We are nine days into home ownership and I am learning so much already. I can tell that the next few weeks and months are going to teach me a lot, and I am going to have to become more flexible and patient overall.
Are you a home owner? Let me know if you agree with my “Top Five Realizations” thus far…
- Everything takes longer than you think. An hour to paint a room? Try three. Two days to move in and get organized? Try nine (and we’re not even close yet).
- You discover new things to fix around every corner. I never even noticed the icky, sprayed on texture in the second upstairs bedroom and imagined it would be painted within our first night or two in the house. Not so fast. It required Mike to scrape by hand and then use a wall sander to get everything evened out.
- Decorating dreams inspired by Pinterest don’t match your new homeowner budget.
- You worry about everything way more than a rental. Moving a dresser without furniture foot pads? Hell no! Do not scratch MY hardwood floors.
- You and your home-owning partner (in this case, my very handy hubby Mike) can talk for hours upon hours about the house. Sentences begin with, “what if,” and “one day,” and “I was thinking that we could…” It instantly becomes your first born child–or in our case, second born after Kona our fur baby.
There is a lot more in store for the Anderson’s as we paint, scrape, plant and build our way into the house that will be our home for years to come.
I am a homeowner going on 7 years this March. I totally agree with your realizations, although, when I started, I didn’t have Pinterest! I just had every other store on earth that seemed like my decorating wishes did not fit my homeowner budget. What is even more fun is when my furbaby goes literally THROUGH the screen door to run outside. And what seems like a normal door that should be easy to find a replacement door through normal channels…. turns into custom ordering a new screen door because my doors really aren’t normal. They are 9′ doors… which are not standard according to Home Depot or Lowe’s. UGH!
But… I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I love it being our home, and I love doing different things to make it that much more of our home. You’re going to have little projects that you two will come up with until the end of time. Enojy it all, I know you will! Congratulations!
I loved your blogpost today….so true for all homeowners. I know you and Mike will “love” your new home and yes everything will cost more than your thought and will take longer than you expect. Just remember to take the time to “enjoy” your new home…some things need to wait to be done. (BTW – Dad still reminds me we can’t do “everything” )