Moving into a new house is an exciting time, but it can also be frightening. Relocating to a brand new area away from friends and families is certainly daunting. New houses often come with minimal furnishing and can seem isolating or devoid of personality. Here’s how to make them feel like home quickly.
#1 Change the color scheme
Applying a fresh lick of paint is the first thing that most people will do when moving into a new home. Painting walls is easy and doesn’t take a great deal of time or expense, but it can have a dramatic effect on how the house feels. By changing the color scheme, you’re applying your unique personality to the living space. That might mean a bold new color or something more laid back and relaxed. Whatever you choose, a paint job is the easiest way to put your stamp on a new property. Interior design specialists like Nativa Interiors will help you go one step further. Rather than just applying a coat of paint, they’ll help you to rework your interior with a coherent color scheme that perfectly matches your personality.
#2 Hang photos
Photographs of family, friends and happy memories are a fantastic way to personalize your home and make it feel like yours. This is especially true if you’ve moved far from home. A house should embody your life, complete with memories and the people who are important to you. Photographs immediately make a new home feel more familiar. You might even get creative with your photos, collecting them in quirky multi frames or developing them into large canvas prints.
#3 Display art
The same applies to hanging your favorite artworks. Studies have shown that simply looking at art can relieve feelings of stress, making you feel much calmer. That effect is even stronger if you’re hanging some of your favorite art from your previous home. Art is a representation of your personality. By putting it on display you immediately imprint some of yourself onto the new property, making it feel more like it belongs to you.
#4 Bring in the plants
Much like art, plants have a psychologically calming effect that makes them an indispensable part of any home, new or old. Plants ease symptoms of anxiety and they also purify the air, which has a range of separate, physical benefits. There are lots of different house plants to choose from, including large floor plants, beautifully trailing greens and smaller plants grown for shelves. Caring for plants is quite straightforward. Most only need to be watered once per week.
#5 Make it lighter
Not all homes suffer from this problem, but low light is unwelcoming and can make a property feel dead and cold. It’s not always possible to usher in more light simply by opening the curtains, but you can add lighting fixtures to up the brightness levels. This is especially important in main living spaces like the lounge, dining and cooking areas, where low light can be truly dismal. Elsewhere, adding features like electronic candles makes all the difference in bedrooms. Some people might go even further and enlarge windows to truly bring the outside in.
