First Home Decorating Ideas That You Will LOVE!

Are you moving into your first home? Time to come up with a serious plan to celebrate your newfound freedom. But how do you start? From starting to buy rugs online to tossing old furniture and drawing up your dreams of the perfect cozy home – you need a plan to create and inviting home.

But how do you start?

Before you can start planning the perfect bedroom or pick out curtains for the living room, you need to take an honest assessment of your belongings – all of them:

• Toss anything broken, worn, or dated (even that fave college futon)
• Give away old furniture and decorations
• Donate items to charity or sell collectibles on e-Bay
• Test every piece of furniture for stability and throw out anything faulty
• Get rid of items, clothing, books, etc. that you don’t really want in your new home (even that old tacky fleece blanket from your Mum that she gave you last year)

You want to get rid of almost half of what you own. This gives you a clean slate! Now you can minimize your moving costs and hassle by only moving what you want, not old garbage. Once you know what you plan to keep, draw up a simple diagram for each room. Play with colors and ideas. You can even create an online scrapbook for great ideas.

The next step is to conquer the bedroom. Start with simple bedroom decorating ideas. After all, you need to furnish and decorate an entire house. So start small. You will spend a third of your time sleeping on your bed. Be sure that you have a good mattress and comfortable pillows.

Splurge on new sheets and a comforter to tie in your décor. Opt for pastels and calming colors. Don’t forget heavy curtains to block out light. Add a large carpet or a couple of furry floor rugs and favorite photos to finish off the look. Remember you can add more later. Keep it simple, functional, and fun!

After the bedroom you want to address the kitchen and bathroom. Keep bathroom to the basics – a nice bath rug, simple accessories, trendy shower curtain, and places to keep your toiletries and shampoo. Don’t forget new towels!

Do you cook a lot or do you dine out most nights? If you don’t cook often, then keep your appliances that you use the most on the counter and store away everything else. For the home chef, the kitchen can be a challenge. Place items you need all the time like utensils, appliances, oven mitts, pots, pans, and spices in each-to-reach places. Take advantage of every inch of cupboard space. Use recycled glass jars and containers to store smaller items.

Now that you have taken care of the three most important spaces in your home, it’s time to think about your living room, backyard, office, or laundry room. If you can’t afford to buy all new furniture, then either keep some of your older but functioning furniture or do without for a little while. You might want an incredible patio set, but that might be a purchase for next year. Don’t forget that you can spruce up any home with the little things like framed artwork, mementos from your travels, and a library of books.

Finally, don’t forget to take your time. You don’t have to buy everything at once. Conquer one room per month. Find out how you actually use each space. And don’t forget to enjoy your new home.