Moving day is just the start of a long process when you’re trying to get settled in to a new place. As much planning and stress is involved in packing up, driving to your new home and getting all of your belongings and furniture loaded in, it’s after the movers have left that the fun really begins!
Decorating is exciting for many reasons, but most of all that it allows you to put your own stamp on your new place and can be a fun activity for you and whoever you share your home with to do together. However, that’s not to say that it’s without it’s many drawbacks – it can be pretty stressful sometimes.
Here’s our four tips to help make the process of decorating after you move in a little easier for you.
Know Exactly What Your Plan Is
Design the new interior look of your new home well in advance. You’ll be able to move things along far quicker once the time actually comes if you already know exactly what you’re going to do.
Using photographs of your new home, come up with an overview of how you want each room in the house to look. Things such as wallpaper, carpets, paint, etc. can all be picked out ahead of time, so take advantage of this to keep the decorating process as seamless as possible once you are all moved in. There’s nothing to say you can’t change your mind on some things when it comes to it, but having at least a base plan to work from will keep it a little more simple.
Schedule Contractors Way Ahead Of Time
If you’re going to need some help from the professionals in order to get your decorating done, make sure you’ve scheduled their arrival well in advance.
The calendars of builders and painters are sure to fill up quickly, so as soon as you know your moving in date, you should get in touch with your chosen contractors and set a date for their work to begin. You don’t want to be sat in an undecorated new property for weeks and weeks, so planning this ahead of time will mean you can put your stamp on your new home as soon as you can!
Just remember to double check with your contractors what their policy is about rescheduling if you need to do so for any reason.
Protect Your Belongings
Prepare for the arrival of contractors by protecting all of your belongings before they start painting.
In the weeks coming up to the date your decorating will begin, dig out any old sheets you can find and set them aside, ready to throw over your furniture to protect it from any paint splashes while the work is going on.
Of course, even better if you can remove some belongings from the room completely! If your decorating is set to begin very soon after you’ve moved in, your best option is probably to leave any soft furnishings and smaller items packed away until after the work is completed. You might miss these little touches for a few days, but it makes a lot more sense than unpacking them all, only to have to re-pack them away a short time later!
Where large furniture is concerned, try to keep it out of the way as much as possible whilst decorating work is happening. Perhaps you could move certain things into your garage or to a room which is not being decorated?
If you’re purchasing certain items especially for your new home’s interior look, leave this until after decorating is completed – those extra belongings will get in the way otherwise, so it’s worth the wait.
Ask For A Little Helping Hand
If you were planning to try and complete the work without the use of any professional contractors, then don’t be afraid to ask for help from friends and family. After all, an extra pair of hands can certainly help you get a job done much quicker, so this could be especially useful if you’re looking to decorate a few different rooms at a time!
You might feel a little awkward asking for help, but think of ways to make it worth their while. Perhaps you could pay them something for the trouble, or maybe even take the opportunity to order in some pizza and get some cold beers and make a fun friendly evening out of it.
Decorating is obviously a pretty long and tiresome task, but with the right people around you, there’s lots of fun to be had with it, too!
