After yesterday’s first house vs. current house comparison, a comment from Jess made us think: “It’s unfair to compare eight months of work at the current place with four-plus years at the old one. You should compare how your old house looked eight months after you moved in.” 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 is our job) — so we’re game. It’s Friday, and a walk down memory lane seemed appropriate. Prepare to cringe along with us as we share the early photos.
Eight months into owning our first house, we didn’t even know how to properly paint trim. I painted all the trim in the entire house in flat paint, only to learn later that semi-gloss is the right choice — and then had to redo it all. It was tedious, but it taught us patience: houses take time, and they don’t have to be perfect immediately. Some unfinished rooms in our current house no longer make us want to cry the way they did back then (when we expected homes to be done the week after moving in). Below is how the first house looked around month eight — just before we started this blog to share our big kitchen renovation. If you want to see the final first-house photos or compare to our current house at eight months, check out yesterday’s post. We avoided overloading this page with fifty extra photos to keep things tidy.
Front Yard, First House (8 Months In):
When we moved in the front yard looked like a small forest. In eight months I managed to trim the trees that had been blocking the house from the street so neighbors could actually see it. Project Tree Trimming was one of those surprise-when-John-gets-home jobs: me, a lawn chair, and a branch cutter. He was surprised and pleased to finally see the porch.
Front Porch, First House (8 Months In):
A few weeks after trimming, I sawed a large “window” into the slatted wood screen door to break up the look, painted it yellow, and hung a simple twig-and-faux-lemon wreath. The previous owner had left a rustic wood plaque with a painted pineapple and “Welcome” that we liked for a long time. It was charming at the time and felt right for that house.
Living Room, First House (8 Months In):
Oy. The sofa was a hand-me-down, the coffee table an Ikea dorm-room find, and everything felt too small and spread apart. A faux-stone linoleum square sat in front of the door. Living with the room taught us to create two zones in the long space — dining and living — plus a console by the entry to make the layout functional and cozy instead of sparse.
Kitchen, First House (8 Months In):
We made a lot of improvements early on: new Frigidaire appliances from Lowe’s (which we kept into the later remodel), painted the cabinets (Brown Bag by Glidden), swapped in Ikea hardware, and painted the faux-brick backsplash. It was still a hot mess, but it was our hot mess. Those awkward serving spoons hanging from the metal hood that wasn’t even over the stove—classic.
Dining Room (Future Bedroom/Nursery), First House (8 Months In):
We had fun doing DIY here, even if it wasn’t very functional as a formal dining room. We built the table from a thrifted pedestal and a large wood top, spray-primed and painted the chandelier white, and swapped the bulbs for round ones. I painted the area above the chair rail a Tiffany-blue and drew subtle leafy branches in chalk — a bold, playful experiment that I fixed with a spray fixative. It made the room feel personal and creative.
Our Bedroom, First House (8 Months In):
Pretty rough. The room felt sparse, a printer/fax machine sat on the floor (freelance life), and the tiny art and low bed left the space feeling unresolved. It was a lesson in scale and layering.
I once painted the window trim black, thinking it would look stylish — it didn’t. I repainted it white and removed the fabric swag (it was actually a pashmina I still wear, which makes me laugh). Small changes made a big difference.
Guest Room, First House (8 Months In):
We’d only painted the guest room by month eight — no bed yet. We were saving money and focused on other priorities. A few months later a full bed arrived as a hand-me-down, and sleepovers were back on the table.
Den, First House (8 Months In):
This room had its awkward bits: a white bedsheet stapled under a desk and painted paneling beside unpainted brick. About a month later we painted the brick to match the paneling, which helped the room move toward the cohesive space we eventually loved. Tackling the ceiling beams took a bit longer.
Laundry Nook, First House (8 Months In):
Not the prettiest shot, but I was proud of the peel-and-stick vinyl tile I laid over grimy yellow linoleum. About a year later we removed the bifold doors, extended wood flooring through the hall and kitchen, and upgraded the laundry setup. And yes, I added little glass knobs to the bifolds as a small interim improvement.
Half Bathroom, First House (8 Months In):
That boxy sink vanity needed replacing with a pedestal to open the tiny room, but we delayed it because mounting a sink meant cutting into drywall to find studs. We did paint the walls Tiffany-blue (in flat paint, which I later regretted), replaced an avocado-green toilet, swapped knobs, and refreshed window coverings before later removing them to bring in more light.
Sunroom, First House (8 Months In):
We made solid progress here: a hand-me-down wicker daybed with a thrifted twin mattress and simple sheets, a scrabble table built from an Ikea Lack table topped with a larger thrifted tabletop, and stained concrete floors in a “Tuscan gold” color. I later repainted the floors a glossy chocolate to better coordinate with the house.
Patio, First House (8 Months In):
The inspector noted the patio “needed replacing,” but we initially planned to wait. Weeks before our backyard wedding, my mom worried guests would trip, so we hired pros to redo the patio in three days. Knowing how hard patios are to lay, we were glad to outsource it and focus on wedding plans instead of turning it into a half-finished project.
Back Yard, First House (8 Months In):
On our walk-through, I remember looking through a dining-room window and thinking, “All this could be ours.” The yard felt park-like and we kept it largely as-is for the wedding. Over time we grew weary of maintaining pea gravel paths and segmented grass, so we Craigslist’d the gravel and bushes (they were dug up and hauled away by folks who took them for free) and seeded a flat lawn — which Burger the dog appreciated endlessly.
So that’s how our first house looked around eight months in. Learning as you go through trial and error wasn’t the fastest route to a makeover, but it worked for us. We still use the same approach today — just with better knowledge of paint finishes, scale, and what styles we prefer. If your home is only a shadow of what you hope it will be, take heart: change takes time. Keep experimenting, learn what you love, and enjoy the process.