First House Vs. Current House: One Year Later: a house log

Q: I simply read an old post of yours where you compared your last house to your current one – and it looks like you preferred the old one in some ways because you had done more renovation, etc. I think it would be excellent if you did a do-over of that post now that it has been so long and you’ve done so much to improve your new house! – Thanks for all the inspiration, Sarah

A: You are right, it is high time we revisited this weird little comparison of our first house and our current one, so let us get right into it. It all began when someone (ironically also named Sarah) said this about a year ago: “I enjoy your videos and it is crazy to see the difference in YHL style from the first house to this house! If you hoped to do a side-by-side of rooms past and present, I would not hate it :)” We chose we would not hate it either, so we had some lively with it. And now over a year later it is baaaaack. It is a battle to the death. First house vs. current house. Cue the dramatic music and picture me singing while Simon Cowel says “you sound like a dog trying to lay an egg.” Of course it is kind of an unfair fight since we have only been in this house for 20 months and it took us four and a half years to finish our first one (and we certainly expect this one to take us a few more years since it is bigger and we have crazier plans) but on the other hand, after over six years of figuring out what we enjoy and learning by trial and error, we are certainly in a more confident place than we were when we began out, so some things have not taken us as time to figure out. Oh and we stole most of the current house pics from our House Tour page, hence the big “progress” label on the bottom of those. Anyway, it is on:

The Front Yard, First House:

The Front Yard, Current House:

Winner: The first house. Our current yard has certainly improved by leaps and bounds from the bushy overgrown lot that we inherited (you could not even see the house from the curb), but our first house took us over four years to upgrade it from this craziness, so we are guessing we still need a few more years with our current one (from other angles it still looks fairly rough).

The Front Porch, First House:

The Front Porch, Current House:

Winner: Tie? We in fact would give the front door win to our second house (we enjoyed the red but we lurrrve the yellow) but we still have big plans for boxing out the porch columns and staining the concrete and doing about a million other things at our new digs – and the hanging ferns and tan-and-cream stripes on the first house’s porch were a few of our go-to things. So… lame, but let us say it is a tie for now.

The Living Room, First House:

The Living Room, Current House:

Winner: Our current house. Although we are still hoping to upgrade things (like converting an old dresser into a media stand, etc) we never truly used our formal living room in the first house (we had a den for TV watching and chillaxing), so we feel tons more at home in the current living room where we can sink into our giant sofa and zone out.

The Kitchen, First House:

The Kitchen, Current House:

Winner: Our current house. This might be a you-have-to-be-here-in-person thing, but the floor plan and smaller size of our first house’s kitchen simply felt a lot more closed in and separated from other rooms and the new kitchen is truly the heart of our home (with two giant openings leading to the hall and the dining room and two other doorways that connect it to the office and living room). It is hard to explain, but when I am sitting at the peninsula approving comments while Clara plays on the rug by the fireplace and John cooks up something yummy for dinner, it is simply a pleasant place to be.

The Hallway, First House:

The Hallway, Current House:

Winner: Current house. We are so thankful to have a pleasant wide, light-filled hallway. And the giant family gallery of frames simply does it for us.

The Spare Bedroom, First House:

The Spare Bedroom, Second House:

Winner: The first house. Although this picture is stolen from an old post about how messy the playroom was before my mom helped me clean it, once again it looks nearly this ca-razy (and has a lot more major furnishings in there since it is full of secret book projects, hence the need to use an old pic). So yeah, the clean little room with a daybed and a desk made me a lot less sweaty and clammy. Someday I will show this room who is boss. Until then, the door will remain firmly closed.

The Nursery (Formerly The Third Bedroom), First House:

The Nursery, Current House:

 Winner: Current house. But it was a hard call. We enjoyed the room that we took Clara home from the hospital to so much. It simply was such a sentimental space. But the bigger closet in the current room (which Clara now uses as a reading nook) gives her newer room the edge. And we cannot wait to do a bit more in here, like add crown molding, paint the ceiling, refinish the floors, etc.

Our Bedroom, First House:

Our Bedroom, Current House:

Winner: Current house. Although the built-ins that we created with doorless Ikea wardrobes to flank the bed in our first house (and to provide some much needed storage) will consistently have a special place in our hearts, our new bedroom is easily the coziest room we have ever slept in. Especially since we rearranged everything and painted the walls a dark and moody color. And of course having a walk-in closet and a bathroom that is in fact connected is a large step up in the function department.

The Main Bathroom (located in the hall), First House:

Our Bathroom (in fact attached to our bedroom this time), Current House:

Winner: First house. By a mile. We enjoyed that complete bathroom gut job more than words can say. And although we did some small straightforward upgrades to our new one, it does not does not make us feel quite as shiny and proud as the first one did after a few months of serious work. But there is a chance that we will enjoy our current one more someday (perhaps after we redo the flooring like we have talked about) simply because it is attached to our bedroom and does not have to be shared by everyone else in the house.

The Office/Guest Bedroom/Playroom, First House:

The Office & Guest Bedroom (which are now separate rooms), Current House:

Winner: Current house. The office in our first house was such a strong multi-tasking space, but it was teeny and it made us feel a little cramped when we were all in there. And when guests came to town it was hard to do journal stuff (which certainly does not stop on nights and weekends) since the office was occupied by family & friends. So although our first home’s office/playroom/guest room was such a lively space, it is a lot more functional to have a separate office with a pleasant built-in desk and our own cheerful guest room (with its own attached bath) for guests.

The Den, First House:

Winner: The first house. 1) Because our current house does not have a den, and 2) Because our first house’s den was one of our go-to rooms ever – so cozy. Although the room that we call “the living room” in our current house could have been a secondary living space/den, we opted to turn what used to be a formal living room into a spacious dining room to accommodate our large family who could not squeeze into the dining room behind it (which we made into the office). We do not regret our decision to simply have one large casual room for TV, reading, playing, & hanging out, but we simply have a special place in our heart for the comfy den that our first enjoy – er, house, offered. I remember sitting on that sofa holding our newborn baby with Burger to my right and John to my left like it was yesterday. Sniffle.

Dining Room, Current House:

Winner: Current house. 1) Because those curtains are my babies and we are enamored with the dark teal color that we painted on the back of the built-ins, and 2) Because our first house did not even have a dining room (it simply had a dining nook in the corner of the living room). Well, originally it had a small dining room off of the other side of the kitchen but we closed off that doorway to turn it into a third bedroom which later became the nursery since we needed that space far more. It is all much more clearly explained here.

The Laundry Area, First House:

Laundry Area, Current House:

Winner: The current house. We enjoy our new laundry space. Even though it is narrow and we do not have a surface for folding, it simply feels happier. Plus we do not have to fight all of our normal human urges to resist clutterering up a big long counter near the door like we did in our first house (it was consistently full of incoming or outbound stuff). And it is more lively to fold laundry in front of the TV on the sofa in the living room anyway.

The Hall Bathroom, First House:

Hall Bathroom, Current House:

Winner: The first house. The stripes and the lively glass chandelier were so charming, and we enjoyed the pedestal sink and the pocket door too. But the new hall bath is not simply a toilet – there is a tub in there, which is where Clara takes all of her baths. So perhaps the current house wins for function but the first house wins for sweetness? Either way, that blank slate of a bathroom in the current house is begging for some enjoy, so we will count this as a point for the first house until we tackle the new one, since that was our first instinct.

The Sunroom, First House:

The Sunroom, Current House:

Winner: First house, all the way. We have about ten million things on the list for the current one though, so perhaps in a year or two it’ll give our first one a run for its money…

The Patio, First House:

The Patio, Current House:

Winner: Current house. Simply because it is more spacious and cozy/shaded. But most of all because we did it ourselves (we hired out the first house’s patio since we were three weeks away from our backyard wedding and worried that if we tried to Hands-on it we’d get married next to a half-wrapped up mud pit).

The Deck, Current House:

Winner: Current house. 1) Because we did not have a deck in our first house and 2) because John built this one with his bare, manly hands and I got to get it furnished. We cannot wait to stain/seal it and fix a few more things up out there (ex: hide the utility box, hang some shutters, paint the siding so it feels more balanced, etc).

The Basement, First House:

The Basement, Current House:

Winner: First house. Because we have obviously spent a little more time on the first one. Haha. But you never know what we will do down there with our current one as soon as we can make it not resemble a pile of junk…

The Backyard, First House:

The Backyard, Current House:

Winner: First house. We still miss that lovely flat grassy area surrounded by fairly woods. Someday we will hopefully make a little grassy spot for Clara and Burger to romp (after plenty of transplanting, I imagine).

So there you have it. I think the final tally is 10 to 8 with our current house squeaking ahead by two (last year when we did this our first house got a 9 and our current house got an 8 since we did not have the deck in the mix yet). It is interesting to see how our style is gradually evolving (more color/contrast/risks), although we will consistently have a soft spot for the tone-on-tone look of our first baby- er, house. And as for what is still on the agenda at this place, here is a big ol’ rundown that we shared a few months ago. What do you folks think? Have you ever looked at photos of your current house next to photos of a previous house to compare what you liked or disliked about them? Is not it funny how a new house is a chance to fully reinvent yourself, yet you are typically working with a lot of existing furniture, so it still has “glances” of your first house going on?

Psst- Check out a full source list for where we got nearly every last item (and what paint colors we used) in our first house here and our second house here.