Couple creates classic home with modern materials, conveniences

People approach Kurt and Susan Skrudland all the time, asking them if they rehabbed an older house or built an entirely new one on their corner lot in the historic area of Arlington Heights.

The fact that passers-by cannot tell for sure exactly what was done is the ultimate compliment for Kurt, an architect.

The Skrudlands' updated Craftsman-style home is actually totally new, completed in the fall of 2008, and it is so outstanding that the home is currently featured in the annual design issue of Fine Homebuilding magazine.

"In order to justify rehabbing a house, it has to have something worth saving, and in the case of the home we bought, there were no interesting details and no one had put any money into it for 50 years," Kurt said. "But superficially, it had a character and style that we liked."

So they used that style as a starting point for the new home's design. But that is all it was - a starting point. Kurt's imagination and training took over from there.

A follower of Sarah Susanka, author of "The Not-So-Big House," Skrudland set out to design a house that "lived big" but wasn't actually all that large.

"We could have built a 4,000-square-foot house on this lot, but instead we built a 2,900-square-foot house which 'lives' bigger due to the design efficiencies and flex space we incorporated," he said.

For instance, there is no formal dining room, but there is an area of the great room where they have a large table that can be used for dining on holidays, school projects for their daughter or client meetings for Skrudland's home-based architectural practice.

The front door and side entry door from the detached garage share a common one-story foyer for another efficiency. Similarly, the first floor guest suite's bathroom doubles as the home's powder room for visitors' use.

Their young daughter has the luxury of an "indoor treehouse" under the eaves in a space that would otherwise be wasted. A ladder in her bedroom leads up to a private play space with a reading balcony. Most the playroom utilizes space over the upstairs hall, incidentally.

And since both the Skrudlands work from home - Susan as a marketing consultant and Kurt as an architect - the home has two offices. The first floor office that Kurt uses could be used as a library or den by another family while Susan's second floor office could function as a bedroom for a future owner.

Skrudland also prides himself on finding creative ways to save his clients' money, something he also did when designing his own home. For instance, the home is "green" in order to save money on heating and cooling.

There is lots of insulation between the studs and then the whole house is wrapped with super insulation. All of the floors feature "warm board" radiant heat, keeping the home cozy and warm. There are unobtrusive solar panels on the roof that look like skylights and are used for the on-demand hot water heater. And each bathroom features a skylight over the sinks so that you can see without turning on the lights, even on a cloudy day.

The second level of the home also features several automated skylights with screens, which open and are programmed to close when it rains. But otherwise, during the warm months those skylights allow hot air to escape and fresh air to circulate freely through the home, lessening the need for air conditioning.

Other than the green elements designed to save money in the long-run, there were myriad elements that Skrudland used to cut costs during construction.

"We didn't cheapen the home. We just were very careful were we used the expensive touches," he explained.

For instance, the expensive onyx and glass tile backsplash in the kitchen is only used as an accent on the side of the kitchen that can be seen from the great room. A backsplash that is hidden by the breakfast bar is made of the same nonporous honed Jerusalem Gold limestone as the countertops.

Next, instead of using marble or granite floor tile in their kitchen (which averages $8 to $10 per square foot), they used slate which costs about $2.60 per square foot. And when they discovered that the cost of a stone bar top for their breakfast bar was beyond their means, Skrudland chose to glue together two sheets of bamboo plywood. He then cut it to shape, put a custom edge on it, and varnished the finished product. The total cost was less than $400. He did the same with the table top of the built-in kitchen table.

The walnut kitchen cabinets and those in other prominent areas of the house were custom made by Amish craftsmen in northern Wisconsin.

"I have learned to save my clients significant money by ordering cabinets from these fantastic craftsmen and then taking the client on a field trip to pick them up. Those same cabinets, that would cost $40,000 to $50,000 if you purchased them downtown, cost $15,000 when you buy them from the Amish," Skrudland said.

"And we aren't sacrificing quality or style," Susan added.

Skrudland also saved money by designing substantial trim, but painting it. If you don't have to buy stain-grade wood, the price comes way down, he said.

On the first floor they used stained walnut doors with painted frames, which make the doors "pop." But upstairs the doors are painted, so they are not made of walnut.

"I believe in making your big investment in places where it will be seen and appreciated," Skrudland said.

That is why IKEA cabinets were used in places like the laundry room/mud room, butler's pantry, bathrooms, bedrooms and offices. It is also why Skrudland ordered high-end, large-pane windows with only limited mullions.

Mullions translate to money. That is the type of thing that adds up, he said.

"We have mullions on the tops of the windows so that we have enough detail to give the house its Craftsman flavor, but we didn't want too many. And I love to put windows in the corners, which I did in the great room, because it lets in so much more light," Skrudland said.

Speaking of light, the University of Illinois-trained architect used a clever trick on the first floor. The home features a very large screened porch that becomes part of the main living space during warmer months. It has a stained concrete floor and the perimeter features individual cedar screen doors that are held in place by pegs. During the winter, these doors can be removed and stored in the basement, leaving just a patio with a roof over it during the winter.

The absence of doors during the winter allows more light into the great room, just as the existence of the doors during the warm months shades the great room.

"And the fact that you can remove screen doors allow you to do your maintenance on them (staining etc.) during the cold months, not during the warm months when you want to be enjoying the porch," Skrudland said.

Finally, the exterior of the home is virtually maintenance-free, saving lots of money in the long run.

"I grew up in a wood house in River Grove and it demanded constant maintenance. I didn't want that," he admitted. "Isn't low maintenance ideally what everyone wants?"

So the home features a thick layer of Chilton Ledge Stone just above the home's concrete foundation. Immediately above that, on the outside of the first floor, is a layer of pre-finished cement board siding in a clapboard style.

"It has a 25-year warranty and comes in 12 different colors that are baked on. It doesn't rot and since it doesn't absorb water, it doesn't push off paint," Skrudland said. "Cement board siding is more expensive and looks better than vinyl siding, but it is cheaper than cedar."

But he chose to cover the outside of the second story in vinyl clapboard-style siding since it doesn't have to bear up-close scrutiny and was another way to save money. But the flat siding in the peak of the roof is sheeted cement board, once again, while all of the exterior trim is made of PVC and the columns are constructed of fiberglass.