April 13th marked ONE YEAR since we closed and moved into our house. Since that day, we have furnished and decorated all but one room (the bonus bedroom is still up in the air), wallpapered a wall, added backsplash to our bar, added decking to our balcony, decided we were going to become “plant people” and, well, you get the point. We’ve done A LOT. That said, every time we finish one project, another idea pops into my head on what more we could do. Right now, it’s adding a little character to the accent wall in our home office. It’s a sick mind trick, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t enjoy it. For us, it has been incredibly rewarding to buy a “cookie-cutter” home and turn it into a place that shows both of our personalities.
Before we dive into what the first year of owning a home has taught us. We wanted to give you a little bit of history on us. Let us start by admitting one thing: we are chronic movers. Over the course of our nine year relationship we’ve had 5 dorm rooms, 8 apartments and one house. In fact, we only ever stayed in an apartment for over a year ONCE. Why? We moved around for work A LOT in our early twenties, and well I like new projects and challenges. Changing apartments was the next best thing before we could afford our own home, so we like to move around. Fast forward to last year, we were ECSTATIC to buy a home we knew that we’d live in for 4-5 years. Roots sounded amazing to us, as did the potential to do WHATEVER we wanted to our space.
We’ve learned a lot along the way this past year, and today, I wanted to round up a few of those lessons. If you’re a new homeowner, thinking about buying or even just want to compare against your own lessons keep reading.
Know Yourself and Your Skills Before You Buy
Let me preface this lesson by saying that Jordon and I are the farthest thing from handy. So, when we first started looking at homes to purchase, we knew that a fixer upper just wasn’t for us. Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of customizing a home to my exact taste, but I don’t have the skills to back it up. So, we opted for a new home that we could just “tweak” instead.
Take Your Time
We didn’t make any major changes to our house until we had lived in it a few months. And, it’s probably the best decision we’ve made. For example, we thought that redoing our powder bath was our biggest wish. But, after living in the home and using it maybe three times we realized we should focus on completing projects in rooms we use the most first. Hence, a new Bar backsplash, Wallpapered Master Bedroom and upgrading all of our lighting.
“Don’t Gold It”
Our last apartment before buying our home looked like gold had exploded everywhere. It was right when the gold, chic look was starting to hit Instagram and we went insane with it. Gold frames, coffee tables, accents…you name it, we had it. One of our BIGGEST takeaways from that experience is to not go overboard with the theme of your house. For example, we’re mixing grey with whites and blushes to break it up, adding plants to bring in pops of green and mixing up our Scandinavian look with mid-century modern accents. Less is (almost) always more.
A Project Will Always Cost More Than You Think
Without fail, we always underestimate the cost of a given project. We’d even to venture our projects have cost double what we originally thought. And, you can add in even more money than that if you’re paying someone else to do the labor. Our biggest tip is to do thorough research and price out each project BEFORE starting. Trust us, you’ll thank us later.
Compromise Will Save Your Relationship
Like with anything related to Marriage, compromise on your decor, budget and projects is KEY to staying happy. We always talk before buying big furniture items, prioritizing new projects and making any changes. It’s both of your space, and it’s important that it reflects that! Our biggest compromise was our color scheme! He wanted grey I wanted white. So, we settled on grey bases with white and blush accents, and I LOVE how it turned out.
Throw Rules Out the Door
For the first time ever, there are no rules when you own a home. Want to change up your floor, go for it. Add a new door? Why not! The biggest beauty of owning a home is that it’s all yours. You can do WHATEVER you want. You don’t have to fit into a category (mid-century modern, farmhouse etc.), it can be anything you want. So, don’t be afraid to take a few risks here and there.
Want to read more on our home? You can always visit our home decor tab for seasonal updates + projects OR see our inspiration here.
XO,
K
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