A passion for paint
You might think a painted lady is about showing off, but these stunning old houses also tell stories of love.
That's the case with four suburban buildings honored in the 21st annual Chicago's Finest Painted Ladies competition, sponsored by the Schaumburg-based Chicago Paint & Coatings Association.
About 50 homes throughout the metropolitan area were entered in the contest.
Being built during the reign of Britain's Queen Victoria is not a requirement for homes in the contest, but trim and style from that period do make things more interesting.
Owners have creatively decorated a former grocery store in Batavia, a house that is now a day spa in Algonquin, a Harvard home that was always large and grew even bigger, and a mansion in Elmhurst.
Parents and grandparents who once bought candy at the Batavia shop known as the Little Store or Abhalters might not recognize it today.
Donald and Violet Cole bought the building in 1990 and transformed it into a home. It had been built as a grocery store at the turn of the century and last served as a store in 1976.
Donald, a carpenter, planned and built a railing with a circle and cross design between the more typical spindles. He also constructed the two-story turret on the back.
As often happens in love affairs, the Coles didn't plan on this passion. They thought they would fix up the run-down building and sell it.
But one look at Donald's seven-color paint job, and you know a fleeting fling was the furthest thing from his mind.
The body of the house is Benjamin Moore Quincy Tan, with the doors New London Burgundy.
Other colors are Georgian Brick, Hasbrouck Brown, Whipple Blue and Yarmouth Blue.
Inside the turret on the first floor, the couple eats at an old candy maker's table with a marble top.
Donald installed decorative trim inside the house and even built a formal staircase in the front. When grocers lived upstairs, there was only one stairway in the rear.
An unusual item in the yard is a gazebo that was once a bell tower on a church in Serena, Ill., in LaSalle County.
Donald restored the tower, which had been severely damaged by fire, added screens to the arched openings and painted it to match the house.
"This man was busy," Violet said. "I have to give Donald all the credit for the painting and choosing the colors. I was into the wallpaper books."
Diane Post and her mother, Perla Gonzalez, don't even live in their painted lady, but Post is not shy about expressing love for it.
The Woodhouse Day Spa in downtown Algonquin is a Queen Anne built in 1894 as a home for Christian Geister, who owned a grist mill and was active in local affairs.
"It has the original floors and pocket doors and Eastlake windows," Post said.
The body is Rockwood olive green from Sherwin Williams, she said.
"Previous owners were doing repairs in the basement and they learned this was the color of the first layer of paint," Post said.
All the other colors used on the building have Rockwood in their names and are terra cotta, shutter green, jade green, red and antique gold.
First Impressions Painting Company of Winfield did the work.
"A Victorian home needs to be a painted lady. We love our home, and it's just the way it should be," Post said.
Bill and LuAnn LeFew have both lived in Harvard all their lives, and fulfilled a dream when they bought the large Victorian 21 years ago.
The home was built in the 1880s for a man named Brainard, a banker who was a founder of the village. It later was expanded with a large apartment in the 1930s.
The extra space has come in handy over the years for Bill LeFew's late father and for the couple's four offspring when they wanted their own space during college years.
Original treasures still inside include hand-painted stripes on the walls of the living room, a chandelier, woodwork, a formal staircase and the third floor that was a ballroom.
Bob Swanson of Swanson Painting in Cary suggested the color scheme, Bill LeFew said.
"I wasn't sure about it, so Bob said 'We'll paint one-quarter of the house all the colors, and if you don't like it we'll change it.'
"My wife and I looked at it, and three of our four children were home, and they liked the colors, too."
All the shades are from Sherwin Williams. The first floor is Portabello, a brown, and the upper two floors are the lighter Sands of Time.
Trim and accent colors are a dark blue called Indigo Batik, a lighter Dockside Blue, Pacer White, Sierra Redwood, a metallic gold and a black.
Using touches of metallic gold is a trademark of Swanson's, but the two lions sitting on pillars of a second-floor balcony were the LeFews' idea.
The house is huge, and the paint job was expensive, said LeFew, costing about $26,000.
"This is sort of a historic treasure," said LeFew who is the McHenry County treasurer. "We are tenants keeping it for the next generation."
And it's a perfect place for family and friends to watch the annual Milk Days parade.
Like other Painted Lady winners, Tom Klein and his wife, Anne, feel a responsibility to the community when painting and refurbishing their Elmhurst home.
Lee Sturges, an artist whose family was related to the Buckinghams of Chicago fountain fame, called the mansion Shadeland when he had it built in 1892.
The stone first floor with arched openings is one of the most striking features and a trademark of the architect, Frederick Schock.
Lakeshore Decorating of Highland Park painted two stories of cedar shakes with challenging features like a turret, another arched opening, a bay window and a balcony.
Thom Greene, an architect with Greene & Proppe Design in Chicago, chose the Sherwin Williams colors.
The body is a golden brown called Baguette. The trim named High Tea is a darker brown.
Other colors are Roycroft Bottle Green, Riverboat, which is a dark red, and Renwick Olive.
Most striking are the little touches of red on trim that looks like plaques here and there on the house.
"We are trying to take care of the house the way it deserves," Tom Klein said. "For example, with the paint job, the painting needs to be done and the colors chosen in keeping with the house and how it fits in the neighborhood."