How To Make Your Space Feel Like Your Own

Decorating your home is one of the best parts of moving. Whether you replicate your interior design from your last place, or you take the opportunity to try something new in your new space, you’ve got a brand new blank canvas to decorate.

If you move into a new home and there are certain things you can’t change or update, or if you’ve got more room to fill than you previously had, getting started can feel overwhelming. How do you take a whole apartment or house and make it reflect who you are? But as with any large task, breaking it down into individual parts can help you get going.

Part 1: Cleaning

Before you unpack, or maybe even before you move a single box in, grab your spray and wipe, put on some gloves, and get scrubbing. Cleaning the whole home, while it may feel like a monumental task, can help you get on your way to really personalising your space.

Physically and literally cleansing the home from any past tenants or owners, making sure every nook and cranny is sparkling clean, and banishing any lingering smells can really help the space feel more like a blank canvas ready for you to make your mark.

For an added touch, once you’ve finished cleaning, set out some scent diffusers or put candles on window sills in a smell that feels like home to you. Never underestimate the ability of scent to change how a space feels. Whether you’re reverting to a tried and true old favourite that smells like home, or you’re trying something different to welcome in this new phase, an empty but clean house with a comforting smell can feel more like yours than one filled with your stuff, but still feels unfamiliar.

Part 2: Painting and Decorating

If you’ve just bought a place or if your landlord is happy for you to make some personalisations, painting a wall or two can go a long way to making your home feel bespoke to you. It might be a feature wall in the loungeroom, some peel-and-stick wallpaper in your bedroom, or changing out the handles and fixtures in the kitchen, but small changes like this can make a home feel completely different.

These kinds of jobs will always be easier before you start unpacking, so prepare to camp in your new home for a few days while you’re working on them. If you plan on taking on a task like this, plan ahead and have a box that’s easily identified and accessible that contains all your essentials for the first few days in your new place.

Once you’ve got your space looking like how you dreamed, the unpacking can begin, and you can start filling your newly customised space with all your most precious belongings.

Part 3: Unpacking

Now it’s time to get to the mammoth job of unpacking your life and settling in. Play with the layout and move things around. What may seem like the obvious place for your couch might not feel right once it’s there. Get creative, stand back, and feel free to play.

Every new home will have its own quirks to work around, and it may take a little while for things to feel just right. Once the boxes are empty and in the recycling, your new place should start to feel a little more like home. Filling shelves with trinkets and momentos, hanging your towels in the bathroom and putting your shampoo in the shower, making the bed for the first time once it’s fully set up in your new bedroom, all get you that little bit closer to feeling like you’re home.

But as with any new adventure, hiccups may come along the way, or what you expected to love may not quite turn out right. Be prepared to make some changes to your expectations as things unfold. It might be time to bring in some fresh items to really make your new home feel cohesive.

Part 4: Work With the Space, Not Against It

So you’ve cleaned, painted, unpacked and lit a candle, but something still feels off. Maybe you’re realising that the wood tones of your furniture clash with the floorboards. The light tones of the lightbulbs wash out all the warmth from your soft furnishings, making your home feel like a hospital room every night. The naked windows leave you feeling exposed, and the existing metal venetian blinds just aren’t the vibe. This is where you can really make your personal design taste sing.

At this point, making a few more minor changes and swaps is key to really creating a home that feels more like you. Hang curtains that provide privacy and help diffuse the light, and bring extra softness to your space. Invest in lightbulbs that are the right colour and brightness for the environment you’re aiming to create in each room, and fill other spaces with lamps and other light sources for a moody, personalised lightscape. Invest in some new paintings and prints, like coastal wall art or quirky op shop finds, to really curate a space.

Sometimes the key to making a house feel like a home is combining your belongings that you love with some new features that work with the existing home and help welcome in this new phase of life in your new home. Marry up the old and the new, working with the space, not against it, and settle into your new surroundings in a home that you love.