When you first move into your new home, it may seem emptier than you expect. It’s perfectly normal to feel that way, but consider it as a chance to reinvigorate your personal space. Before you run out the door in a flurry of cash, plan out your purchases one by one. Look for inexpensive sources of furniture and decorations to keep your place stocked in the meantime. Style your home to your tastes to make your own personal haven.
1. Bring over and assess what you already have. You won’t have enough to furnish your entire home, but that’s okay. You don’t need to start over from scratch. Arrange all of your old furnishings in your home, thinking about which ones are worth keeping. Try to avoid hanging onto anything broken or things you never plan on using.[1]Sort your items out before you move them to your new home. It may save you some money in moving expenses. You could also sell your old items for extra pocket change to put toward new furniture.Be cautious about throwing away anything useable. That old couch may not be what you want in your new home, but it’s worth keeping if you don’t have a replacement yet.
2. Go room by room to figure out what you need to buy. Sit in each room for a few minutes. Bring a pad and paper along to write down any furnishings you can think of. Plan out each room as much as you can to keep a running list of what you need to fill the space. Don’t forget to spend time in any smaller areas you have, like foyers and hallways.
Focus on small items as well as big ones. Furniture like couches, chairs, and beds are the easiest to put on your list, but get specific. Consider features like appliances, lamps, and picture frames as well.
3. Rank your rooms by priority according to how often you use them. Aim on furnishing the most used areas of your home first. Typically, the bedroom and living room are the ones to focus on, but it depends on your home. Get the most out of these rooms by decorating them first. Break it down further by ranking the furnishings in each room by necessity.[3]Since you’re going to spend more time in some rooms compared to others, it makes sense to put more effort into decorating them. The side rooms can wait. Furnish them as much as possible for now and add to them over time.
4. Create a floor plan to figure out how much room you have to work with. If you don’t get a floor plan when you move in, sketch one yourself. Note where the important features are, such as the windows, walls, and vents. If you need to, measure the width and height of these features so you know how much room you have left for furnishings.[4]Use the floor plan as a guide when you’re designing the room and choosing furniture for it. For example, the fixtures determine where you can put certain objects. You wouldn’t put a big bookcase in front of a window or in a room with a low ceiling.Keep in mind that furniture often looks bigger when you get it home than it does at the store. Have your floor plan handy to use as a comparison before making a purchase.
5. Purchase the most essential items for your main rooms first. The items you use most frequently are the most important to have. As a starting point, look for a bed, a sofa, and a few chairs. You might already have a few of these items. In that case, move on to filling the rooms with less important items like nightstands, cabinets, and decorations.[5]Since the essentials are so important, buy for quality over a quantity. A good mattress with quality sheets will likely last you much longer than a cheap set that gives you back pain. You don’t need a set of uncomfortable chairs, just a few you don’t mind relaxing on.The extra chairs help a lot for times when you have guests over. The amount you need depends on how often you have people over and how many you invite.
