Home essentials – how to make your home look and feel great

If you’ve just moved house, the chances are that you’re living out of boxes and aren’t quite sure where to start in terms of making your new house feel like a home. Since moving to a new area and home can be daunting, here are a few helpful tips and tricks to help you create a nest you’ll be proud of:

Clever lighting

For any house that’s been empty for a few weeks, it’s a smart idea to let in as much light and air as you can to freshen the place up. If you’re worried about smaller rooms feeling cramped, invest in extra side lamps or large mirrors, which are a great trick for making a living space feel bigger and brighter. You shouldn’t have to break the bank, though – make a trip to your local second-hand antiques shop and see what you can find.

It’s all in the detail

Since the living room is the heart of the home, make this space more welcoming by adding piles of colourful hardbacks or magazines to your coffee table. It’s important to put your own stamp on your new home, and small decorations like this are great for saying something about you and your family’s tastes. Mix up fashion mags with art books, or add a personal touch by displaying family photo albums. This will also help any guests or neighbours to feel relaxed when they come to visit.

Involve the whole family

If you have young children, encourage them to join in on decorating their new bedrooms with toys and pictures – letting them make decisions will help youngsters feel more at home. Most importantly, don’t feel like you have to do all the hard work on your own – make unpacking a joint family activity and work one room at a time to make the task more manageable.