Effortless Escape

In the tradition of the East Coast compound where family gathers with friends for rest and relaxation, this 6,824-square-foot vacation home will beckon its fortunate future owners lakeside with the promise of weekends - or longer - spent enjoying the outdoors. They will find time for boating, strolling manicured grounds, frolicking with their children or grandchildren, or simply conversing with neighbors in one of the Midwest's most desirable settings, Lake Geneva, Wis.

Designed and built as a model home by one of the premier custom builders in northern Illinois, Orren Pickell Designers & Builders, this $3.65 million gem is called the Vacation House Concept House. It establishes the old-world design theme for South Shore Club, Pickell's new 40-home development of luxury secondary homes in a desirable setting where lakefront property rarely becomes available. It's an easy commute from the Chicago and Milwaukee areas, so the builder will be able to attract buyers from both markets.

Pickell envisions this development as a collection of unique European country-style estate homes that will become family heirlooms passed down and enjoyed from one generation to the next. Providing a draw to buyers with busy lifestyles and never enough downtime, South Shore Club will offer homeowners virtually maintenance-free living, from a full-time community concierge to a 5,000-square-foot, multipurpose clubhouse to year-round landscape maintenance.

"The whole point of South Shore Club is to make people feel like they are on vacation," says Anthony Perry, Pickell's vice president of design. "This will be a place where everything is taken care of. The homeowner can literally call ahead and have their refrigerator stocked or one of the boats from the private community yacht club cleaned, fueled and awaiting their arrival with a picnic lunch packed and ready to go.

"The Vacation House demonstrates just what we have in mind for the development in terms of design and quality," Perry says. "It resembles an English country cottage and is elegant but casual at the same time."

All of the materials used for the home's construction, from its stone, stucco and copper-accented exterior to the stained concrete and reclaimed oak plank flooring used throughout the lower level and main floor, were chosen as much for their low maintenance as for their beautiful appearance, Perry says.

"We don't want the homeowners to have to worry about who is coming into their home with sand on their feet," says Perry. "There is no shiny marble used anywhere in this house. And all of these materials will just look better as they wear over time."

With four levels of living space, including a "girls" dormitory in the attic and a finished walk-out basement with a separate "boys" dormitory, pub-style bar and media and game rooms, the four-bedroom, six-bath Vacation House is designed to accommodate numerous overnight guests. "There's room enough in this house to make four families comfortable for a weekend or a week," Perry says.

The main floor is only slightly more formal. The layout eschews a formal living or dining room, opting instead for the combined space of a great room, a dine-in room and an open country kitchen. "This really becomes a suite of rooms in and of itself that is great for entertaining either large or small groups, or for the kids to grab a snack when they come back from the lake," Perry says. "And all three rooms offer a great view of the water."

Perry expects the owners of this home to spend more than just weekends in residence and has designed the main-floor library to function as a formal adult retreat or a home office.

The Vacation House was completed in May 2003 and was featured in the Lake County Tour of Homes; served as the Home Builders Association of Greater Chicago's Concept Home benefiting the not-for-profit Greater Chicagoland Housing Foundation and a local hospital; and was featured in the Lakeland Home Builders Association Parade of Homes.

Style of Home | Old World European
Location | Lake Geneva, Wis.
Total Square Footage | 6,824
Estimated Market Value | $3.65 million
Builder/Architect | Orren Pickell Designers & Builders, Bannockburn, Ill.
Interior Designer | Susan Fredman & Associates Ltd., Northbrook, Ill.
Concept model house for new luxury development

Major Products Used | Appliances: Sub-Zero (refrigerator); Bosch (dishwashers); Viking (range, beverage centers); KitchenAid (microwave); Maytag (washers/dryers) | Countertops: limestone, soapstone, copper | Cabinetry: Wood-Mode | Plumbing Fixtures: Rohl, Kohler, Toto | Doors: custom fir | Home Controls & Automation: Lutron | Lighting: Juno | Windows: Hurd | Exterior: stucco, stone | Roofing: custom slate, copper flashing

To avoid interfering with the lake views offered by nearly every lot in South Shore Club, builder Orren Pickell took advantage of the natural slope of the 41-acre site's topography and opted for a subterranean design for the community's 5,000-square-foot clubhouse.

The clubhouse is built into a berm and oriented toward the water. Its roof serves as the foundation for a ground-level gathering area designed to resemble the ruins of a country farmhouse. Complete with fire ring, seating areas, bocce and croquet courts and an outdoor fireplace, this spot is intended to promote interaction between neighbors and friends.

In addition to a fully functional gourmet kitchen and party space, the clubhouse features lockers for each individual residence, personal wine-cellar storage for homeowners who want to keep bottles from their personal collection in this convenient spot for entertaining, and a 4,000-square-foot, zero-depth pool.

A 14-foot-high wall of glass windows and doors in the clubhouse faces the lake and provides access to the pool terrace.

Dave Heigl, vice president and division manager of CabinetWerks LLC, an Orren Pickell company, says cabinetry can be a real "schedule buster" for a builder, particularly when it fails to arrive on time or is missing key trim elements.

"This can really throw the whole construction schedule off," he says. "Sometimes you don't find out there is a crisis until the house is nearly completed."

Heigl, who began his career working for Pickell as a trim carpenter, says the builder recognized early that missing or incomplete cabinetry was a key area of custom home construction that caused costly delays, so Pickell created his own cabinetry division, which evolved into Lincolnshire, Ill.-based CabinetWerks.

CabinetWerks does about 60% of its business on Pickell-related projects, making up the rest with a mix of clients, including other builders and retail customers.

"A lot of times the problems arise from human error," Heigl says. "It may simply be that the cabinets were not measured or ordered on time. Our ordering is tied into Pickell's scheduling software so that these types of delays have been eliminated for us.

"Pickell was one of the first builders to take the cabinetry element of residential construction under his own control, but today it is becoming more common," Heigl says. "It can really make good business sense."

Heigl researched numerous custom cabinetry suppliers, looking for quality materials and construction as well as reliability. For high-detail areas such as libraries, home theaters and wet bars, the company fabricates its own pieces.

Heigl's mastery is evident in many areas of the Vacation House, including the kitchen, the library and the pub-style bar in the walk-out basement.

What's popular in the luxury home market these days? Heigl says the "cottage" finish featured on the kitchen island in the Vacation House is a top choice among high-end buyers. To achieve this aged look, an opaque stain is applied and then hand-distressed to reveal the natural wood grain in spots. And granite, he says, remains the top choice for countertops.