If you haven’t heard the hubby and I are in the middle of a move! That means a new town, new job, and a new house with NEW ROOMS! Now I grew up as an army brat so the never ending game of tetras that is moving to a new home and finding a new configuration for your furniture is fairly familiar… but familiar does not mean without challenges!
The main thing I am worried about in our new home is the size of our new rooms… they’re teeny tiny. Way smaller than the home we are currently in! The saving grace is the bonus room… which we will be using as a living room since it’s a decent size. But the kitchen? the office? the MASTER BEDROOM?!? Matchbox y’all, matchbox. I mean can you see the size difference?
Our current living room (above) is huge… lots of space for our couch, chaise, an accent chair and big white bookcase! Our new living room (below) is much smaller… see the love-seat? See the awkwardly placed front door?
Now unless you’re a millionaire (um…. no) or really like to buy all new furniture (um… no! I like my things!) moving means the fun task of trying to fit all of your things in a new configuration. I know fancy smancy decor shows talk about measuring the room and finding the perfect sofa for your room size… nope we’re just going to make it work! So here’s my crash course in space planning, from a army brats perspective… aka where to put everything!
The first thing to remember is to look at your things with fresh eyes. What does that mean? It means that just because your chaise was next to your sofa at the last house does not mean they have to live next to each other in the new house! They might not even be in the same room!
In my first apartment (above) I used my long white credenza as a TV stand (ok so this picture was taken before we had the TV in place… just imagine ok? It will be fine!) In our current house (below) you can see the corner of the same white credenza peaking out from behind the kitchen table… since we now use it as a bench.
Planning out a house from top to bottom is a great excuse to look at your belongings in a new light. Be open to using pieces for something other than their intended purpose! Maybe your chaise will go in the guest room at the new house… or the long low credenza you have been using as a TV stand will become a bench for your dining room. (Excuse the horrible photo!) It’s not about what that piece has been doing… it’s about what it can do now! Be creative! Look at your furniture in a new light… you’ll be amazed at how your things can work for you!
Once you’ve opened your mind to see the possibilities… start with your biggest pieces first. In your living room decide where your sofa will go, decide on the best orientation for your rug. In the bedroom decide how your bed will fit… do you have room to walk around? Does it balance the room? Once you have your largest pieces placed you can move on to the medium and smaller items.
The big blue hutch in our current house (above) fits perfectly in the kitchen… our new house (below) has a teeny tiny matchbox kitchen. Lots of green cabinets but no space for a big blue hutch! Where am I going to put this thing y’all?
Right now our big blue hutch fits perfectly in the kitchen but in the new house it will have to be relocated… as a big piece we will have to decide where it will live first! Once your bigger pieces are placed the smaller pieces such as chairs and side tables can be worked in around the larger furniture. Some smaller pieces may even be placed in storage! Not every piece of furniture fits in every house! Storage may be the garage, it may be an actual storage shed or your mom’s house… I once loaned a couch to a friend for a year because I didn’t have space and she needed one. Win/Win!
Once your furniture pieces are placed I like to move on to the decorative pieces… I like to make a big pile of everything. That includes little decorative knick-kacks, picture frames, glitter deer, candle sticks, wall hangings… anything decorative. Then I start to place them on bookshelves, I make wall murals with artwork… but remember rule #1! Just because your glitter deer was in the living room wall mural at the old house doesn’t mean it will fit there now… put it in the best spot for now… not last year!
By placing all of my decorations in one big pile I can really watch my composition as I place items. That way all of my little bird statues don’t end up in the same spot.. they get spread around several different rooms! Plus it allows you to really see what you’re picking… and therefore vary your decorations. Say you’re putting together a wall mural. you want that wall mural to have variation right? A combination of picture frames, 3-dimensional decorations and knick-knacks all in the same mural! A wall mural with dimension will always be more interesting then one made completely of flat pieces!
So to re-cap, here’s my 5 best pieces of advice for space planning.
AKA Where to Put Everything!
1. Look at your things with fresh eyes, place things in their best space for this house!
2. Be open to using pieces for something other than their intended purpose! Look at your belongings in a new light.
3. Start with the biggest pieces first.
4. Not every piece of furniture fits in every house! If you have extra furniture that you don’t need (two couches?!) put something away.
5. Make a big pile of like items… then place them accordingly! Put all of your picture frames in one big pile… then hang them where they fit best!
Linking up with: Tatertots and Jello
Logan Can says
These are great tips! Our current house is TINY and we have had to clean out and reconfigure several times. I hope your move goes well!
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
Glad I could help! Tiny houses are so challenging, you have to be so creative!
Sam @ PancakeWarriors says
I will be combining furniture with my boy soon and we will need to do this – such fun tips!
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
Good luck! Combining furniture has been a long term process for me and my hubby… Two words: yard sale!!!!
meggs says
Can’t wait to see how you figure it all out! Love your choices in furniture… I live in a small starter home right now and large items are hard to have anywhere! Thanks for the tips!
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
Thank you!! Small spaces can be so frustrating! Our big blue hutch had to live in my moms barn for 2 years when we lived in an apartment… I love having space for all my pretty things!
meggs says
PS I LOVE YOUR COMMENT SET UP — I didn’t know why it had my last blog post connected on my last comment (another posting you had) and NOW I see! What a great way to share the love with bloggers! Thank you 😉
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
P.s. It’s called commentLUV and I love it to! It lets you find all kinds of awesome blogs!
Hayley says
You have some great tips and great taste! Keep up the excellent work. Subscribed.
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
Thanks Hayley!!! You’re such a sweetheart! I love getting comments like these… It’s the beet part of my day!
Meg @ Green With Decor says
Good advice!! It’s funny how a piece – like your bench – in one house can be used in a totally new way in a new house. We definitely ran into that when we moved houses!
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
Isn’t it funny how that works? It’s kind of nice though, you get to repurpose your things and fall in love with them all over again!
Kristin C says
Don’t worry! You’ll get used to it. When my hubby and I got married and I moved in, the rooms were way smaller than I was used to. Now it just feels normal. haha
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
Tell me about it! When I first moved out of my parents house it was like room size shock… Haha! Now I’ll just miss the rooms at our current house, my hubby and I have nice sized rooms right now!
Abigail Post says
I love this! As a former Military child myself, I learned from a early age that finding a space for everything is tough (and you don’t bother Mother while she’s doing it, either!).
You have great tips on how to find space for everything, though. I like the idea of loaning a friend a piece of furniture if you don’t have room for it. That’s pretty smart!
Thanks for sharing!
–Abby
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
See! You know how it is! What fits perfectly in one house makes no sense in another! Haha! We will figure it out… Just takes a little tweeking!
Rachel says
I’m so impressed with how organized you are! I love the idea of looking at things with fresh eyes. I moved constantly in college and in the years following and since my husband and I bought a house two years ago, everything has been pretty stagnant. This inspires me to move some things around and freshen up the place! Thank you!
Happily Ever After, Etc. says
That is the only good thing about moving… getting to look at your things as new again! After working so hard to get everything set up there’s a good chance it will never move again… we have to remember to spruce things up every couple years or so! Thanks so much for stopping by Rachel!