When did your new house start to feel like home,

[Wherefore]

I recently bought my first house after years of renting. Of course, the first few weeks in the new house felt strange, but I was expecting it would feel a bit more like "home" by now. It got me thinking - when does a new house start to feel like home? After a first Christmas maybe? A whole year cycle?

We moved in the week before Christmas, but had spent quite some time cleaning/decorating it before we moved in. We had a lovely Christmas with my mum and family and it certainly felt like home then. Now it is 12 years later, we have redecorated every room, had a small extension built, new kitchen, new windows and front door - it feels even more like home now.

About six months for me. I had been away for a few days and coming back started seeing landmarks and thinking "ah nearly home".

We had the whole house redecorated, that helped a lot, and changing everything bit by bit... new lights, new carpet etc. Made it feel more mine. So about six months?

We moved a few weeks before Christmas and that first one I was pretty miserable, in a house that didn't feel like mine. I’m MUCH more excited by this Christmas approaching now!

I do feel homesick for my last (rented) house though because I was so happy there, even though this place is twice as big and suits us better.

When I started entertaining others round 'ours'. Saying things 'come to our place for a bbq' helped it sink in that it was ours, and the fact that I could have a few drinks and not worry about getting home. And having to clean up afterwards!

We bought our house in late 2020 and as we had to do a lot of renovating, probably only this year.

It takes about 6 months for things to feel like home - whether that’s an actual new home or moving to a new area.

It took a while for me, 5 or 6 months. We had a new build, our second home so we had to leave 1st house, hand over keys to new buyer and wait for money to hit our account, pay money into sellers account and wait for it to land to get our keys. All in a few hours. Meanwhile our whole lives were in a moving van and we had no where else to go. All went well and we arrived into a house with no floors, appliances or window dressings with 3 kids, 2 who still needed bedtime routines so we had plastic bags on our windows. We showered at a local swimming pool until we got tiling done in the bathroom. The next few weeks were so stressful organising deliveries and getting used to everything new, garden was a mess and we lived on a building site so kids couldn't play outside. I remember waiting about 5 months for the sitting room to be done with carpets as we had to save and then suddenly it was a functioning home. But i missed my old place terribly at the start. About 3 weeks in I was very teary and stressed and wished we hadn't moved. We are 6 years here now and consider ourselves very lucky, it's everything a person could wish for but was hard earned at the time.

We lived in our last house for 15 years and despite redecorating multiple times including putting in 2 new kitchens it never felt like home to me!
The house we have just moved into felt like home the day after we moved in.

Objectively the last house we owned was better, it was bigger, more modern etc but it just never translated into a good vibe for me.
The new house is smaller and slightly shabby in comparison and I love it 😊

That's really interesting -- I feel that houses have a kind of personality, and sometimes it just isn't the right match!

It really wasn't! I used to wander around looking at the house and I knew I should absolutely love the place. I just couldn't, it never felt like my home🤷‍♀️
I have been I'm my new house about a week and I am already completely settled, I can't explain it.

Interesting thread. I bought my house myself, live alone. I agree it did feel a bit strange to begin with. It is a new build so it really was empty rooms all white walls. I moved in the September and I would say the cosy run up to Christmas was probably when it felt like mine. I always say this to people who have just moved, take your time, there's no rush to paint, see the walls in different colours in different seasons. I enjoy making mood boards on Pinterest sometimes I'll change a room for the season just with different cushions / bedding / move mirrors and pictures around. As the new house was a money pit I focused on the lounge as I knew that's where I'd be spending most time over Winter. Had fun in Dunelm / Range on rainy Sundays just browsing and picking up bargain. You maybe haven't had a chance to style it yet but I think that's where it felt more homely

It took me over a year , we only moved for another bedroom for 3rd child and i was very happy and loved my old home and neighbours , i still have the odd dream about staying in my old house but i really love my home now.
My husband said our new house felt like home for him on day one.

Last house - lived there 15 years and it never felt like home.

This house - the first night.

We have lived in several houses most quickly felt like home .One we never unpacked all the boxes and moved after 2 yrs , had decorated everywhere etc but just never felt like ours .Currently we are week 2 in our new house after 20 plus yrs in previous one .It already feels like home and ours .We haven't really done much bar unpack and put pictures up etc , what has been nice is seeing how different our bits look in a different setting .Some have really taken on a staring role