Now that you have finally bought your first home, you’re probably eager to move in and enjoy your purchase. You can customize your home in any way you please, now that you no longer have to worry about a landlord. However, furnishing a new home is an activity that should be carefully planned so that you don’t waste time, space, or money.
Choosing A Theme
Before doing anything else, you should decide if you want the furnishings of the home to have a certain “theme.” For instance, someone who is very fond of old Victorian houses might choose to buy all their furnishings in that general style. You could also go with a Japanese theme or a Primitive theme. Whichever you choose, it is good to remain consistent. Furnishings in a wide variety of styles tend to look like a mess.
If you have trouble deciding, you could always go with a different theme for each room. This would maintain a consistent appearance while still allowing plenty of room for creativity and variety.
The Selection
Chances are, you already own the bare minimum that you need in terms of furnishings. For the time being, you should keep most of your old furniture. However, we recommend that you use a comprehensive selection process to weed out anything that might not be worthy of adorning your new home.
The underlying principle here is to have a home of which you can be proud. Anything that doesn’t meet that standard should be discarded or given away. Make a list and evaluate each piece of furniture one by one. Separate them into three categories: G (good), NR (needs repair), and J (junk).
If you have a piece of furniture that isn’t junk, but which doesn’t fit your theme, you can always alter it to fit your theme. A new color or some specific adornments can fix the problem very nicely. For instance, you might paint symbols or pictures on wooden furniture that fit your chosen theme.
As long as you are planning, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to draw up a rough floor plan of your home. Take a few measurements and add them to the floor plan so that you know exactly where each piece of furniture can fit. Otherwise, you could have your whole plan disrupted by a wall that wasn’t as long as you thought.
Buy And Repair Used Items
After coughing up what was probably a large down payment, you probably don’t have tons of money to invest in brand-new furniture. Some furniture is so expensive that you probably can’t even afford it at the best of times. However, there is no reason that you cannot buy and re-use old furniture.
Obviously, you have to be careful here. People will happily sell you junk. On top of that, you never know what kinds of filthy things have been done on a piece of upholstered furniture. Bedbugs create an even greater risk. How do you deal with these problems?
The answer is to strip and repair old furniture. It isn’t that hard to re-upholster an old couch or chair, and cushions can be bought very cheaply. This might take some time, but you will have the satisfaction of a job well done. More importantly, you will know that your furniture does not contain filth, mold, bugs, or anything else that you want to avoid.
All-wood furniture is even better. You can just sterilize it by wiping it down with rubbing alcohol or any other good disinfectant. If you can acquire broken wooden furniture at a low price, it might be worth the time to do a little creative carpentry.
Having said all this, we should recognize that there are some objects that should not be bought secondhand. For one thing, you should never buy a used mattress. The health and sanitary risks are simply too great.
Don’t Overdo It
In the beginning, it is best to go with a minimalist approach. First of all, you don’t want your new home to be cluttered. Secondly, you want to leave yourself plenty of options for the future. Therefore, it’s a good idea to start with the bare essentials. For most people, this means a bed, a few tables, cabinets, basic appliances, and a chair or two. You probably don’t want to be this austere.
The opposite of this would be a home that contains far more furnishings than are actually needed. These homes always look cluttered and disorganized, even when they are completely clean.
Think About Your Activities
When you are thinking about furnishing your home, you should think about the activities that are likely to take place within each room. This will give you an idea as to what each room will require. For instance, let’s say you really like to play pool. If you find this to be important enough to dedicate an entire room, then you will require furnishings that are appropriate for a pool room.
These furnishings would include the table itself, a pool cue holder, a chalk holder, and maybe a wall rack for extra balls. Of course, you would want a chair or two so that people can rest between shots. The above is just one example of how your activities dictate the furnishing of a room.
Conclusion
The biggest takeaway from this article is that you should take it easy and don’t overwhelm yourself. Apart from the necessities, you don’t need to be in a hurry to fill your home with things that you may not need. Take your time and choose carefully. Let’s ask ourselves: what is the desired result of these efforts? The obvious answer is your happiness and satisfaction.
It is not possible to make a set of rules for this process because every case will be different. However, we invite you to fill out the contact form below so that you can ask and receive our advice on topics of this type.
