After living in our home for a year, there are 5 lessons we learned in our first year as homeowners that we want to share with you!

But first, let’s back up to how we found our home. In the summer of 2017, we graduated college, got married, moved up to the Twin Cities, and started our jobs. During the first 2 years of living here, we rented an apartment and loved our first space together. Then, after getting a little obsessed with Zillow last May, we reached out to our realtor and began looking for a home. We looked at a lot of homes online, went to open houses, and made a list of what we really wanted. 

“Willaby Wishlist”

• garage
• 2-3 bedrooms
• 2 bathrooms
• over 1,000 finished sq/ft
• less than 30 min commute for Matt
• less than 40 min commute for Jo (before Willaby Way!)
• space to grow into
• in need of updates, but not complete fixer upper

Our realtor told us about a house that wasn’t on the market yet, but she knew about through her network. Before checking out our future home for the first time, we had not seen any pictures and barely knew anything about it, but when we walked in, we knew it hit a lot of items on our list. We were the first ones to look at the home and put an offer on it that night. The next day, our offer was accepted, and we started planning out all we wanted to do!

Knowing that we needed to prioritize based on budget and time, Matt created a spreadsheet with all of the projects, their costs, and a calendar laying out the time they’d take. I got to work on creating a mood board—photoshopping elements we wanted and dreaming up what the spaces could be. 

Now that we’ve been in our home for a year, we’ve learned some valuable lessons and have had a blast making it our own. Today, we’re sharing 5 things we’ve learned during our first year as homeowners, especially when it comes to updating it.

1. Budgeting is key

We learned that having a budget for updates was very important. Throughout the process of buying our first home, there are a lot of unknown costs and purchases that came up. We created a spreadsheet of the projects we wanted to do, along with a proposed calendar for when we would complete them. Budgeting for these projects and updates has allowed us to ensure we have cash on hand and not go crazy all at once.

We knew that we wanted to change out all of the lighting in our house because we were scraping the ceilings and it was dated. That was a lot of fixtures to change out! Thankfully, we found a variety of options that were under $100 each. If you’re needing low cost light fixtures, check out the ones we purchased below:

Entry Angled Ceiling Semi-Flush Mount – $70 | Kitchen Island Light – $84 | Master Bedroom Light – $87 | Black & Gold Sink Semi-Flush Mount Light – $32 | Guest Bedroom Sputnik Light – $47 | Exterior Sconces – 2 for $53

2. It takes time for a house to become a home

Even though I wanted our space to feel like home right off the bat, it definitely took time! When we closed on our house, we immediately started work on it, so there was a mess everywhere. We had plastic sheets up to protect the walls, doors, and windows from scraping the popcorn ceilings, cardboard on the ground to protect the floors, and tools all over.

Thankfully, we had a month overlap from when we closed on our house to when we had to be out of our apartment. Even after that initial work was done and we moved in, it still has taken time for this new place to feel like home.

3. Changes will be gradual

Due to wanting to stick to a budget, we knew the changes would be gradual. This was hard for me because I wanted it all to happen at once! Anyone else?! Even a year later, we are still making changes. What I’ve learned is that this actually makes it so fun because it continues to get better and reflect our style more each month. Our latest projects got done because of COVID, which gave us some dedicated time to paint our main level, install a new entry door, and work on exterior projects.

4. Document the progress

It’s so easy to forget the befores because you feel like the work is never ending, but when you begin to feel discouraged, looking back at where the space started gives you so much motivation! Documenting the progress has not only been fun to see the before & afters, but it’s also kept us excited to continue making changes and seeing how they have made such a difference in our home. The photo below shows our living room the day we moved in and what it looks like now!

5. Be willing to DIY

Even though it may seem like a lot of work, if you’re a first time homeowner, be willing to DIY. We found that doing the work ourselves saved us a lot of money and allowed us to learn a lot along the way. We were also able to do a lot more projects because the money could be spent in materials, rather than hiring someone to do the work. Scraping popcorn, applying knockdown, and painting the ceilings was messy and time consuming, but it made a big difference for a low cost.

Our kitchen refresh was under $1,000, which included painting the cabinets, new pulls, updated light fixtures, and replacing the sink and faucet.

In our guest bathroom, we painted the vanity cabinets, painted the walls, updated pulls, replaced the faucet, and updated the mirror and lighting. Total cost was under $500, but it made a big impact. I love our guest bathroom mirror because it’s 37″ in diameter, very quality, and only $150.

When it comes to furniture, it can also get expensive. About a month after moving in, we DIY’d a live edge desk with metal legs. I’d seen desks similar that were at least a couple hundred dollars. We got the wood on FB marketplace and filled in any holes or cracks with epoxy, sanded it down, stained it, and sealed it with poly. Then, we attached metal legs from Amazon.

And there you have it, 5 things we learned during our first year as homeowners. It’s hard to believe where we started, but I am so thankful for our home and all the updates we’ve been able to make! I’d love to know what you’ve learned while DIYing or updating your home or answer any questions if you’re preparing to buy a home. Comment below and stay tuned for more blog posts coming to Willaby Way soon!