If you have new space at your disposal, you can put it to use quite creatively and without spending a lot of money.
More people are now keen on owning a house than moving in to a rented space. But this change of mindset is not without its vagaries. Questions relating to homeowners insurance, home warranty, filling out a large space when you don’t have enough furniture and other items in hand, etc. need to be answered.
Moving to a larger space from an apartment is usually tricky. However, this has been an even bigger challenge for today’s young home buyers who are setting their eyes on much larger spaces than normal.
Millennials, unlike the previous generations, do not start small. They expect their first home to be their dream home – an abode that they would stay put in for a lifetime. Unsurprisingly, their choices are large homes with heavier price tags. These are homes that are usually bought by older buyers or people who have multiple properties to their names. The median home size of a millennial is 1800 square feet, which is basically entering older generation people’s territory.
Quite a few millennials step straight into an 1800 square feet home from their modest apartments.
There are several benefits to such upsizing. For starters, you get more-than-sufficient closet space, dog yard, additional rooms to set up a home office, home gym, spare bedroom, etc.
However, all of this sounds great upon visualization. When you get down to setting up your space, you realize upsizing is not exactly that smooth. The wall hangings, knickknacks, furniture, etc. that blended well with your small apartment are now failing miserably at filling up your new house. And a spare bedroom is not a bedroom after all if you don’t have an additional bed in there.
Most new homeowners, in the bid to purchase new items for their house, head to discount stores and purchase inexpensive items to fill up space. Budget-friendly furniture are good but buying them a tad too many could bring down the “upscale” aura of your new house.
There are several ways to make better use of existing items and cut down spending on things you no longer need or use. The following are 5 ways to win at upsizing your home
Do Not Buy Filler Items
It is hard to resist buying new goods. However, if you do not buy goods sensibly, your house arrangement plans could go wrong. This could be because the items you purchased for a bargain didn’t go well with your house’s ambiance or they were improperly sized.
Wanting to fill up space in a house is fine but you should not go overboard. Don’t buy new furniture before moving into the house. The ideal way forward is stepping into the house, positioning all your existing furniture in the house, and then considering what furniture you need more.
It is fine, in the initial stages of living, to leave some areas of the house vacant. Once you spend more time in the space and get a feel for it, you may buy new stuff. This acclimatization should take a few weeks or a month, by the way.
Focus More on Special Pieces
To furnish a big family room or living room, unique furniture items such as a sectional couch would look good. Similar to a dining table that could be expanded to accommodate additional people, sectional sofas could be customized according to seating and custom design requirements. Often, such sofas come with expansion pieces you may purchase later to fill the space further.
A component of a sectional sofa could be taken out and expanded to alter the room’s look and ambiance.
A sofa is always good investment since it’s a piece of furniture that you would invariably use every day. Moreover, sectionals can be pulled apart for creating extra focal points within a room. For example, you could have a coffee table and seating space in a particular portion of a room, and a lamp and smaller couch in another portion to create a comfortable reading zone.
Not every item in a room should stand out or make a statement. A room can preferably have a single or two highlight features and other generic items such as an antique table or chairs playing sidekicks.
Thoughtful Furniture Placement
The way you arrange furniture can determine how large or small a room looks. An area rug is best to anchor furniture groups, making the room feel more home-like.
Rugs work great because they aren’t expensive – even the bigger ones. A rug should ideally be centered, with furniture placed on it. This should add a level of coziness to the space even if the room is relatively empty otherwise.
Often, homeowners do this age-old mistake of sticking their furniture to the walls. When the furniture is pulled a bit closer to the center of the room, a larger space would look less humongous. This also makes the area appear more inviting and natural.
You need not position the furniture too far away from the wall. Even a few inches would make the room appear more breathable.
Decorating Space
After furnishing the house, you must start decorating. Items such as a coat rack in the entryway or adorned stairwell vases help fill space and they aren’t expensive too.
There are several ideas to experiment with. If certain things don’t work out, it’s fine. You’ll at least save some money in the process. In fact, a few well-chosen decorative items add a personal touch to a room.
Give Purpose to Additional Rooms
You can easily derive value out of additional rooms. For example, the extra rooms could be converted into a home office, bedroom for visitors, home gym, etc.
You can take your time thinking about how to utilize the empty space. In case you’re not sure, just lock the emptiness out. But do not use the room as storage space since it would invariably stay the same forever.
Your new home should accommodate everything you have. Don’t go too big or too small. In case, you have too many additional items, you probably don’t need them.