One thing nobody tells you about home ownership is that you're going to have to live in a place for a while after buying it to really figure out all of its shortcomings and all the things you need to do to make it better. It's really one of the more frustrating parts of life that you can't give a home a test drive like you can for a car, even though it's such a huge purchase.
The good news, though is that lots of people have been there before us and have shared little tips and tricks and cool ideas that make life in general, not just home ownership, that much better.