Long distance moves are a huge challenge financially, as to time management, and in regard to the the stress that comes with doing something unfamiliar that will affect your life for many years to come.
Even just moving across town can be a major life disruption, and that’s only compounded when it’s an interstate or even cross-continent move. How do you handle interior decorating in the wake of the seeming chaos and time-crunch that typically accompanies a long distance relocation?
Using a reputable moving company, like Platinum Furniture Removals, to handle your furniture and other items in transit, will give you peace of mind and ensure your household goods arrive at your new home when you do (even if you fly and let the professional movers do all the road travel!)
But what about when you get there? How will you get your new home looking its best on a hectic schedule without living in a stressful, cluttered environment for weeks on end?
Here are 7 key tips to follow that will help you redecorate after a long distance move:
1. Plan Ahead Before You Move
You should already be perusing online photo galleries of buildings similar to the one you are buying, to get a good idea of the ways others have achieved a look you love. Start an idea book, list features you’d like to include and prioritize them, and sketch out the floor plan based on a blueprint or accurately taken measurements.
With ideas already brewing in your head as to what you will do with your new spaces, you’ll be motivated to jump right into it when you first arrive.
2. Immediately Make It Feel Like Home
After both you and your possessions arrive at their new home, begin by sweeping out the place and doing a basic clean up so you won’t be living in a dirty house from day one. Then, have all major pieces of furniture placed so they don’t have to be moved again and so you can focus smaller pieces are around them later on.
Then, immediately go through all your boxes to pull out the things you need right away, and stack the other boxes neatly in a room you won’t use for a while. Set up your bedroom, one bathroom, and basic kitchen decor first since this is where you’ll spend most of your time – it will make it feel like home even before you’re fully unpacked.
3. Put On a Fresh Coat of Paint
One of your very first decorating moves, after a move, should be to repaint everything. Even if you don’t change the color, a fresh coat of paint will brighten up the place and spare you painting around or moving each room’s furniture and decor later, once you do get around to painting.
Thus, start thinking of a color scheme early on. And use color coding to match walls and ceilings to elements in the furniture, lamps, curtains, and more. Use color to unify the room.
4. Budget & Prioritize
Don’t try to tackle the whole house all at once. Outfit the most critical rooms first. Buy all must-haves before should-haves.
Better to finish one to three rooms of the house and have them to live in and retreat to while the rest is unfinished, than to have partial clutter and incompleteness surround you everywhere in the building.
5. Reorganize As You Go Along
As you begin to make progress room by room, you will probably still have unopened boxes stacked in storage. You may still have furniture, pictures, and miscellaneous items still packed up.
That’s ok. It might take 2 to 4 weeks to fully organize everything, buy the new items you need, and put on the finishing touches. Be patient, and don’t rush it – better to go slow but achieve the desired result.
Anyone who has ever moved, especially interstate, understands how difficult it can be to redecorate and reorganize the new home. These 5 steps may not make it “easy,” but they’ll make it “easier” at least and save you some time, money, and stress.
