I read a house by its era before I read its square footage. The decade a house was built tells you how high the ceilings are, where the light comes from, how the rooms connect and which furniture will look at home in it. Chicago's northwest suburbs are a perfect example. Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights and Vernon Hills sit within a short drive of one another, and buyers often weigh them on schools and commute alone. But each village was largely built in a different period, and that shapes how you should furnish the house you end up buying.
A split-level asks for long, low furniture and a rug that holds the room together.
This is furnishing by house style, village by village, with a few notes on the practical side of choosing between them.
Three villages, three building eras
Buffalo Grove is mostly single-family homes, townhomes and condos built from the 1970s onward, with ranches, split-levels and two-story colonials throughout. It is a family suburb first, and schools are the main reason people move there. The village straddles Lake and Cook counties, and which side an address falls on affects the school assignment.
Arlington Heights is the largest of the three and has the liveliest downtown. Near the village center you will find older homes, including bungalows and mid-century houses, along with newer condos within walking distance of the train. Farther out are larger single-family homes on tree-lined streets. It sits on Metra's Union Pacific Northwest line, which runs frequent service into downtown Chicago.
Vernon Hills, in Lake County, feels the newest. Much of its housing went up from the 1980s through the 2000s, so buyers find contemporary floor plans, attached garages and plenty of townhomes alongside single-family houses. Buffalo Grove and Vernon Hills both have stations on Metra's North Central Service, which runs a more limited schedule than the Union Pacific Northwest line.
Those are three different design problems, and they need three different answers.
Buffalo Grove: furnishing a ranch or split-level
I will be honest. The 1970s make my skin crawl. The muddy palettes, the dark paneling and the proportions never appealed to me. Which is exactly why I enjoy furnishing a 1970s split-level. The bones are often better than the decorating ever was, and a few decisions change the whole house.
Split-levels and ranches share a few traits: ceilings on the lower side, long horizontal rooms and, in a split-level, half-flights of stairs that cut the house into short levels. Work with that rather than against it.
- Go long and low. A lower sofa with a long seat suits the horizontal lines and keeps the ceiling from feeling closer than it is. Tall wingbacks and heavy case pieces fight the room.
- Use rugs to settle each level. In a split-level, every level wants its own anchor. A rug large enough that the front legs of every seat sit on it makes a short living room feel deliberate rather than leftover.
- Lift the light. Low ceilings make a single overhead fixture feel heavy. Use lamps at different heights and keep any ceiling fixture shallow.
- Clear the palette. Swap warm, brownish beiges for colors with cleaner undertones. A soft green or a clear blue does more for a 1970s room than any amount of new furniture.
If you are unsure about scale, here is my guide on how to choose the right size area rug. My answer is almost always one size bigger than you think, and that goes double in a split-level.
Arlington Heights: bungalows and mid-century houses
The older homes near downtown Arlington Heights are where I would want to live, frankly. Bungalows and mid-century houses have character built in: smaller rooms, real proportions, windows placed with some thought, sometimes original built-ins. The challenge is scale.
- Scale the furniture to the rooms. A bungalow living room will not take an oversized sectional. A pair of chairs, a sofa with exposed legs and a round table read lighter and leave the floor visible.
- Keep the built-ins. Original bookcases and cabinetry are the design. Paint them if you must, but do not pull them out.
- Mix the periods. Old things look better with new things next to them. A mid-century house looks wonderful with one serious antique in it, and a bungalow comes alive with a clean modern lamp.
That mix is my favorite part of any project, and I have written a whole piece on how to mix modern and vintage if you want the long version. The larger homes farther from downtown give you more room to work with, but the same principle holds. Contrast and intention make a room feel alive far more than a matching set ever will.
Vernon Hills: open plans from the 1980s to the 2000s
Newer construction comes with its own furnishing puzzle. Open plans, two-story family rooms and builder-grade finishes give you space and light, but very little structure. The rooms do not tell you where anything goes.
- Zone with rugs and lighting. In an open plan, a rug defines the living area and a pendant defines the dining table. Without them, furniture floats.
- Give the dining area its own identity. A living and dining combination looks best when each zone has its own anchor and the two share a palette. Here is how I would style a living and dining room combination so each part feels intentional.
- Bring the scale down in a two-story room. Tall rooms tempt people to buy huge furniture. Better to keep seating at a normal scale and use height elsewhere: tall drapery, a large mirror or art hung as a group.
- Add the character later. A move-in-ready house is a blank page. An antique chest, a gilt mirror or a patterned rug gives it the personality the builder left out. Every room could use a mirror.
Winter light changes the palette
Whichever village you choose, Chicago winters are long and gray, and the light shifts the colors in a room. North-facing rooms read cooler. Stark whites turn chalky. Muddy beiges get muddier.
My painter's training says undertones are the most important part of a palette and the hardest to get right. In a northwest suburbs house, I would lean on whites with a little warmth, greens with depth and blues that stay clear in low light. Then add one jolt of color for the dark months. Every room needs a hint of red, even if it is only the binding on a book. In a Chicago February, that hint of red earns its keep.
Textiles help too. Wool is the fiber I trust for winter, because it is warm underfoot and resilient in a house where boots come in from the snow. At Kevin Francis Design we make our rugs in New Zealand wool for exactly that reason.
Choosing the village, then planning the move
Start with your commute. If you will ride the train into the Loop several days a week, Arlington Heights deserves a close look for its rail service. If schools are the top priority, compare the specific schools for each address in all three villages, since assignments vary within Buffalo Grove and Vernon Hills. If you want a newer house with less maintenance, focus on Vernon Hills and the newer pockets of Buffalo Grove.
Then look at the house itself as a designer would. Measure the rooms you would actually furnish and check your largest pieces against them. A sectional bought for an open plan will not suit a bungalow, and a tall armoire may not suit a split-level with low ceilings.
When the move comes, a crew familiar with the area helps. Working with experienced Buffalo Grove movers who know the northwest suburbs makes the details easier, from townhome association rules to timing the move around the school calendar and Chicago winters. Book early if you want a date before the snow, and protect rugs and upholstery on the walk from the truck in wet weather.
The bottom line
Buffalo Grove, Arlington Heights and Vernon Hills all offer good suburban living. They just offer it in different houses. Choose the village for the commute, the schools and the way you live, and then furnish the house for the era it was built in. Long and low for a split-level, scaled down for a bungalow, zoned and layered for an open plan. Houses should be lived in, and every room should be enjoyed, and that starts with furniture that suits the house.
Frequently asked questions
How do you furnish a split-level home?
Choose long, low furniture that suits the horizontal lines, anchor each level with a large rug, use lamps at several heights instead of one heavy ceiling fixture, and pick colors with clean undertones.
What furniture works in a bungalow?
Smaller-scale pieces with visible legs, a pair of chairs instead of an oversized sectional and a mix of old and new. Keep any original built-ins.
How do you define spaces in an open floor plan?
Use rugs to set each zone, a pendant over the dining table and a shared palette that ties the zones together.
Which northwest suburb has the best train commute to Chicago?
Arlington Heights, on Metra's Union Pacific Northwest line, has the most frequent service. Buffalo Grove and Vernon Hills are on the North Central Service, which runs a more limited schedule.
