Logan Square Home

On this project, we aimed to take the traditional gabled frame house found throughout the neighborhood and give it a modern interpretation, with large scale, offset windows, a vibrant paint color, horizontal wood fencing, and corrugated steel accents. The home was built with a slab on grade foundation that minimized costs and allowed for a durable concrete floor with radiant heating on the main floor. On the interior, it incorporates a Scandinavian design in its use of materials and color palette, with blonde maple accents and white simple cabinetry.

The size was kept modest, for the area, at 900 square feet per floor, with 3 bedrooms and 2.5 baths. The first floor consists of an open kitchen/dining/living room that transitions smoothly to an outdoor composite deck and back yard. The small, functional backyard includes a lower deck and large upper balcony, along with a concrete patio and a maintenance free lawn of artificial turf. The front portion of the home is reserved for what we call the "flex" room as it provides multiple functions, including play room, exercise room, formal dining room, or guest room as the need arises.

Upstairs houses the bedrooms with the front portion consisting of a larger bedroom shared by two children at the front of the house, another central bedroom for one child, a full bath, and a laundry area. The rear of the second floor houses a nicely sized master bedroom complete with a functional home office in the entrance corridor. The master bedroom employs a cathedral ceiling furnished with a custom milled and finished OSB ceiling. The detached garage is a simple frame structure finished with galvanized metal siding traditionally used for rural pole barns, requiring very little maintenance and a striking appearance.

The materials employed throughout the home are standard off the shelf products that were tweaked and manipulated in creative, modern ways. This gives the home its custom style, while keeping the budget manageable - an inspiration developed through years of reading Dwell.