Unpack and Settle On In

We walked through our whole house just 2 days before we moved in.  Needless to say, I didn’t have much time to analyze what would go where!

We joke about how often I rearrange furniture.  In those first few months, I was rearranging the whole house!!

Over time, we realized what functioned well and what was a complete flop.

I love the challenge of trying to figure out solutions for problems.  In the area of practical function in a home (especially in an old house), it often means finding solutions that are a bit unconventional.

Here are 3 examples from our house.

1.  The Dining Room:

whole table ps

Situated across from the Living Room, this room was originally built as a bedroom.  The former owners used it as a family room.  We needed a place to put our Dining Table and buffet… So, it became a Dining Room.  It was definitely a little “out of the box”, but this decision has actually worked well from the start.

2.  The Pantry {in the Living Room!}

We discovered quickly the lack of pantry storage in the kitchen.  I really didn’t want to store food items in our damp, musty basement, so the closet in the Living Room was retrofitted to become the new “pantry”.  It’s just steps away from the kitchen and functions just fine.

open pantry door

3.  The Basement Craft Room

I needed to carve out some space to store and organize my crafts.  After trying a few different options, we discovered the solution was located in the basement across from the washer and dryer.

whole room after 2

One of the most important lessons of home decor was ~ for me ~ patience!

Getting to know the house and how we used it was the first step in making it feel like home.  Before we started thinking about paint colors, arrangements, or wall decor, we needed to make sure the flow of the house made sense for the way we live in it.

We needed to unpack, settle in, and listen to the house~

It helped give design direction, too.

{This post is Day 5 of a 31 Day series.  For a complete list of topics, click here.}

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5 Comments

  1. Great advice Rita! We’re just about to move into our first home and I am already overwhelmed about where/how to start decorating, I really like the idea of taking time to listen to the house. Thanks!

  2. Listen to the house and living in the space is great advice. I’ve learned to work with what you have. We’ve moved 10 times and each house is unique. I love how you used your living room closet as a pantry. I have also had to learn patience. My husband is a very hand man for house projects but his time is limited, along with our funds. Sometimes you just have to wait for something to go on sale or wait for it to show up in a thrift store or garage sale.

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