Home Alone . . . and Loving It!

This week we are featuring a couple of homes featured in films by the late John Hughes. Today, we look an all-time favorite: the Home Alone house. Without a doubt, the 1990 film (written and produced by Hughes) made a star of Macaulay Culkin. We submit, however, that the house was the real star to emerge from that film.

Located in the wealthy Chicago suburb of Winnetka, Illinios, this house is a traditional beauty. Here's what it looks like in the daytime:

For those who don't recall the movie: Culkin stars as Kevin McCallister, a kid accidentally left behind when his family flies to France for the holidays. Kevin hilariously fends off would-be theives (Joe Pesci and Daniel Stern) in their multiple burglary attempts.

Here he is at the top of the stairs preparing one of many boobytraps he set throughout the house. Of course, we were busy looking at the classic foyer!

In the film, we saw multiple interior shots of the home, completely decked out for the holidays in all its wallpaper, chintz, and poinsettia glory.

Now don't get us wrong, we realize that it was the end of the 1980's and wallpaper and chintz fell out of favor shortly thereafter.

But we'll always have an affinity for it IF it's done right--a la Michael Smith, an interior designer who can mix patterns better than anyone in the world. (Can't wait to see what he does to the White House!)

Anyway, if you squint, you can see how beautifully three different rooms are coordinated in the photo above. Just lovely!

Goodbye John Hughes--Thanks for the House Memories

John Hughes, one of America's notable writer-directors of the 1980's, died suddenly last week at the age of 59. Hughes brought us many memorable ensemble films such as National Lampoon's Vacation, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, and Home Alone.

As we mourned his loss, we checked out the tributes on the Huffington Post. Some were from and about actors whose careers he helped launch, like Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick, and Macaulay Culkin. We also read a great blog post on how the soundtracks for his movies provided the soundtrack of our lives--or at least for those of us who were in high school back then. Who could forget "Don't You Forget About Me" by Simple Minds?

But we didn't see any mention that Hughes' films gave us two of the coolest houses ever seen on film: the Home Alone house (shown above) and the Ferris Bueller house (below).

Ordinarily, we only discuss houses belonging to celebrities. But this week we're making an exception for the two houses that are celebrities in their own right. To be continued . . .