First-time homebuyers looking back on a house becoming our home.

All photography by the brilliant and kind Natalie Boike.

The backstory

We were apartment people. We repeat. We were apartment people. We would ask ourselves, “Why would we ever want to mow a lawn?” Ha. “We just like knowing that the super will fix the sink,” we’d say. Ha! Apartment living was great. Even condo living was a good fit. But homeownership is our happiest living yet.

Pandemic aside, we’ve probably experienced the typical joys of the first year in a first home. Right at the onset, it was nothing but excitement for the novelty of it all. Hiring movers and accomplishing a smooth move - check. Feeling the satisfaction that the bed frame fit exactly where we thought it would - check. Finding new pieces of furniture to compliment and expand our aesthetic - check. Two weeks in, one of the biggest trees in the backyard snaps in half, falls on our power line and into the neighbor’s yard - shit. Homeowner honeymoon phase over. Homeowner holy-moly mindset sets in. What did we do?

Looking back at that first month…were we being dramatic? Perhaps. We had no frame of reference. Luckily, we have the best next-door neighbors who also dealt with a tree going down their first month after moving in and they came to our rescue with a power saw and lumber-jack-like gusto. The tree was taken care of with minimal damage to any property. We got so lucky in so many ways.

Since the tree incident, it’s been more fun than headaches. We aren’t expert homeowners, but are learning house things constantly. Below are a few stories and perspective we’ve picked up in the first year.

There’s no one right way to do things.

Sometimes we have a tendency to be perfectionists. While this comes in handy for hanging pictures, it can also be problematic for making any decisions as new homeowners. Case and point: lawn care. Never before have we felt such self-imposed pressure of getting something right. It’s probably because the lawn feels like such a public focal point of curb appeal. It’s as if your entire character as homeowners is judged upon how you care for your lawn. To be clear, it isn’t. But, it’s easy to feel that way, especially when each season throws you something different to mitigate and manage. Whether it’s dry grass, piling leaves, caked snow or all the weeds, there are so many different ways to take care of it. And guess what, however you want to handle it is the way to handle it. Don’t look across the street at the driveway that seems to melt snow as if it’s heated. Focus on your snow. Simple. This can apply to so many aspects of life, btw.

Make improvements for you, not for when you sell.

We bought the house with a driveway that resembled a sheet cake with cracks across the top. As you can imagine, that made snow blowing and shoveling quite tedious and a poor way to start the day, especially when Eric taught his 5:45am spin class. Before the snow came, we know replacing the garage floor and driveway would be a dream, but an extra wet fall and early decline of temps postponed our repavement plans. Come spring, we asked ourselves, “is it worth it?” We knew we could get through a winter having done so without too much dread. We also thought it was an update we could make further down the line when we’d get ready to sell and use it as a way to up the curb appeal. Practical, right? Maybe. But where’s the joy in that? We decided to go for it and are happy we did. Now we come home from our daily walks and stop at the bottom of the driveway to marvel at the smooth concrete. In no way are we looking forward to the early-morning snow blowing sessions, but we know they’ll be a lot easier because we decided to invest in how we live in the house instead of how the next family will.

The satisfaction of doing it yourself can beat the convenience of hiring it out.

To bring it back full circle to the topic of lawn mowing, we did hire that out last summer. Was it convenient? Yes. Did they do a good job? Usually. Was it worth it? Not sure. Since giving it a go, we’ve found enjoyment in the mindlessness of the task. It’s a good time to catch up on our favorite podcast. Another example, staining our deck and fence. From the images above and below, you can see that we have a good-sized deck. We also have a fenced in backyard and both weren’t stained when we bought the house. So, “to stain or not to stain” was never the question. It was more whether or not we wanted to do it ourselves or leave it to the pros. We went with the former and we’re proud that we did! We sprung for a paint sprayer (highly recommend), blocked off a couple of weekends and went for it. It was actually a cute bonding moment for us and also a surprisingly good workout. We even got so good at it that we volunteered to do the side of the fence that faces our neighbors. Then again, we owed them. #treeincident

Alright, let’s hear from you homeowners out there. Think back to your first home. What’s something you remember taking away from that first year of making a house your home?