Suburban woman happy after serving as her own general contractor

The rough-hewed dining room table and the extra-wide crown molding grab attention when men visit the house Phoebe McCorkindale built. But women friends gravitate toward the crystal chandelier with faceted spheres in the master bedroom and the fresh, white kitchen.

It's been quite a journey for the young woman in her mid-30s who served as general contractor on her 2,380-square-foot home on the banks of Sylvan Lake near Mundelein.

McCorkindale chose a simple great room floor plan on the main floor, open through glass doors to the deck over the lake, of course.

"I love it here, but I foresee doing this again. The creation and decisions and seeing something come together off plans is the coolest thing I've ever done," said the now-experienced builder.

In fact, McCorkindale, who has been in the home two years, almost did it again already. She had a vision of purchasing a nearby house that she thought was affecting the value of her own home and creating something else wonderful. She even briefly put her house on the market for $600,000, which predicts what a future summer could bring.

Picking out lighting fixtures and tiles were among the favorite parts of the project for McCorkindale. And it shows.

Check out the dark light fixture over the dining table.

"It's one of the first things I bought for the house," said McCorkindale. "It was in a giant box stored in my mother's basement. It's twiggy, and I think resin-wrapped with what might be little LED bulbs. It's from West Elm, one of my favorite stores because it's modern and budget friendly."

And consider the mini subway tiles of stainless steel that create a shiny backsplash in the kitchen. Other features here are gray marble-look Corian countertops that she loves because they are repairable and white cabinets from Home Depot.

Sturdy metal legs support the rough wood dining table.

"I found this table at Restoration Hardware's outlet in Kenosha," said McCorkindale. "The store's not there any more. I bought this and had to get it back here. I borrowed a pickup from work. It was pouring rain on the trip back, and I drove through a construction zone. It's a tough table. We play games on it all the time."

In her decorating, McCorkindale loves to mix contrasting textures.

She points out the juxtaposition of the sisal rug and the smooth orchid-colored metal table from CB2's outdoor line in the living room area of the great room. Other features are a smooth bump-out of porcelain tiles stretching to the 9-foot ceiling and surrounding the fireplace and television. Restoration Hardware's take on director's chairs features swoopy chrome arms.

"I thought about a peacock sofa, but I can get rid of a CB2 table if I get tired of it in two years," she said.

In her master bedroom, the chandelier from Lamps Plus hangs over a modern dark metal canopy bed from Room & Board that contrasts with a white shag rug that she says "might have come from T.J. Maxx."

As expected from a woman of her generation, McCorkindale gathered ideas from hours on sites like Houzz and Pinterest.

And she's not done yet. You'll find her shopping for an antique door with a herringbone inset that she can mount on a track to slide over the doorway to her master bath.

"It becomes a feature of your room," says the woman who has both design and construction experience.

Construction started on Dec. 12, 2012, in what turned out to be a relatively mild winter. Bill Riechers of Bill's Home Construction in Ringwood, "the best person on my team," is really a finish carpenter. But he worked through the winter framing the house, fueled by hot chocolate McCorkindale brought on daily visits.

She valued suggestions for changes that Reichers learned building his own home such as making the door a bit wider on the first-floor powder room so it is accessible and reducing the size of the second-floor landing so the bathroom could be larger.

"I was here every day. It might be snowing, I'd still come here. I spent hours just being here. It felt right. Once girlfriends and I brought a bottle of wine and sat in the house to be a part of it. That was before the drywall went up. My dad came here all the time. It was a fun project, a real bonding thing for my dad and me. I was out of town for one weekend, and he still was driving by."

McCorkindale's upbringing included exposure to homes and building. Her mother, Beth Kweton, is a designer with Sweet Peas Design, and once a year took her young daughter out of school for trips to Chicago's Merchandise Mart. Kweton's contributions included a piece of granite left over from the remodeling of her Libertyville house.

Her father, Phil Kweton, owned a pair of dark corbels he wasn't using, and donated them for the area under the counter dividing the kitchen from the dining area. McCorkindale works in sales and human resources for her father's Mundelein company, Sheet Metal Supply Ltd., which makes products for roofing contractors. And the metal roof on her garage is a nod to the business.

But McCorkindale also brought her own experience to the house and insists everyone involved respected the fact that hers was the final say on every decision.

While she was working on an MBA in New Zealand, she and her ex-husband bought and remodeled a small motel that was in a gorgeous location but "looked like it was about to fall down."

Building her own house was "the single best thing for me to do" while going through a divorce and getting settled back in the United States.

McCorkindale brought the house in for $300 under budget, although she does not want to reveal what that figure was.

A general contractor works with subcontractors, lenders and inspectors as well as picking out pretty finishes.

"I think the key to my success is I am hyperorganized. I got waivers and information for the bank," she said. "And I took notes when the Lake County inspector walked through and said things like 'you need a fire block here.'"

And of course she created an Excel spreadsheet with information such as estimates and final numbers.

"It was a long process. I am so lucky to be able to do this. It was intimidating being a woman building, but I very quickly got comfortable within this arena. The subcontractors knew I was getting bids from multiple people, and they knew I was asking the right questions.

"If I do it again I would be in a completely different place. I could sequence things exactly, when the plumber comes in and the tile guy, the insulation and the drywall. Ninety percent of my subs I would use again. They were fantastic, on time, clean and on budget."