Four Tips to Help You Settle In to a New Home

As someone who moved six times in as many years, I’ve become something of an expert in what it takes to make a house feel like a home as quickly as possible. There’s always a period when you first move into a property where it feels like a hotel or someone else’s house, especially in new builds and renovations where all the pristine surfaces and the lingering smell of new paint gives the environment a showroom-like quality.

While this sensation always passes in time, there are things you can do to speed up this settling in process and make the most of the new home you’ve worked so hard for.

Plan Where Your Furniture Goes in Advance

You should plan in advance where each piece of furniture is going to go, whether you’re bringing it from your old home or buying new. Nothing is worse than being stuck with a sofa or wardrobe that doesn’t fit quite right no matter where you put it.

Self builds make the task of fitting in your furniture much easier. Depending on the scope of the build, we can even design the spaces with your furniture in mind, so everything fits to the millimetre. If you choose your furniture after the design is complete, you can send us the measurements and we’ll use our detailed floor plans and 3D drawings to show you exactly how it will fit.

Get Rid of Boxes As Soon as Possible

Moving is exhausting, especially after a self build where the final stretches are often stressful – even if everything went according to plan. Looking at the mountain of boxes in every room, it can be tempting to put off unpacking and shove them in a corner or hide them in the attic.

In my experience, boxes that aren’t opened in the first few days will end up lying there for weeks or more and boxes in the attic never get touched. It doesn’t matter if emptying the contents makes a mess or you don’t have a place for everything yet; you have years to sort through it all. You don’t need every sock draw to be perfectly arranged from day one, but I can guarantee that you won’t feel at home while there are boxes lying around.

Personalise Your Home

When I visit someone’s home, it’s the decorations that give the feeling that it belongs to someone. We all have those special, familiar items that we may carry from home to home that form a connection between us and the space to make it feel truly ours. These should be the first things you unpack. For me, a room feels empty until I’ve hung some art on the walls.

We know how important paintings, sculptures, mirrors and various other ornaments are to our clients, so we often arrange for the contractors to help install such items before the client moves in, so that the moment they first walk through the door there’s already a sense of familiarity and belonging.

Use Every Room and Facility

Most of our clients pursue a self build so that they can have more space. But if you’ve been accustomed to a certain sized house for a number of years, suddenly finding yourself with so much extra space can be hard to adapt to. Without even realising it, people often end up using the same amount of space they were before, with the rest ending up somewhat forgotten.

That’s why I encourage clients to make the most out of every room or new facility in their first few months. Change up your routines and experiment with your spaces and you may discover entirely different ways of living in your home. A private study may reignite dormant personal projects, a conservatory could be the perfect place for listening to music or the garden could become your favourite spot to eat dinner.

If you have a question about any part of the self build process, from the drawing board to the day you move in, feel free to get in touch with us by clicking here.