You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘moving house’ tag.
I’ll admit it. Checklists make my heart beat faster. And i know that they should be banned on this blog, given its title. But i can’t help it! Moving house in less than a month just about demands a check list doesn’t it?
Well, when you need something doing in the house, turn to Martha Stewart. The domestic goddess lays it out for every home mover out there in this great and very practical list. (OK, maybe she didn’t lay it out herself, but someone who worships in the house of Martha did!). Here are my top things to remember when moving (again, sigh…):
- Get good movers – trust me. Once you’ve sat in a room, rocking back and forth, muttering ‘don’t break anything, don’t break anything’ watching your precious (very large) sofa not make it out of a doorway intact, you’ll want good movers. Great movers.
- Deal with cable and gas/electricity as early as you can – you don’t want to sit for days in your cold, dark, ESPN or Bravo-less apartment, waiting to be connected.
- Buy proper packing materials – yes, i know. It’s a pain to spend money on boring things like boxes, masking tape, bubble wrap etc. But packing stuff up properly is not only weirdly satisfying, it’s also going to make you a lot happier when your photos and valuables arrive intact. This leads me onto my next point:
- LABEL EVERYTHING – it could just save your time and your sanity when you’re hauling boxes, one after the other, into an empty pit of an apartment. And finally…
- Treat yourselves at the end of move-in day – this really is my golden rule. After the stress of deciding to move (or not, as in our case!), searching for and finding an apt, signing a lease, packing up, planning and of course, the bone-crushing tiredness of actually moving your stuff, you deserve a treat. Last time Rick and I moved, it was Guacamole and a couple beers and Margaritas at our new, local Mexican restaurant – bliss!
Martha has the full scoop, but those are my top rules for moving and preserving your sanity. If you’re doing it too – good luck!
Rick and I had an unpleasant surprise just before Christmas, when we were told we had to move out of our lovely cottage, due to the owner selling. Since then, we’ve gone through a large range of emotions, twinned with some immediate practical stresses, such as finding somewhere new to live! Moving house should be an exciting and positive time, as it usually signals some sort of life change. The last time we both moved, it was to move in together, and the cottage is where we started married life, and where we’ve been really happy. So, being told to move, less than 12 months later, is a bit of a kicker, and something that it’s been hard to get excited about.
Nonetheless, we have found somewhere new, and the excitement is (slowly) starting to creep in! One of the fun things about moving so often is that you get the opportunity to re-decorate, and can have some fun with it. Hopefully, we’ll be able to stay in the new place a bit longer this time, so will have the chance to actually follow through on some of our interior design plans. Hard to believe, but we still have some pictures we never unpacked from last time, so the golden rule has to be ‘speed of decision making’ in the new place. I tend to agonize over things like rug choices, furniture placement for far too long, when the sane thing to do is probably just make a few ‘good’ decisions, and hope that a few of them turn out to be ‘great’. Here are a few other rules i should listen to when we move:
- Move quickly and make decisions – most things can always be undone, and anything is better than piles of unpacked boxes!
- Go with your gut feel – I’ve learnt that any decor scheme that looks ‘planned’ often lacks a special something that can make a home really sing. If you have even somewhat of a taste level, then you can probably throw things together and still have them look great. And it’s more fun that way!
- Make a few risky choices – linked to the points above, if you’re renting, you can get away with a few choices that might not work out in the long term. But if they make you happy while you live in a certain place, then it’s probably worth it
- Hold onto the good stuff – if you’re lucky enough to own a few good pieces of furniture, they’re bound to look good anywhere, so keep them wherever you go. I have a great vintage, mirrored vanity that’s just too large for our current place, so we took the mirrors off and converted it to a TV stand. Works perfectly, and is so much nicer than the bog standard ones
- Don’t hoard – take it from me, a reformed hoarder. When you’ve moved every one or two years for the past 6 years, you’ll want to keep things light. I moved out to San Francisco with two massive suitcases, and one framed Audrey Hepburn print, and it didn’t do me any harm! I have a lot more stuff now of course, but Rick and I still plan to purge and give away to the Goodwill.
Let’s see how Rick and I do following our own rules! Meantime, here’s a snap of our latest design inspiration – enjoy!
The white type of inspiration
(Photo credit: Apartment Therapy SF)
