5 Things I’ve learned as a homeowner

There’s nothing like the excitement of buying your first home and I couldn’t be happier for Laura and her family! In the two and a half years since my husband and I bought our first house, we’ve made mistakes and learned a few things along the way. Here are five things I hope to remember for our next house, and maybe they’ll help you too.

1. Don’t rush to reno.
When you buy a house, it’s tempting to jump into making it your house as soon as you get the keys. While some projects should be addressed right away – like a leaky roof or ineffective insulation – many others can wait. If you can, give yourself time to learn how your family uses your new space, what you like about it and what could be changed to make it work better. This can help you prioritize projects, gives you more time to save, and ensures that the changes you make are based on how you actually live, not how you imagine yourself living while browsing Pinterest ;) I like to imagine myself as a frequent entertainer, but in reality I’d much rather attend than host a party. Given the cost, mess and stress of renovations, you want to get it right the first time.

2. Rome wasn’t built in a day. It wasn’t decorated in one either.
Contrary to how your favourite TV shows, magazines and blogs may make it seem, beautifully decorated rooms don’t happen overnight. Sure, you can go to any big box store and pick out entire living room sets, dining room sets, bedroom sets, and so on. But where’s the fun in that? Great spaces all have one thing in common: they reflect the homeowner’s unique personality and style. Assuming you’re not hiring someone to do it for you, it takes months and more likely years, to build a collection of pieces that you both love and that meet your family’s individual needs and wants. That’s part of the fun of decorating. It can be tempting to fill your new house with new furniture, but by slowly collecting items over time, you’ll end up with a house that is uniquely you.

3. Ugly and kid-friendly are not synonyms.
There’s a popular decorating myth that having a stylish space isn’t practical – or possible – with kids. It’s true that a white sofa is probably a bad choice if your family eats on it (mine does; our couch is green), but there are lots of affordable, stylish options that will stand up to your kids’ wear and tear. Go for durable upholstery fabrics, wipeable finishes and rustic pieces – especially tables – that look better with dings and scratches. Most of our furniture is used – family hand-me-downs, thrift store finds and Kijiji buys – that I’ve personalized and updated with paint. Unlike much of the new stuff, old furniture was usually built to last and there’s no crying over spilt milk on a $50 table. Painted furniture can always be repainted.

4. When in doubt, paint!
Never underestimate the transformative power of paint. It’s by far the cheapest, easiest way to personalize and update your space, whether you’re using it to transform a single piece of furniture or an entire room. It’s also a great temporary fix while you save and plan for bigger changes down the road (see #1). This is not the place to stress about picking the wrong colour. Paint is not a commitment: if you decide you’re not happy with it, you can easily change it.

5. Keep it in perspective.
At the end of the day, the most important thing about your home is the family who lives in it. Decorating should be fun; it shouldn’t monopolize your time or your family’s resources. As a self-diagnosed decorating addict, I try to remember to take a moment each day to purposefully acknowledge that I have a warm, comfortable place to sleep, a fridge full of food (or at least the ability to fill it), a loving family and a healthy body to DIY with. It doesn’t matter that my couch is covered in dog hair, the linoleum on my kitchen floor is peeling or that there’s a patch of dirt in the backyard where our patio should be. I have everything and, chances are, many of you do too.

These are my tips, but what would you add?