How to decorate a new house to make it feel like home
Summary:
When you just moved into a new home, the thought of decorating the whole house is exciting and monumentally overwhelming at the same time. You don’t want to live out of boxes for the next 6 months, so where you start decorating depends on what you need most from your new home.
Before you start decorating, prioritize your home by prioritizing your life. This post will help you figure out what matters most in your new home and what you can do right away to start decorating your new place the right way.
“How do I decorate my home after moving?”
I don’t know — you tell me. Kidding, but serious!
Moving is exceptionally overwhelming, and depending on who you are, you’re going to need a design and decorating strategy that works for you.
I have a Home Alchemy Archetype Quiz you can take to get a better reading on your own situation, so you may want to take that before or after reading on.
It’s like I’m looking at a really exciting nightmare
Before You Design, Go Inside
Inside the Home Alchemy Method, I help students craft their own personal style, and then apply it to their homes in 7 simple steps. I call this DIT — do it together — because we work together to design your space instead of you spending months figuring out how to DIY on your own.
When you’ve just moved though, you need to figure out what to do first.
Prioritizing what matters to you will help you feel settled faster and keep you motivated on the days you feel ok about living out of a moving box 😅.
I created some prompts to help you do that.
Choose which statement resonates the most:
This is a fresh start for me. I’m not sure how to go about decorating, but I really want to make it feel like me. I’ve never had that before so I don’t know where to start.
This next chapter is on my terms. I need my home to be my sanctuary, and I want it to look like me through and through. There’s just so much to do to get there.
I want to feel settled quickly. Moving is such a hassle, but I don’t just want to throw things together. I want to get this done right the first time.
I don’t want to settle for “good enough” here. This is my chance to really get creative in my new space. I want a jaw-dropping home, but I’m not sure how to make that happen.
Based on what resonates with you the most, here’s my best advice for decorating your new home:
Design for a Fresh Start
If this is you right now, what you need to do first is get a small, quick win.
Pick the room that feels easiest — maybe it’s just a hallway, bathroom or laundry room and go all in. Have fun with it, experiment and make it a place you really like being in during this transition time.
When rooms get hard or confusing, revisit what worked or what felt easy about your “little win” room. It’s a big deal.
Design for a Reset
If you’re done doing life based on other people’s expectations and you’re ready to design your home your way, start with the most restorative room and design it completely.
This might be your bedroom, your reading nook or the bathroom where you take luxurious bubble baths.
Designing a whole house is a lot, so you need to create just one space that you can retreat to when everything else feels like too much.
Design around what you need most right now. Prioritize yourself.
Design for a Busy Life
Moving is inconvenient and a major time suck, but rushing through unpacking and decorating will just keep you feeling chaotic because rooms will just be thrown together.
The best way to tackle your space right now is to get your most high-traffic room designed and settled first.
This might be your kitchen, office or bedroom, but whatever it is, ground the busiest room. That way you’ll feel settled in the place you use the most, which will keep you from rushing the rest of the house.
Design for Your Dream Home
If getting into this new house is your chance to design the dream home you’ve always wanted, pick a room to go really bold. Just one.
Maybe you go with an insane paint color or outrageous piece of furniture — or you just go wild top to bottom. Just pick one room to be your laboratory while you step into your new design era.
You’ll have less opportunities to second guess and scare yourself and more opportunities to see how taking a risk is the only way to grow.
7 Steps to a New Home
Once you know your decorating objective, so to speak, then you can take yourself through actually decorating one step at a time.
The Home Alchemy Method is a 7-Step Room Redesign framework that helps you translate your inner world to your outer space by figuring out what kind of home you need (and actually want) and then making it real in the home you have now.
I mentioned the Home Alchemy Archetype Quiz already, and it’s where I have new students start before they begin the Home Alchemy Method. If you haven’t taken it yet, do that now to help you figure out what’s holding you back from the space you’re craving and what you can do right now to get a little closer to home.
This is the perfect place to start when you’re starting in a new place.
Written from home,
Liz
P.S.
To stay in touch, subscribe to the Home Alchemy Archive newsletter! I’ll drop you a few “welcome” emails, then you’ll hear from me twice a week right in your inbox.
