Key first steps to take after moving into a new home

Key first steps to take after moving into a new home

Moving into a new home signals a very exciting time in your life. Better still, after avoiding the common buying mistakes you can enter your new home with 100% confidence. Still, there’ll be work to do upon moving in, even if the property feels perfect. Focus on the simple steps below to create a happy home environment in next to no time.

Make it safe

There is nothing more important than feeling safe inside your new home. However, the unfamiliar surroundings can make this a little difficult, especially if you’ve moved to a new area. A Smart home alarm system will instantly deliver the extra layer of protection that you deserve, while also putting your mind at ease. Moreover, it saves you from the emotional and financial fallout of an intrusion, which would ruin your relationship with the home.

In addition to human intruders, you must also implement the necessary steps to prevent pest infestations. When combined with smoke alarms and child-friendly items, where needed, the property will feel more homely.

Add personal touches

Even if you purchased a home that has been recently renovated and decorated, you need to stamp your own personality on it. The easiest way to do this is through personalised décor. This could include adding family photos, holiday souvenirs, memorabilia or awards around the home. Meanwhile, a handful of décor pieces that follow you from the old property create a smoother transition into the new home.

You can continue to embrace the character-defining features and unique elements that caught your eye in the first place. However, ensuring that the home feels like yours rather than a bland show home will make a huge difference.

Focus on function

When moving into a new home, you may have your eyes set on luxury additions. While they’ll certainly come at some stage, practical ideas should be your priority. Jobs like improving the shower pressure or fitting a Smart thermostat are a great starting point. Selecting the right window coverings in the bedroom to promote improved sleep habits is vital. And getting your storage under control should be on the list too.

Similarly, you should invest in the right appliances to make daily chores a little easier. This will mean you can spend more time enjoying the new property. Opting for eco-friendly products that protect your finances and the environment will help too.

Get to know the area

Finally, when moving into a new home, you’re not simply purchasing a property. It’s equally vital to acknowledge that you’re buying into a new way of life. Therefore, it’s vital that you get to know your surroundings. From the location of local shops and finding out the bin collection day to the best driving routes to work, the simple issues will help you settle sooner. With this in mind, you should try to implement those steps ASAP.

If you’ve moved to an entirely new location, networking and making friends is crucial too. It will go a long way to making the property feel like home, which should make you feel a lot happier in the process. You’ve got this!

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5 ways to make your new house a home

5 ways to make your new house a home

Your new build house is crisp, clean and… a bit lacking in character. While you’re thrilled to own it, you’d really like to add a few touches that reflect your and your family’s tastes and lifestyle, transforming it from being just a house into a real home.

Luckily, you don’t have to upend the kids’ toy chest in the middle of the lounge floor just to make your house feel lived in! After all, you’d like to keep things tidy. A few little jobs around the house and garden, and you’ll start feeling more settled. Let’s get to work creating a comfy feel, working from the outside in, to make your new house a home.

1. A curbside welcome

Designers often use the ‘journeys’ people make through spaces to shape the way they experience them. You’ll do the same kind of thing starting at the curbside. Begin by shopping for custom address plaques. Thinking of giving your house a name as well as a number? Even better! It doesn’t have to be anything pretentious – it could even be amusing. What you choose reflects the character of the family that lives within those four walls. If you’re a keen gardener and have a border along the pavement, add your special touch here too.

2. Up the garden path

Now that you’ve seen to the initial steps in creating a sense of place, it’s time to continue the journey. There are many little details you can add that inject interest to the walk from your gate to your front door. Apart from using your favourite plants, consider adding some garden statuary or an ornamental water feature to welcome friends and family as they approach your house. The area around the door is particularly important since it’s a place where people pause. An attractive collection of potted plants is a good start, but don’t overlook the vertical wall space. Use it to display a carefully-chosen artwork, antique, or object of interest.

3. Moving indoors

Clutter is a definite no-no, but a minimalist interior can seem rather cold and impersonal. Scatter cushions and throws can make a huge difference in transforming the sterile look of a new home into something altogether warmer, friendlier and more personalised. When it comes to paintings and objects d’art, be selective. It’s better to choose one or two statement pieces than it is to fill the space with tons of knick-knacks. And while you aren’t planning to leave things lying about, a well-chosen coffee table book or two help to make the space more interesting with a lived-in-look that isn’t in the least bit messy.

4. Throw your heart into the kitchen

In the kitchen, you can really let your hair down and have a bit of fun. Brighten it up with your children’s artworks, flowers picked from your own garden, a display of your heirloom china and glassware or anything else that says ‘family’ to you. After all, it’s considered the heart of the home, and home is all about family. I love adding vintage touches like an old set of scales or granny’s handed-down mixing bowls – and no matter how modern your kitchen is, a vintage touch here and there won’t look out of place.

5. Comfortable and personal bedrooms

Assuming the basics are already there, each bedroom’s owner will add their own personal touches they like. If you have small children, they’ll need a bit of help, but you already know what they like best, even if you don’t altogether agree with their tastes. So, if your daughter wants to plaster the walls with music fan posters, or your son wants to decorate with model dinosaurs, that’s their choice. In your own bedroom, you and your spouse can reign. Work together to create a restful atmosphere in which you can both relax after a busy day.

There’s no wrong way to do it

No matter how much you like your new house, the ways you choose to make yourselves at home personalise it. What you do depends entirely on you, and there are no wrong or right ways to do it. Turn getting settled in into a family project in which you take everyone’s preferences into account. It can be fun too!

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Helpful tips to remember when purchasing furniture for a new home

Helpful tips to remember when purchasing furniture for a new home

Furnishing a new home is either a fun experience or a really daunting one, depending on who you are. Some people love the idea of playing around with furniture and décor to get their home looking the way they want; others… not so much. Part of the challenge in furnishing a new home is finding the right furniture to put inside of it. You want to ensure that your furniture looks the part and blends well with the rest of your furniture, but this can be a lot harder than it sounds.

In this post, we’re going to share a couple of useful tips to help you purchase the right furniture for a new home. We’re also going to offer a bit of advice on how to style your rooms so that you don’t end up with mismatched furniture that looks out of place.

Matching neutral wooden furniture

Furniture should be kept simple if you’re struggling to find a good colour combination

Colour combinations are important to make a room feel a bit more coordinated. Interior design experts normally suggest using a relatively simple neutral colour palette to keep things simple. However, if you want to be a little more expressive, then you can mix simple colours such as white and beige with something that stands out like purple, red or a deep blue.

Sofa bed in a light filled loft room

Furniture should serve multiple purposes if you’re looking to make the most of a small space

If you’re looking to make the most of a small space then you may want to consider multi-purpose furniture that can do multiple things. For example, you could look for good sofa beds for sale if you want your lounge area to double as a temporary bedroom for when you have guests over, or if you just want a comfortable spot to lounge in.

There are plenty of other ideas like this that can help you make the most of a space. Even something small such as a footstool that doubles as storage can be really useful. Don’t underestimate the power of multi-use furniture as it’s a brilliant way to save precious space and also helps reduce the number of difficult decisions you need to make when purchasing furniture for a new home.

Tan 3-seater leather sofa

Furniture will last a lot longer if you take proper care of it

If you’re going to buy furniture, then you should also invest in equipment or products to take better care of it. For example, you should consider buying leather care products if you’re investing in a leather sofa, and you may want to think about buying protective covers if you want your furniture to last as long as possible.

This is a relatively small investment to make your furniture last longer. However, you can also extend the life of your furniture by simply investing a bit more when buying it. And that brings us to our next tip.

High quality dark wood dining room table and chair

Furniture should be high-quality so that you don’t need to replace it prematurely

Another tip is to always invest in durable high-quality furniture. While it’s understandable that you might want to try to cut down on furniture expenditure, it’s a good idea to minimise future expenses by investing now in something that’s much better quality. Purchasing high-quality furniture might seem expensive at first but it’s a great investment for years to come. When purchasing cheaper furniture from places such as IKEA, you can expect to replace the furniture in a few years because it’s not really built to last a lifetime unless you opt for a more premium option.

However, it’s also worth mentioning that you don’t want to buy something that’s completely out of your price range. There comes a point where your investment doesn’t give you a more durable piece of furniture and instead, you’re paying more for a designer tag. So, if you’re going to spend more on furniture for longevity, do a bit of research to see what brands offer long-lasting pieces of furniture that you can rely on to last for years to come.

Vintage teak sideboard

Furniture can be bought second-hand if you’re looking to cut costs or get something unique

Remember that second-hand furniture is completely fine to purchase if you’re looking for something a bit more unique or if you want to cut down on the cost of furniture. Don’t hesitate to look around on local listings to see if anyone is selling or even giving away an unwanted piece of furniture. With a bit of care, you should transform it into something beautiful and have it fit in well with the rest of your home.

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Creative ways to put your stamp on your first home

Creative ways to put your stamp on your first home

Buying your first home is a thrilling time. If you’ve spent years in the neutral shades of rental properties, getting your first home means you can finally let your creativity flow with interior design and decoration..

House floor plan

Decide on a layout

This is the first thing you should do when moving into your new home. Decide where you want things to go and experiment with different layouts until you find the perfect combination of cosy and functional. You will want a good flow to your home, so if you’re bringing items from a previous house, you should ensure that they’ll fit well and if not consider investing in some new furniture.

Illustration of bedroom with bed on a circular rug

Flooring

Flooring can make or break the look of a home so you should make sure you consider what you choose carefully. While carpeting is a popular choice, having polished wood flooring with a statement rug could be the perfect way to inject your style into the home.

If you do opt for carpeting, you should always choose the very best quality. Carpets, particularly in areas where there is a lot of footfall, will need to be hard-wearing to last for years to come.

Illustration of hous with a huge front door key

Consider buying a new build

New houses are perfect for making a home entirely yours. They’ll never have been lived in, so provide the perfect blank canvas for anyone who’s been itching for the chance to show their interior decorating skills. You should find a home with a quality housing developer like Castle Green Homes that combines functionality with style and empowers you to get the most out of your new home.

Illustration of a wallpapered wall

Create a statement wall

There’s some gorgeous patterned wallpaper out there to choose from, but papering an entire room with statement wallpaper could be overkill. Instead, you could have a single wall with a bold and bright pattern and paint the remaining walls in more neutral, complementary shades.

You can then tie in the rest of the room to your statement wall with accessories and furniture in colours and styles that suit it.

Illustration of a modern fire

Get creative with heating options

If your new home has a fireplace, consider buying a new fixture to heat the room in winter. There are countless gorgeous options available, from electric wood-burner style heaters to faux fireplaces.

A fireplace is a great way to give a room a focal point and to make larger rooms cosier and more intimate places in which to spend time.

Illustration of packets of seeds and watering can

Don’t forget the garden

No matter the size of your garden, you’ll be able to find the perfect way to put your stamp on the exterior of your home. You could consider hanging baskets if your garden space is limited and outdoor furniture to help you make the most of the warmer months.

Nurturing a green oasis is a great way to make your home your own. This can be low effort if you don’t have much time to tend a garden, by planting easy-to-grow, low maintenance flowers like native wildflowers and evergreens.

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