New Home Decorating, Furnishing Ideas
an educational real estate resource

Decision Point: Moving Furnishings and Furniture

If you've ever thought about unstuffing and organizing those closets and getting rid of items that just take up space, the Best Time Is Before Listing Your Home For Sale. The Second Best Time To Unclutter Your Home Is Right Now, before you pay someone to move clutter into your new home. And what better opportunity to reassess your family's lifestyle than right before a move? Discuss with your family how your needs have changed over the years and how your new home might accommodate them.

Look at Your Furnishings Objectively & Consider these suggestions:

  • Weed out the furnishings you no longer use or enjoy, or those that have been stored away indefinitely. Instead of moving them to the new home, have a moving sale, garage sale or take them to consignment shops and use the profits to help finance your move.
  • Unless you're buying all-new furnishings, determine how you can adapt your current color scheme to complement your new home. New throw pillows, wall-hangings or window treatments may be all you need to pull the look together.
  • Decide where you'll arrange furnishings in your new home by creating your own floor plan. Using graph paper, draw each room to scale, with 1 inch equaling 1 foot of space. Indicate the location of doors, windows, built-ins and electrical outlets. If you're buying a newly constructed home, your builder may be able to provide a floor plan.
  • Next, measure the size and shape of your major furniture pieces and draw them to scale.
  • Cut the shapes from graph paper and arrange the pieces in different ways until you discover a floor plan you like.
  • Consider using furnishings in different rooms of the new house. A favorite living room chair may work better in the new bedroom; a dining room cabinet may now look at home in the den.
  • If space is at a premium, turn some rooms into multipurpose areas. For instance, in a living/dining room, define the areas by using a hutch or other large piece of furniture as a divider. A sofa bed turns a den into a guest room.
  • Position living room furniture so six or more guests are within easy listening distance of each other. In the dining room, allow room around the table so guests may be seated and served with ease.
  • Find a focal point in each room - something that draws your eye to it. Focal points are architectural, such as fireplaces, or decorative, such as wall hangings or window treatments. Accentuate your focal point with your furniture arrangement.

    • Home Exercise Equipment

    Be honest: If your current home exercise equipment is mainly used to hang clothes on, it's time to take it to a Play It Again Sports type consignment store.

    Moving in and Decorating

    Besides furnishings, your decorating decisions will involve the windows, walls and floors of your new home. Since moving can be a big expense, you may want to consider how much you spend for redecorating.

    Here's How to Approach Decorating Projects:

  • Before moving, check with painters, carpenters and craftspeople that you know to get an idea of what they currently charge. Compare these prices with those you receive in your new market. Get recommendations from satisfied customers to find the most reliable decorating help.
  • Look for ways to freshen the windows, walls and floors of your new home before investing a lot of time or money - particularly if you're not ready to make a long-term decorating commitment.
  • Be prepared to change window treatments that won't fit the dimensions or color scheme of your new home. If the fabric or color is part of an overall room decor, look for ways to adapt your current treatments. Add inexpensive, ready-made sheers in a coordinating color or in crisp white. Shorten too-short floor drapes to sill length for a casual look. Shutters, woven shades, or mini-blinds help create new effects. Add tiebacks, decorative trim, or ribbon to complete a new look.
  • Change the curtain or drapery hardware for a new image. Wooden rods can be painted and brass and chrome rods add accent.
  • Consider the exposure of each window. Those that receive excessive sunlight may require extra coverage.

    • Painting Walls: Instant Home Update

    There's nothing like paint for a fast and inexpensive pick-me-up for walls. Touring upscale home builders model homes gives instant access to the current paint color trends and combinations for different rooms in your new home. Besides updating your new home, paint can help camouflage imperfections in walls or quickly adapt to the colors of your upholstery fabric or a bedspread.

    Try These Pro Designer Tips To Add New Looks To Your Walls:

  • Paint one wall a complimentary accent color for a dramatic effect. Or, paint the ceiling and/or molding a color that contrasts with the walls.
  • Try texture paint, which resembles a stucco treatment, to add visual and tactile interest to a room. It's perfect for hiding uneven wall surfaces, hairline cracks and small holes.
  • Try "stippling," a method of applying paint with a sponge in small points to achieve a decorative look. Consider hand stenciling a decorative border, or design a free-spirited wall graphic for a child's room.
  • Instead of painting, apply a border wallpaper to add pattern, texture and color to a room. Full wallpapering is not currently in trend.

    • Home Depot and Lowes Home Improvement Stores offer free hands on Saturday paint clinics.

    Home Flooring & Floors

    Floor treatments have become increasingly important in the realm of decorating. Hard-surfaced floors are popular for both looks and healthy home aspects, while a myriad of styles of carpeting make it a choice in almost any room. For a fresh look, add an area rug. Area rugs are stunning against hardwood floors and can give a rich, plush feel when placed over existing carpeting.

    Work with the Mark Hitz Realtor Team, DFW Realty GMAC Real Estate to Buy or Sell a Far North Dallas Texas Suburbs Home If you are thinking of buying or selling a home, or want to talk with an expert Real Estate Agent with detailed knowledge of Far North Dallas Texas Suburbs Real Estate, please feel free to contact us. Simply call us at 214-514-1800, or e-mail us. We'll be glad to talk with you, and help you in all of your Far North Dallas Texas Suburbs Real Estate needs.