I was lying in bed thinking about the random lessons we’ve learned during nearly seven years of homeownership and DIY projects, and I realized they might make a useful post. These are small, practical lessons—things we picked up the hard way or by experimenting—and while they’re not exhaustive, they may help someone else who’s learning as they go.
1. Don’t blindly follow one-line tips without checking whether they apply to your house. Short tips in magazines can be helpful, but they don’t replace thinking through whether a suggestion fits your specific situation. For example, we read that stuffing insulation into an unused chimney would stop heat loss. Seemed smart, so we shoved insulation up into the flue. A few weeks later, after heavy rain while my partner was out of town, I found dozens of tiny white maggots on the fireplace hearth. Turns out our chimney cap had a leak, the insulation got damp, and a fly laid eggs in the moist material. The larvae hatched and some crawled into the house.
We removed the insulation, cleaned up the mess, resealed the chimney cap with silicone caulk, and learned a simple rule: evaluate any quick tip in the context of your home’s current condition. What helps one house can harm another if you don’t consider things like moisture, ventilation, or local pests.
2. If a stump is a problem, grind it—don’t try to dress it up. We tried to make a planting bed on top of a large stump and kept working to make it look intentional. The result was awkward: a tree stump with a wooden octagonal planter that never felt right. Eventually we had the stump ground when we redid parts of the driveway for our backyard wedding, and it was worth the cost and effort. Removing the obstacle allowed us to use the space properly and avoid wasting time and money hiding something we didn’t like.
This idea applies more broadly: if you have an eyesore like dated wallpaper or bad built-ins, don’t design everything around it. If you dislike it enough to hide it, consider saving or scheduling time to remove or replace it. Invest in the change you actually want instead of spending energy trying to camouflage something that makes you uneasy.
3. Plant a safe distance from the foundation. Early on we planted shrubs and a dwarf tree closer to the house than we should have. It’s tempting to tuck greenery right up against the foundation, but plants need light, air, and room for roots. Planting a small tree four feet from the house may feel like a big gap while you’re standing next to it, but from the curb it looks fine and gives the plant space to thrive without threatening foundations, gutters, or siding. That extra distance also helps the plant get more sun and rain instead of being half-sheltered under the eaves.
4. Make spackle and drywall mud perfectly smooth before priming or painting. Primer and paint will amplify imperfections rather than hide them. Once paint is down, sanding flaws out becomes difficult because painted surfaces don’t sand the same as bare drywall or filler. Our routine now is to spackle, sand, and repeat at least twice when necessary to get a completely smooth finish before priming. It requires patience, but taking the time to prep properly saves time and frustration later, and yields a far better result.
5. Your first idea may not be your best idea—live with the space a while and think it through. One of the biggest lessons for us was resisting the urge to renovate immediately and instead living in the space to see how we used it. In our first house we initially planned to replace cabinets on the same footprint, but after thinking it through we rearranged walls and doors to create a much more functional U-shaped kitchen and added a bedroom by converting an adjacent dining room. In our current house we considered an island, then a banquet, and ultimately landed on a peninsula—an option we only discovered after exploring the space and our needs. Letting ideas mature usually leads to better, better-used design choices.
Those are five practical lessons we learned through trial and error. Some were messy learning curves, others were small changes in approach, but each helped us improve how we plan and execute home projects. What have you learned the hard way in your home? Share your experience—you never know who it might help.
