I went back to our house in Rhode Island over the weekend and realized that we bought it exactly 5 years ago. I remember that time like it was yesterday. So much excitement, anxiety, and fear. It was our first house, a massive purchase and commitment. While I was there the last few days, I was reminded how much I love it. The moment I step inside it feels like home. Every little detail, big and small, feels personal and thoughtful. It hasn’t always been that way though.
Sure the house isn’t perfect. There’s still things that need to be fixed or updated. There’s always work to be done, but it’s a space that makes me feel happy. When you buy a home, especially a fixer-upper, that can take time. It’s easy to forget that making a house a home is a process. There’s usually something that draws us to a house, maybe it’s the location or the architectural charm, maybe it’s just a feeling we get when we step inside. But when you’re living in a space that’s knee-deep in renovations it’s normal to think, is this really worth it?
It Takes Time To Make A House A Home
That’s the thing about owning a home, there are times when it’s really not fun. Like the unexpected pipe burst or the “simple” project that turns out to be harder or more expensive than you thought. When the contractor doesn’t show or you can’t even find a contractor for a small job. When you’re renovating a home yourself, it can wear you down. Will we ever be done? Will we ever love this place? Will we ever have a weekend that doesn’t involve a project?
Our house in Woodstock, it’s still kind of just a house. Don’t get me wrong we feel so lucky and we love living here, but it doesn’t totally feel like home. We’ve done a lot of work and there’s so much left to do. With fixer-uppers, so much of it isn’t sexy or fun. Renovating a bathroom is great, but we also need new siding, new windows, and a new roof. HGTV shows and social media give us the immediate satisfaction of before and afters, but often without all of the mess in between. We’re currently in the mess, if you are too, hang in there. It takes time to make a house a home. In my experience though, it is worth it.
Thank you for sharing this, because I really needed to hear that today. We have so many projects we want to do, and the projects (especially out in the yard) have been super daunting.
It’s a good reminder that we’ll get there in time – and that we’re actively looking to make our house a home! (But actually why are windows so expensive??)
I hear you Ashley I actually find yard/landscaping projects really overwhelming too. We eventually hired a company to help us with some basic stuff in RI which really made a huge difference in maintaining it moving forward. And yes, seriously windows are SO expensive. And of course ours all need to be replaced, ugh.
Needed to read this today! We moved into a new house this week, and while it’s exciting, there is SO much to do that it feels overwhelming and scary too. I’m really stressing that we bit off more than we can chew. Thanks for the reminder to have patience.
You can do it. Take your time. I actually think living in a house for a bit before you do anything major helps prevent making impulsive decisions that you later want to change.
Thank you for this! We live in an old new Englander and the projects have no end in sight. We actually got new basement stairs yesterday and I was so excited you would have thought we had a full kitchen renovation. Sometimes it’s the little things. I actually keep a list on the fridge of all the projects that we need to do so that I can cross them off as they go, it’s a nice reminder of all the things we have accomplished.
I love that idea. I actually was listing off all the things we did in our living room here in Vermont for a blog post I’m writing and realized how much we’ve done. Sometimes when the projects are endless you forget how much work you do along the way. Nice to have the reminder.