Moving into a new house always comes with a period of adjustment. It can almost feel like you’re staying in a hotel for a while if you don’t do anything to make the place feel homey. Your house should be comfortable and relaxing, not somewhere you feel out of place. Learning how to make a new house feel like home will get rid of that awkward feeling that you can’t seem to shake.
Put Things in Their Proper Place
It’s tempting to continue to live out of boxes and suitcases at the beginning of a move just to decrease the amount of work you have. However, this often increases the feeling that you’re not in your home but somewhere more temporary. Try to put out your decorations early, put all your clothes away, and create an organizational system that works for you. Seeing all your belongings in their proper places will help dissipate that “hotel” feeling you might be experiencing.
Don’t Leave the Walls Bare
Nothing makes a home feel more sterile and lifeless than completely bare walls. If you want to make a new house feel like home, hang your favorite art pieces or photos of family and friends. When your walls are bare, your home can look too much like a showroom piece and less like a place where people actually live.
Make Everything More Comfortable
If you don’t feel comfortable in your own home, what’s the point? That’s why it’s so important to have furniture you really enjoy using in your new place. If you can afford it, a comfortable couch or bed will make your home a lot more inviting and comforting for you and anyone you live with. There’s a reason home improvement often focuses on making homes cozier—because it truly affects how you interact with your home on a daily basis.
Brighten the Place Up
Don’t let bad lighting in your new place stop you from enjoying it. Lighting plays an essential role in the overall feel of a room. If everything is too dim, the room can get depressing and boring. Fluorescent light can make the place seem clinical and strange. Stick to warmer lights in shades of white and yellow to replicate natural light as much as possible. The more lighting options you have, the more you can customize the light levels to suit your mood.
Fall into a Normal Routine
There’s no avoiding the fact that moving is a long and stressful procedure. There’s so much to do that it can be hard to go back to normal by the time you’re finished with everything. Returning to a sense of normalcy in your everyday life will help your new house feel like a place of respite much sooner. After a while, you’ll be able to relax into your regular routine, but forcing the process a little in the beginning will help normalize your days after a long moving period.