Annual tour offers a look at homes that spare no expense

From in-town homes like an Arts & Crafts design and a four-story house with a vintage feel to a European estate on 5 acres, the Chicago Luxury Home Tour showcases what's available in upper-priced suburban houses.

Twenty-nine houses with prices ranging from $900,000 to more than $6 million are scattered across the suburbs from Sugar Grove through St. Charles, Naperville and Barrington Hills to the North Shore. Visitors can tour as many homes as they like. Most houses are for sale.

The Fourth Annual Chicago Luxury Home Tour runs three weekends in September, starting Friday.

"People can find great ideas in interior design, landscaping and electronics and maybe find a custom builder to build their new house," said Brianne Bauer, spokeswoman.

The tour, one of seven around the country, is produced by Greenspring Media Group. Some proceeds benefit American Public Media, which produces public radio shows, including "A Prairie Home Companion. "

We visited three homes on the tour:

In Naperville, Darin Grubisic of Siena Custom Builders Inc. built a home of more than 7,000 square feet on a lot that's only about 65 feet wide.

The four-story home with gables and a large porch is designed to avoid overwhelming neighboring houses in a location close to downtown where teardowns are common.

Youngsters in the family will appreciate the sports room with dormers, special flooring, basketball hoop and powder room. This is set over the garage in the rear of the home.

The kitchen is memorable with sparkling white cabinets and two islands of dark chocolate cabinets topped with white and gray granite.

A basket weave design of carrera marble tile is above the range, and marble subway tiles are also on the walls.

The kitchen is open to the family room, which has a fireplace flanked by bookcases.

Visitors will love Grubisic's details such as the heavy woodwork, large mirrors in the front foyer and master bath, arched doorways, chandeliers and other light fixtures.

A nice touch in the third-floor family room is a built-in banquette that can hold twin-size mattresses for overnight guests.

The home, which would cost about $2 million to duplicate -- not counting the finished third floor and depending on land cost -- was sold during construction.

Builder Scott Van Duzor of Van Duzor Construction Company, Inc., turned a colonial home on a large in-town St. Charles lot into an Arts & Crafts style home.

The homeowners, who asked not to be identified, said they were very involved in the design work, studying books and magazines to make sure every detail contributed to the look.

A standout feature is the heavy pillars that flare at the bottom both on the exterior and inside the house.

The mahogany light fixtures in the hallway and the stained-glass leaf pattern in the kitchen cabinets are not to be missed.

The homeowners worked hard to find details such as the right dark stain for the quarter-sawn white oak cabinets.

The home has a large addition, including the kitchen and two-story family room.

The master suite is also on the first floor with French doors to a screened porch.

Even the charming side sun porches -- one on top of the other -- were refurbished with windows and transoms. The second-floor porch even has a pitched ceiling.

A tall ceiling and beams were also added to the large room that the family's three young sons share.

It's painted dark blue in a denim finish to enhance the cowboy motif. The attached bathroom has three sinks with faucets resembling bronze pumps and a huge mirror with a rustic wood frame embedded with little treasures like a belt buckle, model gun and toy badge found in antique and thrift stores.

Besides the attached two-car garage, there is also a detached garage. A potting shed on one end has access to a secret garden the homeowner is building.

The price and square footage were not revealed.

The Barrington Hills home by 2M Development Co. costs almost $5.2 million for the house and 5 acres, and is one of the most expensive on the tour.

Limestone seems to be the key material in this 12,500-square-foot home. It is used on floors, in the home's 7½ bathrooms and on the eight fireplaces.

The graceful curving staircase is a highlight, as is the kitchen.

Most of the kitchen cabinets are cherry, but those in the two islands and with the cooktop are white.

The counters are rose granite with dark brown granite on the islands. The hood over the cooktop is carved limestone. The kitchen has three walls ovens plus a microwave and warming drawer.

The master bedroom is on the first floor, and each of the four second-floor bedrooms has a bathroom.

The porte-cochere, or drive-through, between the two garages is a feature of the stone and stucco exterior.