wood and was the family’s first real furniture purchase, “when we finally moved into an apartment big enough to have a dining table,” Jessica says. “It was something we wanted to keep. We have a lot of memories around that table.” The chairs are leather and the bench on the other side “is great for little ones,” she says.
The dining table from Chicago furniture store Nadeau is solid acacia wood and was the family’s first real furniture purchase, “when we finally moved into an apartment big enough to have a dining table,” Jessica says. “It was something we wanted to keep. We have a lot of memories around that table.” The chairs are leather and the bench on the other side “is great for little ones,” she says.
The couple got creative for the wall opposite the wood wall in the dining room. The lower half of it looks like encaustic tile, but it’s removable wallpaper from Chasing Paper. “It’s peel-and-stick wallpaper my husband put up,” Jessica says. “We got sick of looking at a blank wall and didn’t know what to do. It was an easy and inexpensive way to add texture and character.”
The top of the console table against the wall is marble salvaged when the Victorian home next door was cleared out. “It was old and stained but connects us to the house next door,” Jessica says. The scroll on the wall next to the island is butcher paper, which the family uses for anything from art projects to shopping lists and wrapping paper. “It’s a very highly used feature. If you get a present, it’s likely to be wrapped, colored and drawn on by the kids.”
The top of the console table against the wall is marble salvaged when the Victorian home next door was cleared out. “It was old and stained but connects us to the house next door,” Jessica says. The scroll on the wall next to the island is butcher paper, which the family uses for anything from art projects to shopping lists and wrapping paper. “It’s a very highly used feature. If you get a present, it’s likely to be wrapped, colored and drawn on by the kids.”
This view shows the distinction between the dining room and kitchen. The mirror serves to further open up the space and bring light in from the family room and entryway. “When we made this dining space, we closed up a window, so we wanted to have a mirror to bounce light around,” Jessica says.
The kitchen’s finishes give the space a modern farmhouse appeal. The cabinets were custom-made by previous owners. Jessica and her husband had the upper ones painted in Chantilly Lace and the lower ones in Hale Navy, both from Benjamin Moore.
The kitchen’s finishes give the space a modern farmhouse appeal. The cabinets were custom-made by previous owners. Jessica and her husband had the upper ones painted in Chantilly Lace and the lower ones in Hale Navy, both from Benjamin Moore.
Before Photo
Before: The previous kitchen was usable and had plenty of cabinets, but Jessica felt it was too separated from the rest of the house. “The kitchen as it was actually functioned well,” she says. “It was larger and had more storage, so part of me feels crazy for changing it. It sits in the back of the house and was closed off with a pocket door and a narrow opening, so I felt trapped back there. While everyone was having fun in the rest of the house, here I am trapped in the kitchen.”
After: It was important for the couple to get an open floor plan, so the kitchen was reshaped. “We lost some cabinetry and had some original cabinets repainted. We sacrificed a little space but gained an open plan,” Jessica says.
“Now we have a galley kitchen. Overall what we gained was well worth it. It functions better now day to day, and especially for entertaining,” Jessica says. The couple debated keeping the old kitchen’s peninsula, but ultimately they had a carpenter construct an island from reclaimed wood. “The island functions better for a family,” Jessica says. “I didn’t want it to be too heavy so I designed it to be more airy. The natural wood is a nod to the barn. We used salvaged barn wood to honor where the home came from.”
Jessica has connected with other professionals she found on Houzz to work on client projects for her design business. This includes carpenter Mac Kowalczyk of Greenwood Carpentry. “I unfortunately haven’t been lucky enough to utilize him for my own home,” she says, but she’s worked with him on various built-in, custom paneling and fireplace mantel projects.
Find a local carpenter on Houzz
Jessica has connected with other professionals she found on Houzz to work on client projects for her design business. This includes carpenter Mac Kowalczyk of Greenwood Carpentry. “I unfortunately haven’t been lucky enough to utilize him for my own home,” she says, but she’s worked with him on various built-in, custom paneling and fireplace mantel projects.
Find a local carpenter on Houzz
The door at the other end of the kitchen leads to the pantry. It’s an antique from Rebuilding Exchange in Chicago, which takes donated building items, including salvaged wood, doors, windows and vintage lighting fixtures. The bench next to it was in the original kitchen and now hides a radiator.
The family gained a mudroom when they took away space in the kitchen. “It cut into the kitchen, but it’s so useful in Chicago winters,” Jessica says. The room has a chalkboard wall, brick floors and a stackable washer and dryer brought up from the basement.
The back door is new. It’s a solid oak Dutch door with the interior side stained and the exterior painted in Soot from Benjamin Moore.
The powder room was updated with a Delta champagne bronze fixture, new mirror and sconces. The walls are wallpapered in Cow Parsley by Cole & Son. The pedestal sink and pocket door were existing.
In the entry, the homeowners replaced the front door with a Dutch door and stained the door’s interior. The carpeting on the stairs was in bad shape, so the couple removed it and painted the stairway risers Hale Navy from Benjamin Moore.
Making a left from the home’s foyer brings you into a playroom for the kids.
Making a left from the home’s foyer brings you into a playroom for the kids.
Before Photo
Before: This is what the playroom looked like when the family moved in. The previous owners were using it as a living room. Jessica and Matt plan on returning it to that use, but for now it’s perfect for children. “We don’t have a finished basement, and with two small kids, it functions as a place to store toys and a big open space for play,” Jessica says.
After: The space got an update with new windows and paint and a makeover for the fireplace. The mantel is original and was given a fresh coat of paint. “Since this was originally a barn converted to a house, there aren’t a lot of ornate details with the millwork, so we thought it was important to keep the original mantel,” Jessica says. She did the tilework on the surround herself.
Accent paint: Web Gray, Sherwin-Williams; wall paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore
Accent paint: Web Gray, Sherwin-Williams; wall paint: White Dove, Benjamin Moore
There’s plenty of space in the room for games and wall space to display artwork. Jessica got some of the furniture from Craigslist and painted it. The room through the French doors is an office.
Jessica calls this big beige-and-white floor pillow a “love sack” that can be shaped in multiple ways. “You can even shape it like a canoe. The kids love playing on it. It’s a twin bed for friends and cousins when they stay over. We wanted something to sit on in there and didn’t want to block the room with furniture.”
Jessica calls this big beige-and-white floor pillow a “love sack” that can be shaped in multiple ways. “You can even shape it like a canoe. The kids love playing on it. It’s a twin bed for friends and cousins when they stay over. We wanted something to sit on in there and didn’t want to block the room with furniture.”
Before Photo
Before: This is the former den, which the family now uses as an office and guest room. It had carpeting, which Jessica calls “kind of a disaster.” There was cork tile under the carpet, which was in poor shape and had to be ripped out. The family did it themselves with the help of a 10-year-old nephew. They installed wood laminate, a more economical option than solid wood.
After: This is a view from the updated office into the playroom. Jessica had all the existing wood-paneled walls painted white except this one, which became an accent wall papered with a tree-patterned peel-and-stick wallpaper.
The office desk and chair are positioned between two tall windows that provide plenty of natural light. The window trim is painted Web Gray from Sherwin-Williams.
This white cabinet in the office looks like a built-in but is actually a Murphy bed with a queen mattress that pulls down for guests.
Get Ideas on How and Where to Tuck In a Murphy Bed
Get Ideas on How and Where to Tuck In a Murphy Bed
This drawing shows the second-level floor plan and how the homeowners gained a new master bathroom and space for a large walk-in closet by eliminating a small bedroom.
All of the bedrooms are upstairs. Back when the home was a barn, there was a hayloft where the bedrooms are now.
The couple’s 5-year-old son’s bedroom includes a vintage dresser the couple painted. His twin bed used to belong to his sister. The decorative moose above the dresser lights up; the triangle pattern on the wall was made using stick-on decals.
The couple’s 5-year-old son’s bedroom includes a vintage dresser the couple painted. His twin bed used to belong to his sister. The decorative moose above the dresser lights up; the triangle pattern on the wall was made using stick-on decals.
The paddle above the bookcase is a salvaged piece. It had been set out for trash when Matt’s mother found it, and Jessica added a hook to it for her son’s superhero capes and robe.
This bathroom that the children and guests use is original to the home. The couple kept the tub and plumbing and added a medicine cabinet. The tilework incorporates a mix of patterns: basket weave on the floor, subway tile set horizontally on the walls and in a herringbone pattern in the shower.
In the daughter’s bedroom, the white trim and ceiling stand out against dusty pink walls painted in Memorable Rose by Sherwin-Williams. A few years ago, after her twin bed moved over to her brother’s room, her dad built her a bunkbed with a nook below. “It’s a great-sized room,” Jessica says. “We came up with the loft idea and my husband built it in a weekend. She loves the reading nook underneath.” When her daughter gets too tall to stand up in the nook, Jessica foresees perhaps a built-in platform bed to replace it.
The daughter’s sizable room has a little workspace with a desk and chair, which were salvaged by Matt’s mother decades ago from an old school that was being rehabbed; Matt used them himself when he was a child.
The daughter’s sizable room has a little workspace with a desk and chair, which were salvaged by Matt’s mother decades ago from an old school that was being rehabbed; Matt used them himself when he was a child.
Many of the furnishings in the daughter’s room will work for her as she gets older, like this repurposed dresser and storage unit. This is a vintage find that Jessica painted. The hutch is removable and the bottom piece was used as a changing table when the kids were babies.
Before Photo
Before: Here’s a look at the master bedroom before it gained its big walk-in closet. The accordion doors to the old closet were removed and an entry door added to what was formerly a fourth bedroom.
After: The master bedroom gained a little space and the new closet. When they first toured the house, the couple were concerned the room might be too small for their king bed. By removing the accordion partition to the old closet, they were able to center the bed on that wall. The entry to the new walk-in closet is next to the bed.
To give the room a little more character, the couple painted a piece of wood paneling left over from the dining room in Soot by Benjamin Moore and installed it behind the bed. They added a board on top and rounded the edges to create a photo ledge and place for decor.
To give the room a little more character, the couple painted a piece of wood paneling left over from the dining room in Soot by Benjamin Moore and installed it behind the bed. They added a board on top and rounded the edges to create a photo ledge and place for decor.
Before Photo
Before: This is the master bathroom that previous owners added sometime in the 1990s. “It was lovely but needed a face-lift and there was an issue with waterproofing in the shower,” Jessica says. After the first phase of the remodel, the couple waited about two years before updating the master bath.
After: They got rid of the big bathtub (at left in the previous photo) and replaced it with a large shower, and they created the arched cove above the vanity. “They’d done the heavy lifting, getting plumbing in the right spot. We updated it and gave ourselves a walk-in shower,” Jessica says. The couple saved money by doing the demolition themselves, and they repurposed most of the old materials. “We found homes for any usable material, even down to nice pieces of wood. We tried to reduce as much waste as possible,” Jessica says.
Before and After: 6 Bathrooms That Said Goodbye to the Tub
Before and After: 6 Bathrooms That Said Goodbye to the Tub
Here’s that spacious walk-in shower, which got subway tile on the walls and hexagonal tiles on the floor. “We kept it classic with the shower tile,” Jessica says. “By using oversized subway tiles with some texture, it captures light throughout the day in different ways and has a wavy texture that’s nice. It was another way to save on the budget.”
The new vanity and cement tile floor give the master bath modern rustic appeal. “We splurged on the vanity, plumbing and floor and kept the shower tile simple. We were able to reuse pocket doors and lighting fixtures. There was some give and take in order to stay on budget,” Jessica says.
She expects the floor to age gracefully. “We wanted to do cement tile and pull in a lot of pattern. As that ages, even in a few years, the white starts to patina and you’ll see the qualities of the cement,. We want to make it look like it could have been there originally in the house.”
Floor tile: Cement Tile Shop
She expects the floor to age gracefully. “We wanted to do cement tile and pull in a lot of pattern. As that ages, even in a few years, the white starts to patina and you’ll see the qualities of the cement,. We want to make it look like it could have been there originally in the house.”
Floor tile: Cement Tile Shop
Here’s a closer look at the vanity and mirrors. The couple used Behr’s Poppy Seed for the dark wall.
Before Photo
Before: This is what the house looked like in 2015, when the front porch was enclosed. From 1947 to 1990, the home had an open porch with iron columns. Previous owners had the porch screened in.
After: The new owners worked with their general contractor to open up the porch and replace the door and all the windows. The house had been painted blue, so they had it repainted to its original white.
Since most of the home’s outdoor space is in the front, they had a patio put in. Matt created a pathway using rocks from his parents’ property in Missouri. He also built the patio table.
Since most of the home’s outdoor space is in the front, they had a patio put in. Matt created a pathway using rocks from his parents’ property in Missouri. He also built the patio table.
When the porch was opened up, it exposed handsome molding around the front door. The couple painted the door in Benjamin Moore’s Soot.
The old iron columns on the porch are now encased in cedar.
Photo from Jessica Hoenes
A playhouse for the kids is a miniature version of the family’s home. Jessica says she loves how their home works for her family, and isn’t just set up to look pretty. “I love that we’re preserving a piece of history in the community and making it a cozy, functional place to raise our children.”
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My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
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A playhouse for the kids is a miniature version of the family’s home. Jessica says she loves how their home works for her family, and isn’t just set up to look pretty. “I love that we’re preserving a piece of history in the community and making it a cozy, functional place to raise our children.”
See more of this home
My Houzz is a series in which we visit and photograph creative, personality-filled homes and the people who inhabit them. Share your home with us and see more projects.
More on Houzz
See other home tours
Find an interior designer
Shop for home products
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I am so behind on my “Houzz chores”.....100% love this project!!!
Saving, saving, saving ... my new favourite Houzz story.
I love what you've done with your house and contractor. Your decisions are so thoughtful and pretty and tasteful. Can I hire you? Everything is sweet and warm and heartfelt. I especially like the decisions you made with the front door, patio area - that could not have been easy. Enjoy it all. We just moved into a new house that lends itself the some beautiful changes, but we need help. It's not easy to find someone who has a similar vision and someone you can trust.