List Price: $859,900
The Property: Built in 1929 as a shingle-sided cottage and expanded in 1993, this house stands on a quiet street in western Winnetka with soccer fields, a bike path, and a forest preserve close at hand. The original parts of the house are warm and inviting, with a cozy window seat in the living room, a slate-floored sun room, and other timeless touches. From the checkerboard-tiled foyer to the built-in china cabinets in the dining room, there is lots of vintage appeal here.

When the owners, Sven and Pamela Welander, added onto the house nearly 20 years ago, they were careful not to mess with its charm. They retained the dining room’s original exterior windows—even though a big new family room sits on the other side of them—both to retain its symmetry and to bring some natural light into what’s now an interior room. Both the family room and the large master bedroom above it have decorative arches, an echo of the arched doorways in the original rooms. There are three more bedrooms and two recently remodeled full baths.

We shot our video of the house just in time. Although Pamela Welander’s lavish gardens were past their summer prime, their fall look is more colorful than most yards right now. The many large windows and doors of the addition open the house up to views not only of the gardens but also to the pretty houses and big trees in neighboring yards.

Price Points: The Welanders first put their house on the market in September, with an asking price of $870,000; they reduced it in late October to $859,900. There are 247 homes in Winnetka on the market right now, according to Midwest Real Estate Data, and 141 of them are priced over $1 million.

Listing Agent: Annika Valdiserri of @Properties; 312-504-5020 or annika@atproperties.com