How do you define 'escape'?
Perhaps a space that provides a sense of peace rather than duty
[Chicago Final Edition]
Chicago Tribune - Chicago, Ill.
Date: May 16, 2004
Section: Second Homes
Text Word Count: 1106
Document Text
Special section. Second Homes: A guide to vacation, retirement and rental properties.
Your primary residence may be where your heart is, but it's also where mail clutters the dining room table and crab
grass infests your lawn.
Vacation homes, on the other hand, remove you from the routine and hassles of everyday life. They omit the dining
room altogether, swap wall-to-wall carpeting for a sweepable floor, and provide a sense of peace instead of duty.
"It's definitely about the land people have acquired -- something in the landscape," said Christopher Patano of
Seattle-based Patano+Hafermann Architects. "Occupying it with construction is a means to an end, a way to be in that
place."
Evanston resident and interior designer Maura O'Mahoney and her extended family have found respite in the nostalgic
atmosphere of a beach community one hour's drive from downtown Chicago.
"All of us could go all at once. Most of the cottages are set up with a big kitchen and dining spaces. You don't need a
car. Once you're there, people pull wagons to the beach. There's an ice cream sandwich shop near the pool and parks
for the kids," O'Mahoney said.
After renting cottages at Beachwalk Resort Community in Michigan City, Ind., O'Mahoney, her husband and their
parents decided to split a mortgage to finance the building of their own home and coach house within the development.
To offset the cost, the three families will rent the two houses -- 4,000 square feet in all -- when not vacationing there.
One-third of second-home owners use their property for investment purposes or as an income-producing vehicle,
according to a 2002 National Association of Realtors survey.
Though each family lives within close proximity, they still wanted a getaway to spend time together.
"I live in a ranch. The bedrooms are right off the kitchen. You have to tiptoe around after the baby goes to sleep,"
O'Mahoney said of her primary residence. In contrast, the house at Beachwalk, with a porch, great room and kitchen all
unfettered by partitions or walls, will allow a sense of freedom. "There, you can be loud. Our kids can run, screaming
back and forth. You don't have to be quiet."
David Hovey, president of Optima Inc., a Glencoe-based designer and developer, confirms that primary residences
divide a certain percentage of square footage into fixed, well-defined spaces. Vacation homes' more fluid space has
advantages: a luxurious connection to views and more direct communication between residents. Or more screaming.
"There's almost space without walls, [except for] a wall around the bedroom and bath," Hovey said. "The entire space is
open and is an informal lifestyle versus a set of rooms that are functionally subdivided."
Architects add that the style of a vacation home often recalls the past. "They want the house that their grandmother
had," says Fred Stelle, of Stelle Architects, Bridgehampton, N.Y. "That's where the historical fantasizing comes into
play. It's not manicured, but sophisticated -- in a way that the Kennedys playing softball is sophisticated. They're not
afraid of running in scuffed Topsiders."
Colin Craig, O'Mahoney's husband and an architect, designed his family's Beachwalk vacation home, observing the
development's design code, reminiscent of Seaside, Fla., with prescribed setbacks, colors and design attributes. Craig,
who sympathizes with the Modernist movement, abstracted one facade of the house while adding a widow's walk as a
means of tying the house to the traditional design of the development. Beachwalk demands a "cottagey" feel.
O'Mahoney plans a white slipcovered look for the home's interior with crisp pale blue walls offset by white trim. "It's that
idyllic cottage feel. My house in Evanston is just small. I can't wait to have the sense of open space out there," she said.
Seattle architect Patano doesn't buy into the historicist approach. "We try to get behind a conversation about style by
linking the structure to the landscape through a view," he explained. "Our aim is to make an architectural mood that
[clients] only thought they could get in the one style they had in mind." Cement boards clad the exterior of one Patano
vacation retreat and maple panels line its interior walls. The client originally envisioned a lavender, country-chic
aesthetic.
Patano added that vacation homes are typically smaller than primary residences because fewer days of the year are
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spent there and typical indoor activities are enjoyed outdoors. A fireplace and "living room" may be outside, for example.
Providing discrete sleeping quarters for separate parties becomes a practical consideration. Craig and O'Mahoney's
house and coach house, with seven bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths between them, will serve their families and renters with
different zones for sleeping.
"Some people like a guest house, or, if a condo, two master bedrooms that are isolated," said Hovey. "It's hard to have
guests and fit them into a secondary bedroom," particularly when it comes to privacy and bathroom use, he said.
Kent DeReus, managing principal of design for Bannockburn-based Orren Pickell, a designer and builder of custom
homes and cottages, said that bedrooms tucked under dormers for children leverage space to create coziness.
Security becomes another concern when multiple parties use a vacation home, DeReus said. He often includes a large,
lockable closet in the downstairs hallway or upstairs so owners can stash personal items or valuables.
Materials that are easy to clean may still be luxurious. If it's in the primary residence, something similar will often be
specified for vacation homes, which regularly incorporate granite counters and Viking stoves.
"It's all about materials that can handle lots of people, dogs and sand and not be marked up," Patano said. Concrete
flooring can perform well, he added. DeReus' designs have incorporated reclaimed, distressed wood planks as flooring,
which only increase in character through heavy use.
O'Mahoney and Craig specified terrazzo for the kitchen countertops, Hardiplank -- a concrete-based, synthetic wood
siding - - for the exterior siding of her family's Beachwalk home, and beadboard paneling for the bathrooms and
high-traffic areas.
"If it gets scraped, it's easy to replace a panel," she said. Beachwalk's housekeeping services will clean the properties
when renters come and go, and the office has a spare key should you inadvertently leave yours at home.
[Illustration]
PHOTOS 3; Caption: PHOTO (color): Two-year-old Jack walks toward his mom, Maura O'Mahoney (at right on the
blanket) and friends in Michigan City, Ind., where Maura, husband Colin Craig and their parents are building a home.
PHOTOS: The Beachwalk development in Michigan City, Ind., is reminiscent of Seaside, Fla. At left, Maura O'Mahoney
and husband Colin Craig walk the Beachwalk lot where their home will be built. Photos for the Tribune by Warren
Skalski.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibi ted without permission.
Abstract (Document Summary)
Two-year-old Jack walks toward his mom, [Maura O'Mahoney] (at right on the blanket) and friends in Michigan City,
Ind., where Maura, husband [Colin Craig] and their parents are building a home. The Beachwalk development in
Michigan City, Ind., is reminiscent of Seaside, Fla. At left, Maura O'Mahoney and husband Colin Craig walk the
Beachwalk lot where their home will be built.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibi ted without permission.
