A New Look for an Old Home

Whole-house historic-preservation remodel by Cherrington Design & Building Inc., 400 W. Roosevelt Road, Wheaton, IL 60187, (630) 510-0005

BEFORE

When Tom Cherrington discovered this abandoned American four square–style West Chicago two-flat, built in 1918, he knew it had good bones. On the other hand, it also had substantial water and mold damage. The beauty of the home still shone through, though, and so he decided to buy it himself and hire his own employees to fix the place up. “My goal was to convert the two-flat back into a beautiful and modern single-family home—without affecting the exterior architectural style,” he says.

As with many old houses, the two-flat had numerous small rooms and poorly placed windows. To modernize the interior, Cherrington and his crew removed the wall between the kitchen and dining room, which resulted in a better traffic flow and more airy feeling. Windows were added and rearranged to maximize natural lighting.

The kitchen in particular underwent a transformation. Before, cheap-looking kitchen cabinets were literally falling off their hinges. Now, the raised-panel white cabinetry with brushed-nickel hardware looks both classic and up-to-date. Corian countertops were chosen to softly accent the white cabinets, and the bright white subway tile backsplash adds a final dose of modernity. Once the project was complete, the West Chicago Historical Preservation recognized Cherrington Design for its stellar work on this renovation.