Transitional Custom Homes
The dominant luxury custom idiom neither too modern nor too traditional.
Transitional is the single most-commissioned luxury custom-home idiom across the Chicago suburbs, and it earns that position by being the most livable. It blends a traditional architectural shell gabled or hipped rooflines, balanced proportions, real masonry with interiors that are clean, warm, and contemporary. The phrase clients use most often is “not too modern, not too traditional,” and that balance is exactly the point.
For Forest Heart Builders, Transitional is less a look than a method: take a classically grounded exterior and edit it. Simplify the trim profiles. Mix the materials with restraint. Warm the white palette rather than letting it go stark. Bring in larger windows than a strictly traditional home would carry. The discipline is in the editing knowing what to leave out and it is what gives a Transitional home its quiet, enduring confidence.
Defining Features
01
Traditional gabled or hipped massing with simplified, contemporary trim detailing
02
Mixed exterior materials brick, stone, painted siding used with restraint
03
Larger window openings than a strictly traditional home, in black or bronze
04
Warm-white interior palettes rather than stark white
05
Slim Shaker or recessed-panel cabinetry with elegant, minimal hardware
06
Open primary living spaces balanced against a few defined, traditional rooms
07
Elegant but understated millwork clean wainscot, simple coffers, refined casing
08
A material and color story carried consistently from exterior to interior
The Material Story.
Transitional interiors favor warm whites, soft greiges, and natural wood tones over both stark contemporary white and heavy traditional color. Cabinetry runs to slim Shaker and recessed-panel profiles. Countertops are quartz or a quietly veined quartzite. Hardware is restrained brushed brass, matte black, or satin nickel in clean shapes.
| Element | Specification |
|---|---|
| Exterior | Brick stonek painted siding mixed with restraintt |
| Roof | Gabled or hipped traditional proportion |
| Windows | Black or bronze larger openings than strictly traditionald |
| Flooring | Wide-plank white oak warm tones |
| Millwork | Slim Shaker cabinetry clean wainscot simple coffers |
40+
Across Our Service Area.
The Modern Farmhouse performs in nearly every market we serve — but it is especially at home on the larger, semi-rural lots of the Barrington area, Long Grove, Inverness, and the Fox Valley communities of St. Charles and Geneva, where the agrarian silhouette has genuine landscape to sit against.
On wooded or open-meadow lots, the steep gabled massing reads honestly; in established North Shore neighborhoods, a more restrained, painted-brick interpretation keeps the home in conversation with its neighbors.
Barrington
North Barrington
Long Grove
Inverness
Lake Forest
Highland Park
St. Charles
Geneva
Glenview
Northbrook
Building This Style with Forest Heart.
A Modern Farmhouse lives or dies on its millwork, and that is where Forest Heart Builders’ in-house millwork studio becomes the difference. The beamed great-room ceiling, the painted Shaker kitchen, the mudroom lockers, the window seats and the panelled hood are all built to the home rather than ordered to a catalog.
- Beamed ceilings and cabinetry designed to the home, not for a catalog
- Dedicated project team carries design intent from framing through finish
- Sympathetic site planning preserves mature canopy and landscape character
Frequently Asked.
What exactly makes a home "Transitional"?
Transitional describes a home that bridges traditional architecture and contemporary interiors. The exterior is classically grounded; the interior is clean, open, and warm. It is defined by restraint and balance rather than by a single signature feature.
How is Transitional different from Modern Farmhouse?
Modern Farmhouse is a specific agrarian idiom steep gables, deep porch, board-and-batten. Transitional is broader and more formal: it can be brick, stone, or siding, with hipped or gabled rooflines, and it does not rely on the farmhouse silhouette. Transitional is the larger category; Modern Farmhouse is one expression within the same sensibility.
Is Transitional a good choice if my spouse and I disagree on modern versus traditional?
It is the idiom most often chosen for exactly that reason. Transitional is designed to satisfy both instincts a recognizable, traditional exterior with the open, contemporary interior many homeowners want without forcing a compromise that satisfies neither.
Will a Transitional home hold its value and its style over time?
Because Transitional is grounded in classical proportion and built from genuine materials, it tends to age more gracefully than homes committed to a single trend. Its restraint is what makes it durable as a generational home.