When you move into a new house, it can feel very strange indeed. It will be either completely empty with no heart and soul, or it will still feel as though the people who lived there before still have an influence. It can be hard, even when you have arranged all of your furniture, to really feel at home there. However, there are some things you can do right away to ensure your house does start to feel more homely, and these little touches will help you to settle in much more quickly.
Floor Coverings
Although you might not look at the floor of your home very much, you are going to be using it all the time, and it can make a big difference when it comes to how comfortable and homely your property is. If you have hard flooring like wood or laminate, it’s a good idea to invest in some rugs. Rugs will warm the property up both in feel and look and will be more comfortable to walk on.
When you buy rugs, you will find that the house sounds better too. There will be a softness to the atmosphere since the sound is absorbed better. When you have plain flooring without a soft covering, the house might sound more echoey, and that doesn’t feel snug and homely.
Unique Possessions
The one thing that really makes a house into a home more quickly than anything else is having your own unique possessions around you. This will set your property apart from any other, and it will make you feel more at ease. When you can have your photos, ornaments, your portable record player, your souvenirs, and so on all around you, the house will look more like yours and feel much better. This will help you to start thinking of the property as your own home, rather than a house you have moved into, and once that starts to happen, you will enjoy being there much more.
Storage
Something that can cause a lot of problems when it comes to thinking of the property as a home rather than just a house is storage. If you move in somewhere and you have boxes of your things stacked up in various rooms for weeks or even months because you have nowhere to put anything, you will never truly feel at home – it will always feel temporary.
Having enough storage is, therefore, crucial. If there isn’t enough storage already in the house in the form of built-in cupboards, an attic, or perhaps a basement, then you should look for alternative solutions. Buying storage units that look good and will help you to unpack completely is a great idea; you can search for something that is going to suit the décor of the house, and it won’t look out of place even if it’s in a prominent place.
If there really is no room, then you might have to think about either decluttering and removing some of the items that you had intended to store completely or renting a storage locker to keep some of the items in until you can decide what to do with them.