The 5 common mistakes to avoid when you move into a new place

Hi all,

Hope you've had a good weekend and are enjoying your Sunday afternoon.

For my part, I have three baskets full of clothes I need to fold and put away but can't be bothered.
I rather chill on my sofa and daydream about all the clothes and furniture I would buy if I was rich.
Lame!!!

A good thing that comes out of spending so much time on my sofa is that I can really take the space in.
What I mean by that is that often when you move into a new place, you bring along pieces of furniture that have been following you for a while.
If you're lucky, you might be moving into a bigger home where space and the amount of stuff you bring along with you will not be a problem.
But for the rest of us (renters especially) we can find ourselves in a bit of a pickle with furniture that do not fit our new place's layout.

Sometimes, we might be left with crap excuse me, furniture, that lazy landlords can't be ask to take away with them or simply don't want to spend cash to get rid of.

I have a beautiful and barely wardrobe and chest of drawers set I have to sell because our new place comes with fitted wardrobes. Horrible ones of course.

The wardrobe cannot fit upstairs so has taken quarters in the living room for the past six weeks.
Needless to say, I'm getting fed up.

This issue brings me to talk about the most common mistakes people do when they move in and why you should not repeat them:

1) Do not buy any furniture before you actually move in

Firstly, you're going to have to move it. That could be an extra charge with the movers, you could damage it during the move or you might simply realize that it is the wrong size once you set foot in your new home. Remember, most of the time you will have only seen your new home, once for a maximum of 10 minutes. These 10 minutes will not give you enough time to judge square meters, ceiling height and wall spaces!

2) Sell, give or donate all the items you do not want to take with you and this for the same reasons as above

3) Wait at the very least a month before you paint the walls (at the condition of course that your tenancy agreement allow you to do so)

It will take you about that long to get rid of all your boxes. Then, once all your things are out you might actually start to get a feel of what colour might actually work best with them.
You will also start to get accustomed with the natural light of your new home. This will play a big part on choosing your paint colors.

4) Take time before buying new items

Draw up maps of each room, decide which items will fit best and do some research. Do not just buy that purple sofa just because there's a 50% off offer on it and you always dreamed of owning one! Make sure that it is the right dimensions and that it fits the overall look of the room. Get up! Go to garage sales, go to your nearest Zara Home store and touch the fabrics of these lovely curtains. Do not rely on their online site to do that for you!

5) Use Pinterest and Instagram

I am an advocate of Pinterest. I don't have Instagram and don't know how to use it but surely that can't be difficult.
I absolutely Pin everything and anything I like. From a bed sheet colour to a mid-century sideboard.
I have a very eclectic sense of style when it comes to home furnishing  and so to make sure that everything I am buying actually complement the room and not just look completely out of place I save pictures via Pinterest and create concept boards (see my previous post).

Once I see things on paper (or on my computer I should say) it helps me make choices motivated with reason rather than heart. I may love that pouf but it will not fit anywhere in my living room or bedroom because the colour is off. Without Pinterest or my boards I will find myself in the same hell I was for years, meaning left with wonderful items that don't go with anything, I have never used and are now crowding my new loft and horrible wardrobes.

xoxo

We've moved!

Hiya,

So that's it, we have finally moved in!

I have to admit that this move was by far the most stressful one I have ever done!
And I have moved a lot! A LOT! Over 20 times to be honest and I am only 31-years-old!

My daughter and I got hold of the keys on January 6th at about 4pm.
It wouldn't have been such a big deal if we hadn't just landed at St Pancras Station and hour before returning from our 2 and half week Xmas break in Paris.

To make matters worse again, Ohannah was going back to school the next day.
Our stuff were being delivered the next day too from the storage company so for our first night in our new home, we slept on the carpeted floor, in my new bedroom, curled up in my huge duvet I was able to get back from her dad's flat that same evening.

I tried to make it fun for her and pretend that we were having a camping experience. She was not impressed, not one bit!

A month on into our new find home, I am head over heels in love with it!

After seeing it only once for a few minutes, I remembered it being small, dark with a horrible reddish carpet.

Now I see that is pretty spacious, filled with natural light and the carpet is closer to a rose bonbon that the devilish red I described it to be to my friends and family.

Here are a few pictures of what it looked like before we moved in:

Pictures: Courtesy of Zoopla.com


I haven't done much to it yet and I'm not planning to paint the walls until the summer.

However, my head is filled with great decorating ideas and DIY projects.

The first room I want to complete by April is the living room.

I want it to be an eclectic mix of mid-century pieces with  a dash of bohemian and glamour feminism.

These below are the four keys furniture pieces I need to purchase:

1. Ekenaset Chairs - IKEA
2. Oscar Sofa - Sofa.com
3. Terrace Coffee Table - West Elm
4. Dumont Media Centre - West Elm

What do you think of them?

xoxo