For 30 years, Greg and Adrienne lived in a Gallagher and Henry-constructed home in an unincorporated patch of Downers Grove. The couple raised their two children in that two-story residence, crafting a lifetime of memories together.

“The house fits us perfectly,” Adrienne beams.

In early 2016, however, Adrienne began urging her husband to consider a move. Having undergone two knee-replacement surgeries, Adrienne yearned to simplify her life and Greg acquiesced, albeit with hesitation.

“I’m a creature of habit,” Greg admits, “and I loved what we had.”

The couple investigated various options including townhomes and other new home communities before quickly zeroing in on a familiar partner in Gallagher and Henry.

“Their Amberwood plan had my eye,” Adrienne says of the ranch home from Gallagher and Henry’s Lifestyle Series.

The couple discovered that Gallagher and Henry’s hands-on, customer-centric style remained just as they remembered, though the family-owned firm had also evolved into a more cutting-edge outfit befitting modern times, particularly when it came to customizing home plans.

“I like to work with people I know and quality I can trust,” Greg says of the decision to work with Gallagher and Henry once again. “We were confident in what they could do and what they stood for.”

After selecting a lot in Woodridge’s Farmingdale Village community, about five blocks east of their longtime home in Downers Grove, the couple committed to the Amberwood and began working with Gallagher and Henry staff to customize the home, a shift from the process they experienced back in 1987.

“It was just a different era,” Adrienne allows.

This time around, though, Greg and Adrienne detailed some specific requests, including:

  • Shifting from a partial basement to a full basement with a three-quarter bathroom
  • Constructing an extended-depth garage that would allow Greg extra room to store his motorcycle
  • Pushing out the media room in the back of the home to create a more spacious home office and an expansive covered rear patio
  • Wiring the entire home and backyard with surround sound speakers
  • Installing solid white doors throughout the home and French doors on the home office
  • Running a gas line for the outdoor grill
  • Building custom closets in the pantry, mudroom and two front bedrooms

“And the list really goes on and on,” Greg says. “We knew what we wanted and Gallagher and Henry helped us accomplish that.”

When the couple moved into their new home on a brisk winter day in December 2018, Adrienne encountered a rush of optimism and gratitude reminiscent of what she had felt 30 years prior.

“Just like walking into our first Gallagher and Henry home back in 1988, I walked across the threshold of this one and thanked God it was mine,” she says.