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Geneva Home Works has the variety homeowners want

Real people don't usually want to live in a model home. They don't want their rooms to look as if they bought an entire set of furniture that matches.

They want their home to reflect their own personalities and backgrounds, so they are gravitating toward a more eclectic, comfortable and maybe even quirky feel.

According to Kate Radman, manager of Geneva Home Works in West Chicago, the traditional, polished woods popular in years past have all but disappeared, replaced by white-washed pieces, furniture made of barn wood and antique designs featuring new types of finishes.

Celebrities like country singer Trisha Yearwood and HGTV "Fixer Upper" star Joanna Gaines have even come out with their own lines of furniture to meet the demand for unique home furnishings.

Geneva Home Works, located at 33W622 Roosevelt Road, West Chicago, now offers the furniture lines of both Gaines and Yearwood, along with many others including Flexsteel, Rowe and Hooker.

For instance, Gaines offers a variety of styles within her Magnolia Home furniture and accessories lines, including French-inspired, industrial, primitive, farmhouse and traditional looks, Radman said, and she offers furniture solutions for virtually every room and need within the home.

During a fall, 2015 interview with "Furniture Today," Gaines explained her philosophy about what modern homeowners desire in furniture. "I think they want a more relaxed and livable feel, but also something that is unique, one of a kind," she explained. "I think we are all done with the look where everything looks like a model home, where it's beautiful, it's perfect. I think perfection is overrated."

Radman agrees that for her customers, formal looks are "out" because homeowners are almost universally interested in creating casual, livable rooms that are always functional.

"Most of our customers prefer the transitional look which is a blend of traditional and contemporary styles. It is not a formal look. It is much more playful. So they are choosing rugs with bold, colorful and large patterns to place over their hardwood floors. They are also sticking with monochromatic grays on their furniture and they are inserting pops of color with pillows, lamps, rugs and other accents," Radman explained.

Many are also choosing to insert family antiques into their rooms, right alongside their new purchases, for a more interesting look.

"People are actively looking for more unusual pieces to insert in their rooms," she explained.

And those wall units that once hid huge televisions have also morphed. Smaller consoles have become more popular, as have wall units made of distressed wood like barn wood which accommodate both books and the television.

When it comes to seating, Radman said homeowners are generally mixing leather and fabric, purchasing a fabric couch and a leather chair, for instance. Ottomans are also very popular and those are seen in both materials, as well.

In business since 1990, Geneva Home Works is owned by Catherine Cushing, her brother, John McConnaughay, and her sister, Janet McCormick. The McConnaughay family has a long history of owning businesses in Geneva Township, including a beer, liquor and wine distributorship that they sold nine years ago and several real estate and property businesses.

Geneva Home Works carries furniture for every room of the house, along with pictures, rugs, lamps, vases, throw pillows and other accent pieces and accessories.

Fabric items like pillows and upholstered furniture can be custom ordered using the store's full line of fabric samples from its many manufacturers, Radman said.

For more information about Geneva Home Works, phone (630) 208-0040 or log onto www.genevahomeworksfurniture.com.

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