Settling in at home

Oh my gosh, I haven't posted in a month!!!! Sorry, peeps....I know this is a waaayyy delayed look at our house, but please forgive me. I hope these photos will make it all better. And thanks for being patient with me! There is still a lot of blank space. We're in the beginning phase of our relationship, this house and I. It's a dream come true and much awaited blessing for Bill and me, so I'm taking a bit of time thinking about how to style things. An interior design degree would be so helpful at the moment. But enough of my thoughts, I know you want to see what it looks like!

I'm so happy with how the exterior of our house came together.
The brick and paint colors are complement each other nicely, the ebony stain on the shutters
gives it a stand out look from the other homes in the neighborhood. 

We had a privacy fence put in at the back of the house which extends
around the backyard so our dog girls have room to roam.

The deck and covered porch should get a lot of use as the weather 'warms up'
(I know...no room to complain!)... and excuse the lack of grass. The builders only gave us enough sod for the front lawn and seeded the back with rye grass.
I need to stalk Lowes and find that dude from DIY network Yard Crashers to help us out!

The sunset view from our porch was crazy beautiful the other night, just had to share!

On to the inside! Here's the entry way from the front door. 

The living room. This L-shaped couch from our Lombard house is almost
too big for this room...or maybe just not the right fit in the long run. I think a smaller couch
with slipper chairs will replace it eventually. (Rug is from Target)

The kitchen. Those barstools were in our pool house in Lombard. They are just the right
height for our tall island and fit our seating needs for now. I think I may actually be able to
swank them up with some spray paint and seat cushions. Limited craftiness that I possess, I could probably pull it off.

A look from the other side 

Chicago love adorns the wall in the breakfast nook

Our bedroom

This bedroom is a challenge to photograph so here's a few angles

(Bedding is Macy's Hotel Collection) 

The extra king bed is upstairs in the spacious guest suite and awaiting it's first visitor :)

Thoughts on the window nooks? I think a reading chair & small table would fit well in one of them.

There it is! Like I said above, I still have much work ahead of me as far as decorating goes, but it definitely is beginning to feel like home. The missing piece is my beautiful dogs who will finally move to Alabama full time in April. I cannot thank my in-laws enough for taking such good care of them over the past year (and Bill too), but I am beyond ready to have my girls home with me!

Look forward to sharing home owner triumphs and pitfalls with you in future!