We put up all out bookcases and books and plants. Feels like home. We painted a couple of rooms but it'll take a while to redo the whole house little by little and it's old 1920 and I have no problem that it's well loved and well lived in.

First thing we did was bring a beautiful family room with huge windows and lots of potential from 1972 to 2014. Whew! Painted walls, wood trim became white and ugly beams on vaulted ceiling painted white. Plantation shutters added and we lowered the ceiling fan. This is the room we spend the most time in.

The rest of the house is still ongoing. We are hanging pictures but I haven't quite decided their permanent locations. We've gotten a few new ceiling light fixtures. We have bought a few area rugs.

We've been in a year and progress feels slow but it's coming along! We both work full time and have a toddler so we do what we can.

We bought new house and had to install patio and plantation shutters.

The thing we did to make it feel like home was to throw a bunch of legos in unexpected places and scatter various pieces of sporting equipment and shoes from the front door leading to the bedrooms

Seriously though, our first priorities were:

Tearing out the ivy next to the foundation which was home to a bunch of bugs and spiders, ick!

Replace all toilet seats

Replace all outlets

Repair and paint walls (tons of gouges and rough surfaces)

Replace chimney flue so we would have a safe fireplace for the winter.

Anonymous wrote:My mother immediately would replace the toilet seats. But that's her little quirk.

I think hanging art, personal decorations, and window treatments are the thing that makes it feel like home

You don't replace the toilet seats? OMG that's the first thing I do -- before we move in.

My mother immediately would replace the toilet seats. But that's her little quirk.

I think hanging art, personal decorations, and window treatments are the thing that makes it feel like home

Top to bottom paint, including doors and kitchen cabinets (builder grade oak)

Replaced carpet, but that was more of "necessity" than making it feel like home

The biggest thing to make it feel like home was getting it decorated.

The biggest thing was paint but I waited until we had been in a while. Then main upstairs bath. I need to be in a house for a while to decide the priorities. Also, we had some landscaping done that vastly improved the usable area of our yard and that was very important with little kids.
BUT--we immediately cleaned and repaired our fireplace because I knew I wanted to have fires during cold weather. Didn't wait for winter to do that.

Different level of priority:
1- Before moving in: painted all the walls white. Added a front fence. Took care of the basic safety repairs (adding smoke detectors everywhere, improving electric safety, improving outdoor grading, fix outdoors steps..)

2- when moving in: the window treatments, lighting and new better looking fans (hell those 3 things costed way more than I expected makes a big diff too though). Also of course the furniture/rugs/decoration/plants (we moved from a smaller place so had to buy)

3- In the first 3 months we did the floors and some more lighting: took out the family room carpet to replace with wood. took out the kitchen vinyl to replace with ceramic tile.

4- the projects for the coming 6 months/year, the kitchen, and the garage: paint kitchen cabinet, change the handles and change the countertops. Install smart efficient wall storage system in the garage

5- if we keep the house forever: upgrade bathrooms, add a pergola to the outdoor patio, add built in storage in the bedrooms and around the living room chimney, and finish the attic (even raise the roof if I keep on dreaming...)

Did the floors, painted, hung pics, set up plants.

We gutted the kitchen and powder room the first year, replaced all brass fixtures and painted everything. We're still working on the flooring (once remodel is finished).

same stuff as you OP - plus paint, swap out some lighting fixtures, and window treatments as needed. All the asthetic stuff.

LOL...clearly I'm asking people who have not moved into a new build..

Nothing. It was a new build.

When you bought your house, what were the first changes that you made to it?

For us it was to remove all the carpet, refinish the hardwoods, have the vents cleaned and change out all the brass fixtures.

What other things have you done to your new (to you) home?