By Meghan Streit
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

When Sue Agramonte and her husband Bob decided to move from Washington State to Illinois in order to be closer to their daughter, they knew they wanted an open floor plan similar to the houses they lived in on the West Coast.

Their daughter suggested they look at Sedgebrook, an Erickson retirement community in Lincolnshire. Sedgebrook’s amenities appealed to the couple, but they wanted a home that reflected their unique taste and style. They were delighted to learn that Sedgebrook’s apartment homes can be customized with upgraded flooring, light fixtures, window treatments, paint, wall coverings, and just about anything else they could dream up.

West Coast style—in the Midwest
For the Agramontes that meant knocking down a wall to open up the living area of their two-bedroom, two-bath apartment home.

“[The Sedgebrook staff] said that would be no problem, and it wasn’t even that expensive,” Mrs. Agramonte recalls.

In addition to removing a wall, the Agramontes customized their home with hardwood floors, granite countertops, unique light fixtures, and wooden window treatments. “This is going to be our last home, so we just wanted it exactly how we wanted it,” she says.

Once they moved into their new home Mrs. Agramonte embarked on a decorating project. She used paintings created by her father-in-law as an inspiration for her color scheme in the living areas. She had the walls painted light brown and added accent colors that complimented the colors in the paintings.

“We wanted more earth tones here,” she says. “In Washington it was so dark; we couldn’t do that there.”

Since the Agramontes were moving across the country, they opted to sell most of their old furniture. They purchased new couches and chairs that fit perfectly in their new living room and reupholstered their existing dining room chairs, which were heirlooms from Mrs. Agramonte’s mother.