It’s an exciting time, you’ve signed all of the paper work, crossed your T’s and dotted your I’s – you get the keys to your new place in a couple of weeks! You can’t wait to jump right into that new space and start decorating your new home.

Your mind is going a little bit stir crazy thinking about all of the things you need before you move because you really want to turn your new house into a home. Do I have a big enough couch to fit in the living room? Will my bed be too big for my new bedroom? Is there enough storage space for all of my precious items I have collected over the years? 

Maybe this is your first time ever living on your own, your first time being allowed to buy your own furniture and live in a space that you truly love (because your design style is probably a lot different then your parents.) The questions you ask yourself are endless. 

One question I seem to get asked a lot is “I don’t really know my design style yet, should I start decorating my new home anyways?” My answer is, No. I have always believed that you need to live in a space before you can truly start the decorating process. You need to really think about what you want your space to look like before you start buying big important pieces that you will (hopefully) have for a long time. 

Below I have provided a list of 5 very important things you need to do BEFORE you start purchasing furniture and accessories to start decorating your new home with.

1. TAKE PICTURES.

When you do your final walk through of the home you are moving in to, take lots and lots of pictures. This can help you visualize the space when you are planning your move.

Having photos to reflect on can help you see exactly where the previous owners had things like their sofa, or their bed. Did they have a mirror hanging at the end of the hallway, did it look good? Pictures help you really grasp the concept of what works and what doesn’t work.
If you are moving into an empty home this is a positive too. When the rooms are empty, you have a blank canvas to work with. You can start to visualize your favourite colours in the rooms instead of other peoples, it actually gives you an open mind when decorating your new home to see the rooms bare.

2. PINTEREST IS YOUR BFF!

Create a Pinterest board, or five, with all of the different design styles that catch your eye.

Do you love the look of that pink velvet sofa with the huge planter beside it? Pin it! Are you crazy about the wooden coffee table and side tables in another photo? Pin it! – you get the idea.

By doing this you will slowly create a place that you can turn to when you are figuring out your design style. You may notice that you do not have one specific style pined to your Pinterest board, but you can definitely mix styles together while still creating a cohesive space. 

Remember – this is YOUR home and decorating your new home should be fun and reflect you.

Pinterest – Organized Home Decor 

3. STICK TO A COLOUR SCHEME THAT YOU LOVE.

Don’t worry about what is on trend right now, since we all know trends come and go. Try to remember that you will want to have your investment pieces for a long time because they can be quite expensive.

It is easy to get lost in the beauty of current trends, but don’t forget that you can spruce up any room to be on trend with accessories like picture frames, vases, pillows and throws. Accessories are a lot easier to switch out then a couch would be. Turning your new house into a home does not have to be overly expensive.

Canva

4. KNOW YOUR MEASUREMENTS.

Before you make any final purchases, make sure you know all of your measurements.

Ask for a copy of the floor plan to your new home so you can start figuring out what fits where. You can draw on these floor plans too, which can help you figure out where you will put certain pieces of furniture.

Once you have measured everything and know pieces will fit you can start your purchasing.

Skylar Pointe

5. BRING WHAT YOU ALREADY OWN.

Bring what you already have and the rest will follow. All homes are built differently and sometimes certain pieces look amazing in one space and not so amazing in another.

If you have pieces that you still like, or are unsure about bring them with you. If you have them arranged in your space and realize you are not in love with them anymore, you can always keep them for the time being until you do find that perfect piece that you love.

When my boyfriend and I moved from one basement suite to another, we did not buy any new furniture until we were already living in the space. It is actually a funny story, we showed up in our moving truck and realized we could not fit our leather couch into the awkwardly shaped hallway of the new basement. That couch lived in the garage for 5 months before we finally purchased a new one and sold the old one.

Living in our space with no couch (and using a bench instead) helped us really figure out what shape and colour couch we wanted to invest in. We knew exactly what we wanted and after much searching, we found it. When it got delivered to our home we were thrilled by the way it looked and were so happy we decided to wait before making any impulse buys.

Wayfair

If you follow the 5 steps above I promise you, you will succeed in decorating your new home while creating a space you love and never want to leave. 

Unsure of your design style? Check out my 13 DESIGN STYLES THAT WILL GUIDE YOU THROUGH DECORATING YOUR HOME blog post.

Let me know if this post helped you in any way, or you have any questions about decorating your new home in the comments below!