The Chaturvedis Transform Their Chicago Home from Drab to Fab

Treat yourself today to an Indian home in Chicago replete with before-after pictures.  Home to Nitin and Shilpi Chaturvedi, the house has gone through an ingenious transformation over the past few months. I waited patiently for months for Shilpi to weave her magic as she unveiled the amazing makeover layer by layer, one room at a time.

And then, I couldn’t wait more. Read on and you’ll see why.  I can also see a career in interior styling waiting to take off for Shilpi.  *wink* *wink*

Who lives here: Nitin & Shilpi Chaturvedi with their four-year old twins, Snehi and Achintya

Location: Naperville, IL, USA

Year built: 1998

Size: 3200 sq.ft 

Type: House with 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms & a powder room, an office room, a family room and living + dining

Photograph courtesy for the images: Shilpi 

Shilpi introduces the family saying,”Nitin is from Delhi and I’m from Prayagraj (Allahabad). Within 10 months of our marriage, we moved to Belgium, and 10 years later, in 2016, we relocated to New Jersey. On our first trip to Chicago, we fell in love with the city so much so that we wanted to buy a home there.

After discussing with our friends living locally, we narrowed down on Naperville as the neighborhood to live. We bought this house after a few trips back and forth from New Jersey to Naperville.”

Nitin adds,

It was love at first sight with the house.  We were not looking for special colors / beauty in the house as Shilpi was confident of transforming the house. The house met all our basic criteria like east facing, nice surroundings, private backyard, and good basic structure with scope for enhancements as per our taste. 

The dramatic makeover is proof of Shilpi’s confidence and the potential the house had.

Foyer

The main door opens up into a double height foyer with stairs to go up. To the left is the living room and to the right is the dining room.

Family Room

Continuing straight from the foyer, one lands in the family room that  again sports a double height ceiling and connectivity to every room on the ground floor. The cat walk on the upper floor has a direct view of both the family room and the entrance foyer below. Before entering the family room, there is a powder room on the right and walkway to the basement.

With four windows to the backyard, there is no dearth of light here.  Shilpi wanted to give the space a touch of European style. Rest, the space is decorated with all things they liked or pre-owned such as the TV cabinet, the ladder shelves, and lights.

 Living Room

The design aesthetic of the living room is unmistakably Indian. It’s one space where Shilpi has let loose her indigenous instincts of decorating take center stage. All the usual suspects from a Ganesha painting and baithaks to brass artifacts, trunks and a vibrant orange wall can be spotted here. The only offbeat element in the space is the black wall colour.

She bought all the furniture locally which is testament to the fact that some endearing pieces of furniture that are hard to come by locally are easily available there.  

Dining Room

The decor theme is bohemian for this one and color coordinated with an old teal blue cabinet from their previous house in Jersey. 

Kitchen

The spacious kitchen got a fresh coat of paint. A full makeover including the coloring of kitchen cabinets and back splash, is on the cards in the near future. It has an enviable view of the lake and is connected to the bar area and the laundry room. The breakfast nook is located between kitchen and family room.   

Master Bedroom

The bedroom in its earlier avatar was functional at best comprising of a bed, a chest of drawers, one side table and a random painting. Shilpi is at her creative best in this room taking the space to a whole new level with her choice of four poster bed, a touch of greenery, gallery wall, soft lighting, and most importantly those vintage trunk boxes that double up as a side table. The block printed bedding is an icing on the cake sealing the aesthetics of the room.

Shilpi says,

I have always liked the old style four poster bed. At the same time, I wanted it to look modern and were lucky to find one here locally. We paired it with a matching side table on one side and to have a different style on the other side, I bought vintage suitcases. The window treats us to a beautiful view of the backyard and lake. The master bedroom has attached walk-in his and her closet along with the full master bath.

The before-after image below is self explanatory as to how it looked before and now.

Kids Room

The kids room has not gone any sea change transformation as yet.  There are two kids room in this house: one is being used as a bedroom and the other as playroom. This will give way to two separate beds in the future.  The rooms come with walk-in closets and a common full bath.  

Guest Room

The family lovingly calls the guest room as the “In Laws Suite”. The bed and side tables in this room are from Belgium. This room also has a walk-in closet with an attached full bath. 

Backyard

Shop the look:

If you are wondering where the furniture in the house is from, then it is from several sources like Amazon, Pier1 Imports, Wayfair, ArtVan Furnitures, Penny Mustard and Macy’s.  The artifacts are from pieces the couple has collected over the years in Europe, North America and India.