How to Make Your First Home Feel Like “Home”

For more military families, a PCS brings a lot of change. For me, it was the start of married life with my service member and our first home together. I left a familiar and comfortable home in New York City to embark on an amazing journey. Traveling was the fun part. Once the dust settled and we got all the moving boxes inside our first apartment, however, we had our work cut out for us.

All the furniture that filled our two-bedroom apartment was a dining room table and full-sized bed.

That’s it.

Lucky for us, we received a lot of our kitchen items from our wedding registry. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have pots, pans, plates—really anything that would allow kitchen use. My previous roomie had all the kitchen gear, so I never had to worry about it until now.

After we put away all our clothing, we made a list of things that we should get to fill in our home. Besides all the obvious items like a sofa, coffee table, etc., we wanted our first home together to feel like us.

Here are some tips that helped us put together our perfect first home:

1. Represent the home before the first home.

Find something that brings a little bit of where you’re from to your new home.

If you’ve read anything by me before, you probably know that I’m proudly from Texas. I found a couple of really cute steel Lone Star decals and hung them up in our bedroom and dining room. My husband is from Massachusetts, so I found a matching picture of our states and hung it in the dining room.

2. Make an area all about you (and let your spouse do the same).

Since I decided to work from home, we made the spare second bedroom into my office/guest room. I spend a lot of time in this room during the day, so I collected different pictures of New York City (my previous home) and hung them up on the walls. When I’m working, I have things that remind me of the city I left and which will always have a place in my heart.

3. Splurge (when you can).

We just couldn’t help but buy an awesome new HDTV. I’ve been living off watching on a 27-inch heavy square thing for practically my nine years in NYC. My husband pretty much used his computer screen. It was time to experience high definition. After a long day of work, we love to snuggle on our (brand-new) couch and watch our favorite show.

4. Start a collection of mementos.

Because of the military (and our own itch for travel), my husband and I were able to explore different places. We decided to create a display stand, so we can have a place to remember all our adventures. We have figures of the cruise ships we’ve sailed on and mini sculptures of the locations we’ve visited. It’s a nice way to keep the memories you’ve made in your relationship front and center. We love the constant reminder.

5. Understand your first home is a work in progress.

After we got everything on our list, it still felt like there were little things missing. It’s really difficult to get everything at once, and you shouldn’t worry about that. Take things as they come and remember not to overload either because you don’t know what your next home will be like. When we picked our furniture, we considered that we might have a bigger or smaller home next. We selected items that would easily fit into a differently shaped home. And of course, if it really doesn’t work, we’ll worry about that when the time comes. We can just be as prepared as we can and not stress about the little things.

The most important thing is my husband is now living under the same roof as me, and I couldn’t be any happier!