North Shore real estate agent Laura Hara is a self-professed perfectionist and obsessive planner with a license plate that reads “Details.”
So when she wanted to make a dream home for her two children, her aptitude for contingency planning and knowledge of home buying kicked into high gear. The result is a six-bedroom, 6,200-square-foot colonial—with an ice rink in the basement.
It’s the “ultimate kid hangout,” Hara said.
In addition to the synthetic ice rink, the 2,000-square-foot, fully furnished basement that includes a guest bedroom, bathroom, arts and crafts area and kitchen. It was designed with the children in mind, she said.
“Eventually they will be teens and I wanted the house to be teen-friendly,” Hara said. “I want the neighborhood kids to hang out at my house. That way I’ll know what my kids are doing and I can keep an eye on them.”
The home has become a neighborhood hot spot, where children gather collect to play games, watch TV, make arts and crafts, and of course, ice skate on the manmade material that simulates ice. Hara even provides extra pairs of skates for children who come over without any.
The ice rink room was originally designed as a playroom that could turn into a theater room when the kids become teens. Because one of the children is an avid hockey player, it was converted into a rink.
Hara said she may may turn it into a yoga room when the children leave for college.
It’s that kind of contingency planning that Robert Weinstein of Winnetka-based Birchwood Builders experienced when he helped design and build the home to the family’s specifications.
“When we designed the house, she put a lot of thought and care into it,” Weinstein said. “Most people aren’t as careful.”
The home was custom-built six years ago after an older couple sold the lot to the family who lived next door, Hara said.
It took a year to design the home and another year to build.
Hara, a Highland Park native, grew up about a mile from her current home. She likes the location because it’s sandwiched between the downtowns of Deerfield and Highland Park, she said.
When she and her husband built the home, they did so with the understanding they’d be there for a long time, she said.
“I would do nothing differently. I wouldn’t even change one sink in this house,” Hara said. “I love my neighbors and my neighborhood. We are never moving.”
