New owners of the beloved 'Home Alone' house want to restore its nostalgic '90s magic

The McCallister house from Home Alone has become synonymous with '90s nostalgia. The sprawling, 9,100-square-foot Colonial, located north of Chicago in Winnetka, Illinois, instantly conjures holiday family chaos and Kevin’s numerous showdowns with the "Wet Bandits." But after the house went on the market in 2024, a lot of fans were shocked by its sleek, modernized look. Now the new owner, who purchased the property for $5.5 million in January, has pledged to restore the colorful vibes we’ve come to associate with the 1990 Macaulay Culkin classic.

Scott Price, project manager behind the renovation, spoke to NBC Chicago about the project, saying, "Our vision is to bring back the warmth and just the love from the movie." The current owner is reportedly paying for the updates, and they appear to be going all the way: "There was so many great colors," Price said of the original aesthetic, "and it just made you feel like family and like home and we want to bring that magic back."

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"We love this movie"

While the project’s timeline is unclear, the outlet wrote that "more improvements to the outside of the house are in store." Price emphasized, "We love this movie; it was a really important movie in our childhood and that’s true for the family that owns the house too."

Maybe it’s sheer nostalgia, but this news will probably please plenty of Home Alone fans. After all, the house’s renovated appearance didn’t go over too well on the r/Millennials subreddit. "[E]ven taking off the nostalgia goggles, the new style looks a little too modern and sterile, lacking warmth and personality," one user wrote. "Millennial SSRI grey design must be stopped," added another. "This kinda bums me out," someone else admitted. "It looks...so modern and sterile in comparison."

NBC Chicago spoke to a tourist visiting the home named Natalie Coles, who expressed a similar sentiment: "I saw on the website it was really kind of a gray house and lost its spirit and magic. I’m so thrilled the new owners have decided to do that."

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The unique aesthetic of the Home Alone house

So what makes the Home Alone house so perfectly '90s and so uniquely memorable? That’s subjective, of course, but perhaps the distinctly Christmas-y color palette has something to do with it. "How have I seen Home Alone 8 million times, but I was today years old when I realized the lengths they went to in order to make the entire movie red & green?" someone wrote on Instagram. In a video clip, they highlighted a pile of visual evidence, most of which is impossible to ignore next time you watch the movie.

In an expansive feature, Vanity Fair explored how the house was used during Home Alone’s production. The owners let the crew work on location for roughly four months, filming exterior shots and interior scenes centered on the living room and foyer staircase. (Much of the project was reportedly captured on a soundstage.) “We would have not believed back then," said former owner John Abendshien, "that there would be sightseers coming to look at that house for years afterward.” That’s movie magic for ya.