After yesterday’s first house vs. current house comparison, one reader’s comment made us rethink the timeline: “I think it’s an unfair comparison to put 8 months of work at the current place up against 4 + years at the old. You should have compared current photos from this house to what your old house looked like 8 months after you moved in there!!” Fair point — although we’ve learned a lot in five years of homeownership (and we now spend more time on house projects since this DIY diary became our job), we’re game to take the walk down memory lane. It’s Friday, so why not? Warning: this stroll will make us cringe a little as we share how raw things looked back then.
Eight months into owning our first house, we didn’t even know the basics about trim paint. I painted all the trim in the entire house with flat paint, only to learn later it should have been semi-gloss — and then I had to redo it. Painful, but instructive. The main takeaway is that homes take time, and many stages will look messy before they become comfortable. Some unfinished rooms in our current house no longer make us want to cry like they did back then, when we naively expected everything to be finished within weeks of moving in. Below is a look at how our first house appeared around the eight-month mark — roughly the time before we started this blog to document a big kitchen renovation for friends and family. If you want to compare these photos to the final first house images or to our current house’s eight-month progress, check out yesterday’s post — I didn’t want to include dozens more photos here and risk crashing the site again.
Front Yard, First House (8 Months In):
When we moved in, the front yard felt like a small forest. In eight months I managed to trim back the trees that completely hid the house from the street so neighbors could finally see that there was indeed a house back there. “Project Tree Trimming” was a surprise-for-John weekend task: me, a lawn chair, and a branch cutter. John was genuinely shocked to see the porch from the curb.
Front Porch, First House (8 Months In):
A few weeks after trimming, I sawed a big “window” into the fully slatted wood screen door to break up the pattern, painted it yellow, and hung a faux lemon wreath from Target. There was also a wooden plaque with a pineapple and the word “Welcome” left by the previous owner — very country cottage — but I loved it for the first year.
Living Room, First House (8 Months In):
Oy. The sofa was a hand-me-down and the coffee table looked like it belonged in a college dorm. Everything was too small and too far apart, and there was a square of faux-stone linoleum in front of the door. Living with the space taught us to create two zones — a dining area and a living area — plus a console by the entryway. That approach made the long room functionally and visually better.
Kitchen, First House (8 Months In):
We were fairly active in the kitchen during those first eight months. We installed new Frigidaire appliances from Lowe’s (which we later used in our full remodel), painted the cabinets (Brown Bag by Glidden), swapped in inexpensive Ikea hardware, and painted the faux-brick backsplash (Wishes by Glidden). It was still a mess, but it was our mess — complete with awkward serving spoons hanging from a metal range hood that wasn’t even over the stove.
Dining Room (Future Bedroom/Nursery), First House (8 Months In):
The room barely fit four people, but we had fun making it work. We built the table ourselves from a thrift-store pedestal and a large plank of wood, painted the chandelier white, and swapped out brass bulbs for modern round ones. I also painted the panel above the chair rail a tiffany-box blue and used chalk to sketch delicate leafy branches, then sprayed a fixative so the design wouldn’t rub off. It was a whimsical experiment that we enjoyed.
Our Bedroom, First House (8 Months In):
This room was sparse and awkward. A printer/fax machine sat on the floor because I was freelancing from home and actually faxed things regularly. The bed sat too low with small artwork, and the overall composition felt unfinished. It was a valuable lesson in scale and layering.
That bathroom phase felt like a bad ninth-grade haircut. I painted the window trim black hoping for a chic look, then repainted it white and removed the swag (which was actually a pashmina I still own). Much better.
Guest Room, First House (8 Months In):
We’d painted the guest room but hadn’t acquired a bed yet — saving pennies and prioritizing other projects. A few months later we received a full-size bed as a hand-me-down and happily declared the room ready for sleepovers.
Den, First House (8 Months In):
The den made us cringe: a white bedsheet stapled under a desk, painted paneling next to unpainted brick, and a general sense of mismatch. A month later we painted the brick walls the same color as the paneling, which helped the room start to feel cohesive. It still took more time to address the beams and finish the space.
Laundry Nook, First House (8 Months In):
That early picture is aimed at the floor, but I was proud of the peel-and-stick vinyl tiles I laid over grimy yellow linoleum. About a year later we removed the bifold doors, opened the area up, and installed wood flooring through the hall, half bath, den, and kitchen. I even added little glass knobs to the bifold doors as a temporary improvement — it’s the little things that keep you motivated.
Half Bathroom, First House (8 Months In):
The boxy vanity was too large for the tiny room, but we were intimidated by the work required to install a pedestal sink, so we delayed that project. We did paint the walls tiffany-box blue (flat paint, which I later regretted for a bathroom), replaced the avocado-green toilet, and updated knobs and window fabric. Later, we removed the shutters to let in more natural light.
Sunroom, First House (8 Months In):
We made good progress in the sunroom. A wicker daybed and thrifted twin mattress became a cozy spot, and an Ikea Lack table topped with a larger piece of wood served as a scrabble table. We stained the concrete floors “tuscan gold,” which later felt too orange in sunlight, so we repainted them glossy chocolate to better match the hardwood floors.
Patio, First House (8 Months In):
The patio was already labeled “needs replacing” at inspection. A few weeks before our backyard wedding, my mom voiced safety concerns about the failing patio, so we hired a pro to redo it in three days. With the wedding looming, hiring a contractor spared us the stress of an unfinished disaster and let us focus on the event.
Back Yard, First House (8 Months In):
During the walk-through I peered through the dining-room window and fell in love with the park-like backyard and deep woods beyond. For the wedding we kept the layout as-is, but over time we grew tired of weeding the pea-gravel path and pruning endless bushes. We ultimately gave away the gravel and shrubs via Craigslist and seeded a flat, grassy lawn. Our dog Burger was very grateful.
So that’s the state of our first house around eight months in. The learn-as-you-go approach isn’t the fastest route to a finished home, but it’s how we’ve always worked. You learn what you like, which paints to use on trim and in bathrooms, and how to prioritize projects. If your house is only a shadow of what you imagine, be patient: change takes time. Keep experimenting, keep learning, and enjoy the ride.