A Closer Look into Erica’s Own Gut Rehab (#LugbillLanding on IG)

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Tags: Lugbill Landing
One final photo in the condo.

For those of you following our #lugbilllanding remodel on instagram, I wanted to provide you with a little backstory.

I have built my career and life around creating beautiful spaces through remodeling. I’ve loved a good construction project since buying a fixer upper and rehabbing it as a college student.

I’m addicted to the process and love watching my vision come to life. One of my favorite parts of this process (and my job) is seeing peoples’ faces when they start to see the vision that I have had in my head materialize. It is so very rewarding.

Since moving to Chicago 12 years ago, Justin and I have lived at North Beach Lofts – an amazing condo building with around 45 units, a few blocks away from Lake Michigan. After 5 years of renting, we purchased an amazing space that had the perfect bones for what we wanted. The day after purchasing, we had the place, minus the kitchen, completely gutted. Over time, we slowly made it into the perfect condo and have lived there for about 6 years.

Two years ago we had our first son, Tucker. Our second son, Remi, joined us 8 months ago, which led to us being a bit cramped in the 2 bed/2 bath space. While we adored where we lived, it simply did not have enough space for the bountiful toys that friends and family sent our way. So, with a sad heart, we decided to start passively looking for a new place.

We had been stalking a greystone around the corner from our current condo for over a year (close proximity to our condo was non-negotiable). We fell in love, which was no small feat given a must have list that included:

  • Be located within a few blocks of Lake Michigan and our current condo
  • 3-4 bedrooms
  • Indoor/outdoor flow
  • A decent yard
  • An open floor plan (or the potential for one)
  • The potential for an amazing master suite
  • A pleasing exterior facade
  • The right price point
  • Ample ceiling height
  • Great natural light

After seeing the greystone once, we put in a full ask offer that was verbally accepted. We were ecstatic until the owner got cold feet and ended up holding onto the property (and putting it on the market a few more times only to remove it). Naturally, I was so, so disappointed, as I wasted no time in sketching out my floor plan and designing this property from top to bottom in my head.

Fast forwarding, we were in the thralls of parenthood which led us to enrolling our two year old in swim classes, where we met an amazing realtor who later became our friend. He casually sent us listings, but nothing ever compared to the greystone we were attached to.

That changed when he sent Justin an off-market listing at the end of 2019. I’ll never forget Justin sending me a link to #lugbilllanding over gchat. I think my exact response was “Let’s get in that property, I want to buy it!”. The rest is history!

I’ve put countless hours into every detail of the home, and am so very excited to continue showing it to you over the coming weeks. Be sure to follow @lugbilldesigns and/or follow #lugbilllanding on Instagram or Facebook to stay up to date.

I hope you fall in love with this property and the construction journey as much as we have!

Checking out the new house

Checking out the new house.

2 Year old Design Assistant hard at work

2 Year old Design Assistant hard at work.

One final photo in the condo.

One final photo in the condo.

Testimonial

My partner and I had some necessary corrections made to our condo unit which caused us to have to adjust some of the layout of our living space. We had to relocate a wine refrigerator that had lived in the living room for years. We wanted to relocate it into our kitchen but was overwhelmed with the task.

Talking with Erica Lugbill was the best thing that could have happen for our place. She visited us and immediately understood what we wanted. In talking to her, we told her that we might want to change a couple other items in our kitchen at the same time we had the refrigerator installed in our kitchen. She took pictures, measured the entire kitchen, and told us that she would start designing a "mini" makeover. Within 3 days, she came back to our house, and showed us a 3D rendering of a couple ideas for the placement our wine frig within our kitchen. We loved both choices, and settled on one of them. She also suggested several options for the other concerns we had with the kitchen. Erica helped us pick the products for our "mini" makeover and couldn't wait for the process to start.

After wards, Erica introduced us to her construction crew, when they all came over for a review of the work order. This was something I didn't expect, but truly appreciated.

The work began within a week, and her crew was completely professional with the entire scoop of work. They spent half a day just preparing the work area and protecting all the other rooms from dust and work debris. Since we have a loft, our kitchen is open to the dining room which is open to the living room, the crew understood this, and completely insulated the rest of the house.

Erica visited daily to check on her crew and on us, making sure to work out the smallest construction details and to answer any of our questions or concerns. Once the process was completed, the crew spent another half a day cleaning and removing everything that they brought into our condo.

We ended up with a one of a kind kitchen compared to the rest of the building, a perfectly incorporated wine refrigerator, new back splash tile, new pendant lighting system, new brushed nickel wall switch & outlet plates, and to finish off the project, a fancy industrial kitchen faucet.

Before hiring Erica, I always thought a interior designer would be an expensive proposition, but we were pleasantly surprised that this wasn't true. Erica is extremely talented, kept with our budget, and was completely professional. She is a great listener and didn't push her own choices when it came to material options. Not only did everything come out wonderful, put she suggested a different color for an accent wall, and it is amazing how it transformed the adjoining room. She is amazing, pick up the phone and call her!
Joe - Winnetka, IL