Whole-Home
Winnetka Family-Room Addition
Location
Winnetka, IL
Completed
2023
Duration
9 months
Budget
$510,000
Scope
What we built
First-floor expansion adding 720 sq ft of family room and mudroom, combined with a full kitchen remodel and reconfigured stair to the second floor. Steel moment frames carry a 22-foot opening between kitchen and family room.
The Petersons had outgrown the cramped original kitchen and wanted a true family room — something the 1958 split-level had never offered. The challenge: their lot left only 14 feet of buildable side yard.
We worked with the village zoning department on a non-conforming variance, then designed an addition that reads as if it were always part of the house. The new family room sits on a raised stone foundation that matches the original masonry exactly.
Inside, custom millwork unifies the kitchen, mudroom and family room. The kids drop their backpacks, the dogs come in through their own door, and the cooking actually happens where the family is.
"Our project was complicated. Variances, structural steel, two old chimneys we wanted preserved. James walked us through every decision in plain English. Our home is finally the house we'd been imagining for ten years."
— The Peterson Family, Winnetka