When my husband and I bought our first home I had mixed feelings. The home isn't perfect, and I knew that whatever home we purchase would need to be renovated. I loved the neighborhood, school district, nearby shopping outlets, and grocery stores. I loved the size of our home, I wanted our home to not be too big. You can check out my last blog post on 6 reasons you should and 4 reasons you should not live in a small home. We had a decent-sized backyard which was a must-have and an extra room or space that can work as an office. Our home checked off all of the practical boxes of what we needed, but some things about the home I thought were ugly. We have a 1978 home and in some places, it shows. Our master bathroom looks like it's from the time and is falling apart. We don't even use that bathroom, to be honest. Our second bathroom is ok. It looks like it's newer but it still needs a lot more work. Tiles in our home look like they were DIYed and spaces are missing grout and are uneven. The floors under the carpeted room are uneven as well. In some rooms, they painted over poster puddy and stickers instead of removing everything beforehand. Windows would leak which we found out the hard way while deep cleaning our new home before moving in during a rainstorm. We have a killer garage door that nearly guillotined the plumber. And a dilapidated fence being held up by sticks. Let's just say I fell in love with the idea of what my home could be. That's the mindset that keeps me positive and motivated to keep living in our home. And I thought to myself “I can't be the only person dissatisfied with how their home currently looks or functions and there are plenty of people still happy in their homes even if it's not looking like their dream home”. Here are ways I keep myself positive in my work-in-progress home.
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1. Furniture and Decorations
The furniture helped a lot! Especially for our uneven tiles and crooked tiles. Picking out nice furniture to compliment the space helps to elevate everything. Looking at our blank slate home when we first bought it I had no idea what furniture would look good. We took it one step at a time prioritizing functionality and comfort over looks. We bought a dark almost black couch that came with cute decorative pillows. We bought a beautiful blue rug that hides the weird uneven tiles. And we found cute side tables from Ross that make the space look more modern. Little by little the house felt more like our home. And I didn’t see the home's imperfections as much as I used to when we first bought it. I don’t have many decorations now but adding art and statement pieces can also distract from the imperfections of your home. We bought a big canvas photo print at Ross for $30 and it is my favorite thing to look at. Without that photo, you could take notice of the weird wall textures so hiding it and drawing less attention by strategically using furniture and art is a great way to be more content in your home and help you find beauty in a space.
2. Small Projects At A Time
Another way to be content in your home is by doing little projects at a time. Renovations are expensive! So you can start doing little projects first until you can afford to do the big ones later. Even though I would like to get a sledgehammer and tear down our old late 70’s bathroom, We have a small project list we can do in our home that will still elevate our space. We are planning on getting our fence replaced as well as our death trap of a garage door. We also want to paint our deck and assemble some outdoor furniture we bought from Walmart for less than $100! Projects like that get momentum going and keep you motivated even if remodeling seems like a lifetime away.
3. Keep Your Home and Yard Clean
Cleaning your house can turn it from a 3 to an 8 really fast. Make sure to clean your home regularly, just because your home isn’t how you want it to look now doesn’t mean you need to neglect it. And I don’t just mean cleaning inside your home but outside as well. Don’t neglect your yard. You don’t need to have a fancy landscape outside of your home but remember to maintain how your house looks outside. Just like how you would clean the inside of your home. Make sure that the outside looks fresh as well. Remember to pick up toys, yard tools, and trash from your yard to make it look more pleasant, the minimal look is in so if all you can do is mow your lawn and touch up the edges that will work just fine and will make a big difference.
4. Keep A Vision Board
Nothing motivates me more than a good vision board. I try to keep my vision boards not too specific just so that I don’t get disappointed if it isn’t 100% my vision. For example, I'll just put a generic new bathroom photo on my dream board and say “ bathroom remodel” because I don’t know what I want my bathroom to look like until that time comes. Trends change and I might not want my bathroom to look like how I thought it would on my vision board. I’ve used vision boards since 2019 and they do wonders to motivate you and keep you positive.
5. Be Patient
Rome wasn’t built in a day, and neither will your home. When we got our leaky windows removed I was speaking to one of the guys giving us quotes saying that I really wanted to renovate our whole home but that it would take time. He assured me that his own personal home renovation took him 15 years and is still going! Now for some of you, it could be sooner or it can be later. But don’t get discouraged about it. This is what we call delayed gratification. What is delayed gratification? According to Britannica, delay of gratification is the act of resisting an impulse to take an immediately available reward in the hope of obtaining a more-valued reward in the future. I could have not delayed gratification by getting a newer home but had it been more expensive and over our budget. Or we could’ve taken out a loan for renovations. But we didn’t do that and I’m not going to do that because why would I want a beautiful home I can’t afford or a home with debts we have to pay off causing more stress. Take it one day at a time it’ll all be worth it in the end however long that may be.
6. Have Gratitude
I would rather have a broken fence, an ugly unusable bathroom, uneven tiles, and a bad paint job than not have a house at all. Having a home was on my 2022 vision board and for me I put it under my 5-year plan. I didn’t expect us to get a house, especially a house we could afford. Because of that alone, I am grateful and I never say anything bad about our house. This is the first home we bought and decided to raise our family in. Our home is a work-in-progress and so is our family. As our family changes so does our home. I don’t get overly attached to anything because everything is not permanent. Our couch and furniture might not be the same couch and furniture 20+ years from now, our playroom will not always be a playroom and our bedrooms will one day be empty. Be grateful that you have a home in the first place because not a lot of people are lucky to have one and I never take mine for granted.
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