Jilly!!! Gosh I miss you.

I saw that article. I know it is Christmas when Home Alone is on every night somewhere. 😄

Ally, thank you. 🥰

I was tickled that McCaulay Culkin thought of buying it!

Another John Hughes movie house I’ve always loved was also sold this year, and also had a major remodel. From Planes, Trains, and Automobiles:

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/230-Oxford-Rd_Kenilworth_IL_60043_M73808-15169

Now off to see if the house from Uncle Buck got the same treatment as the other two. :D

ETA: I don’t see any listings or recent photos of it.

So many great movie houses in my old stomping grounds! The home alone house is a block away from the community center where I attended many meetings and events. The houses in Ferris Bueller, Risky Business, Sixteen Candles are all walking distance from our old house and Ordinary People used our 'downtown' for many scenes. Uncle Buck used the west campus of my high school - I attended the east campus but it's still fun to see.

DLM, that’s amazing! I forgot about the house in Ordinary People, it was one of my favs from that era. Great movie.

I can imagine how fun it was to live near these iconic settings!

My late DH was in Chicago and surrounding areas often for long business trips, so I’ve spent quite a bit of time there. I fell in love with the city. We’d take Sunday drives out to see some of the houses from these movies. :)

O/T — my first trip to Chicago to visit, he took me to Spiegels. I’d always ordered from the catalog and was obsessed with going in person, in Chicago. Later, we got our own outlet in Fort Worth. I miss them so much!

I love the style of the John Hughes family homes, though I confess that I have never seen the movie Home Alone. It looks like the remodel was basically respectful of the bones of the home making it a blank canvass for the next owner. Great that they didn't paint the brick white!

Kendrah, watch it! It’s such a good movie. :)

Yes, thank goodness they left the brick!

While I have watched Home Alone, I don't have much nostalgia around it. Honestly I kind of love the remodeled house. Overall I love the finishes selected. You could add some more color through paint, furniture, rugs, etc, but still keep the lovely finishes. It's far too big of a house for me, but wow it looks like a lovely spacious home.

Prickly, I’m so curious as to their plans. My guess is they’ll warm things up and give a nod to how it was in the movie, without going full-on ’80s to early ’90s.

Personally, if it was mine and I had unlimited funds, I’d lean towards going back to a more original look as the base. Sort of a newer version of the 1920s, when it was built … some things period, some not. I like mixing styles.

It’d be fun to see how the house has looked each decade the past 100+ years!

I don’t recall how much the house was decorated specifically for the movie, then restored to how the then-owners had it. I read recently that many interiors were built and scenes filmed at a nearby high school campus that had closed.

One of the family members has written a book about the experience, Home But Alone No More. I’m going to look for it.

bpath, I didn’t know about that book, thanks!

Don't forget the house from Jean Shepherd's A Christmas Story. It has been restored to the era of the film and you can even book an overnight stay. Red Ryder BB Gun not included.

https://housefromachristmasstory.com/

Maire, that’s my very favorite Christmas movie, we have it on all day Christmas day. :)

My dad got me this a few years ago, it’s on our TV dresser during the holidays:

Leggy nightlight mode:

Jilly - great lamp. It's our favorite Christmas movie too, my kids love it and we have it on during the Great Christmas Morning Unwrap Event.

One year the kids bought me a new ornament - not quite the scale of your lamp though.

My little grand daughter was here this weekend checking out the ornaments. When she saw the leg lamp she picked it up and said "Grandma, this is a woman's leg wearing a hat, What's it doing on the tree?"

Love that ornament, Maire, and love your granddaughter’s comment! So funny! :D

She's a verbal 4 year old and my tree is loaded with an eclectic assortment of ornaments gathered over 50+ years -- my Mother's 1950 German glass globes , clothes pin people painted by my kids when in preschool, Mark Robert's elves (there's one in the leg lamp photo), ribbons and berries, felted forest animals, glass ornaments etc. There's even a little rubber black snake that one of the grand kids put on the tree one year and now whenever they come over they search for it and then hide it somewhere else. I'm so lucky that the three of them are still Santa believers so all of this is magic for them.....and me.

Spiegel! My grandmother used to hand me the Spiegel catalog each fall to go through and circle what I wanted Santa to bring me.

Maire-cate, your story reminds me how I'm so looking forward to grandchildren (hopefully) some day.

Regarding the Home Alone house, I believe the former owners robbed it of its character. Ruined is a strong word, but it was definitely robbed. Same impression of the Planes house. Both interiors look like new construction, and, although I appreciate new construction, in these cases, it doesn't fit the exteriors or the history of the houses.

I watched Home Alone with family at Thanksgiving. The house had such personality, even if it was just a movie set.

Feathers, I got the main catalog and related ones every year. (I think one was called Newport News?) I ordered clothes, furniture, and decor from them many times. My king pencil post bed came from Speigel’s in 1993 and I still love it.

“Both interiors look like new construction, and, although I appreciate new construction, in these cases, it doesn't fit the exteriors or the history of the houses.”

I so agree.

Jilly, here's a little trip down memory late for you. This would have been one that I thumbed through as a kid.

https://archive.org/details/spiegel-christmas-1976-catalog/mode/2up

How fun, Feathers! Thank you for sharing that!

I was jumping around and came to this page. The Fonz jacket. 😄

I saw a Home Alone colorbook today. I had not idea the movie had such a cult following.

Ohhhh, I love that movie and we watch it every Christmas Season. Just watched it again two evenings ago. I’ll be anxious to see the house’s reno, too.