Four Design Tips for a Smooth Move into Your Next Home
So you're moving into a new home, huh? Hooray! While I know that it can be super exciting to have a new space to design and decorate, I also know that it can feel a tad overwhelming at times. There are so many decisions to make! Will your current furniture work? What new pieces will you need to buy? Are you starting from scratch in some rooms? What about paint colors? It can be a lot.
I'm a big believer that with a little bit of planning and guidance, you can decrease the overwhelm, avoid costly mistakes, and begin the journey of creating a home you love.
Now, everyone’s situation will be different in terms of what their new home needs and what you’ll need to do to make it yours over time, but in those first few crazy days and weeks, I find that every move has a few things in common to get a home up and running. The four tips I’ll share here speak to those and will smooth the way for you to get started on specific projects in the future. Consider them as a runway of sorts to set you up for success as you embark on that fun process of decorating a new home!
1. Think about function first
Let’s be honest, when you move, it typically feels like you’re living in the middle of a tornado for much too long! Take a spin through your new home (or study those real estate photos for the 500th time if you haven’t moved yet!) and make a list of what it needs to be functional. The faster you can get the basics settled, the more at ease you’ll feel, and the more mind space you’ll have to start thinking about the decorating projects you’d like to tackle in your home.
When I’m talking about function, I’m thinking of basic things like:
Window treatments (especially in bedrooms!)
Furniture that makes it possible for you to sit, eat, and sleep
Lighting like lamps and overhead fixtures
Don’t worry about making your whole house look pretty just yet - this is truly all about function!
Now, this list assumes you’re not trying to tackle any major renovations before you move, but those are obviously important to consider if they’re on your list! Here we’re just talking about moving straight into a finished house.
2. Do a little space planning before you move your furniture
If you can, get room measurements in advance. This makes SUCH a difference on moving day! Then you can map out where you want different pieces to go. Using a software like Homestyler is a quick and easy way to try out different arrangements and you can also figure out what you’re missing/need to purchase down the road. Check out my tutorial for Homestyler in Design School 101 if you’d like a quick into for how to use it.
Moving also gives you a great opportunity to try pieces you already own in different spots. You may find that what worked in your current place doesn’t line up with the floor plan of your new one, so certain pieces need a new place to land! For example, when we moved from Philadelphia to Richmond, I had a wall-mounted bookshelf in my office in Philly. My workspace in our Richmond home didn’t have a natural spot for a bookshelf, but the wall by our front door did! It ended up being a perfect fit.
3. Make a list of what you’ll need to purchase for your new home
My Type A side is going to shine through on this one - it’s time to make a spreadsheet! Grab a copy of the Budget and Item Tracker from Design School 101 and make a new tab for each room in your home. List out all the pieces of furniture and decor you want to purchase for that space.
Just focus on making a list - don’t panic about the dollars just yet or feel like you need to purchase things right away (you can create a budget for them later!). Consider this your place to do a brain dump for now. When you’re ready to tackle a particular space, you’ll be able to refer back to that list and make an action plan for how to find/purchase those pieces.
4. Don’t paint right away
Paint can truly transform a room, especially if it’s currently painted a terrible color (or even one that’s just not your style!). When I say don’t paint right away, what I mean is that I don’t want you to go to a paint store, pick a color off of a tiny swatch, and bring home five gallons of that color because you think it looked pretty in the paint aisle.
I know that it’s easy to get excited about painting everything immediately because hey, isn’t that what you always do when you move into a new home? While a fresh coat of paint can truly work wonders for a space, most paint color mistakes are made when people pick a color quickly from a tiny swatch without thinking it through all the way to make sure that it’s truly the right one for that room.
If you can, I usually encourage waiting to choose paint colors until you can get samples and observe them in your particular room’s environment to make sure they work well. An even better option is to wait to choose paint colors after you get your furniture in there. I know it’s harder to paint with furniture around, but it can be worthwhile to do it in that order if you can to make sure it’s done right the first time!
Once you’ve got some basics settled in your home, then you can move on to tackling specific projects and shopping for any new pieces you have for your home!
What do you think of this list? Is there anything you’d add from your moving experiences?
(On a side note, if you haven’t checked out Design School 101 yet, I’d encourage you to hop over there to dig into more specifics on how to design the different rooms in your home.
