You’ve bought that first home/condo or signed your first lease and now, eager to move in and get settled, you visit your new place for the first time. As you stand in the center of your new living space, panic grips you. It is so bare! When you made the decision to buy or lease, you had visions of yourself reading in the easy chair next to the fireplace or having breakfast in the sunny nook off the kitchen, but without the previous owner’s furniture, the space is downright unwelcoming and cold. You wonder how you will ever be able to create something out of nothing.
Yes, you already have a few pieces of furniture, but Mom’s old sofa is the wrong size, the wall unit looks positively adolescent, the recliner has seen better days and the coffee table wobbles. The wall colors are all wrong, the window treatments are gone and the floor doesn’t look so hot without the previous owner’s rugs.
You want your home to be as comfortable as it is beautiful.
Now what? You need a plan. Here are some tips for getting started:
1. Clean, clean, clean. Once everything that can sparkle does, you’ll feel better.
2. Start with closets first. Paint them inside with a new, fresh coat of paint and then put your clothes away. Now you can at least find your clothes when you need them.
3. Arrange what furniture you have (and plan to keep) as best you can. This is just a temporary measure to reduce the pile-up in the middle of your living space so don’t agonize over placement. You can adjust and tweak later.
4. Sort through pictures, mirrors and lamps and place them in the rooms where you think they will eventually go. Items for the garage, attic and basement should be put in corresponding places.
5. Line kitchen, bathroom and linen closet shelves and drawers with fresh paper and put things away.
At this point you are organized enough to use the kitchen and bath and find your clothes as needed. The boring part is over and the fun begins! Step back and take stock of what you want to do next.
