Furnishing and decorating your first or a new home is exciting and daunting. Whether you plan to move into a new home or simply want to redo your current design, you will need to plan carefully in order to get your home looking the way you want. Here are seven tips on furnishing and decorating your home when you start from scratch.

1. Examine Your Rooms

First, stand or sit in your room to get a sense of its size and configuration. Notice the locations of the windows and doors and how light filters into the room. If the room already has a ceiling light or chandelier, then include those in your visualizations. This is also the time to consider whether you want to paint or change the flooring.

2. Pick a Style

Since you plan to start from scratch, you can create a whole new theme or color palette to each room. Think about what you like and try to find catalogs or online sources to help you imagine how your room should look. If you are not sure as to what style you want, then try to pick one of the more traditional styles such as casual, eclectic, or country home.

3. Measure, Measure, Measure

Nothing is more important when getting new furniture than measuring the walls and floors of your room. If you don’t take measurements, then you risk the chance of either buying a piece that is too big or getting too many pieces. Make note of any air vent locations as well. Consider any non-traditional architectural features such as a sloped ceiling or brick wall.

4. Get the Basics First

While this might be tempting, don’t try to get all your furniture and decorations all at once or as soon as you move in. Instead, get what you absolutely need, at first, and build up the rest as you get a better idea as to what you want. Try starting out with a bed, sofa, and dining room table, for example, and adding armchairs, dressers, nightstands, and consoles later.

5. Mix It Up

Those furniture sets look nice and coordinated in the showroom, but they are not necessarily the best look for your home. While buying everything at once from one place is convenient, doing so could make your home look like a showroom and not an individual space. If you do have coordinated furniture, then try adding a unique piece from a different store to the set.

6. Leave Some Space

Try not to fill up the entire space of your home or you risk making your rooms look cluttered. This is not only true with filling your home up with furniture, but also with artwork and decorations. Chances are that you will live in your home for a while and you will accumulate more items over time. Leaving places open or unfilled allows you more flexibility for when you find that special item or decide you need a new piece.

7. Hire a Professional

If you find furnishing and decorating overwhelming, and you don’t know where to start or what to buy, then consider hiring a professional decorator. Have the decorator look at your room and give you an idea of where to start. Some furniture companies also have websites where you can take a photo of your room and virtually arrange furniture pieces so that you get an idea of how it will look.

Setting up an entire home can be overwhelming, but starting from scratch is a great way to have the home you want. Buying and collecting all these items means that you will need help with getting them to your home.

Island Movers, Inc., can help you with transporting furniture from one home to another. We will even store your new furniture for you until you are ready to furnish your home. Call us today for an estimate.