Tips for decorating your new home

Moving house is an exciting process that is always etched in the hearts of everyone who has experienced it. We move to improve, grow, and evolve, whether it's because we acquire a newly built apartment for the growing family or because we move from a student apartment to living alone or with a partner.

But every house move involves two not so satisfying moments that must also be faced. The first one is the move itself. Getting boxes and selecting all those items we consider essential for our new life. Once the selection is made, it's time to stack everything up making the most of the space, as if we were playing Tetris. Like in the popular video game, if we don't succeed, we have to undo everything and start over, until everything fits and the boxes close without deforming their original shape.

The satisfaction of having packed all the memories and utensils for the new home turns into despair when seeing all that we have discarded: a sports trophy from youth, that souvenir bought in Marrakech, or the illuminated globe with which you learned geography as a child. They don't fit in our new life, but nostalgia prevents us from letting go of them. Faced with this situation, there are two possible solutions. If the volume of discarded items is not excessive, you can always set up a new box (by this point, we are capable of assembling it with our eyes closed) and turn it into the box of 'where do I put this?' These are the objects of questionable taste that we've all received at some point and always wonder: 'And now where do I put this?' In this way, we will always have 'gifts' on hand to give a new life to these curious objects.

On the contrary, if the volume of those items is such that they amount to clutter and there is a forecast, intention, or willingness to reuse them in an undefined future, or simply, the attachment we have to them prevents us from getting rid of them, there is the possibility of renting a storage unit. This solution becomes viable and extremely convenient from the moment we can find storage units for rent in the city center, in well-connected areas that are accessible on foot, by public transport, or by private vehicle. So that we can retrieve our belongings whenever we wish. Gone are the days when renting a similar space meant having to move to the outskirts, to less accessible places, with the hassle that this entailed.

Now that the hassle of moving is over, it's time to face the next challenge: decorating our new home. By decorating, I mean creating a harmony in the rooms, without them being so cluttered that it looks like a bazaar, nor so empty that it resembles a seminarian's room. Far from being a chore, this activity will allow us to turn the house into a home, our home, with our own identity and style.

For this, and assuming that most of the time when we go to a new home we find it empty with just the four walls, the first step would be to choose the color of the walls and ceilings. And here, as the saying goes, to each their own. Having said that, from this blog we advocate for neutral backgrounds, light colors, that serve as a base. Then we can add chromatic details and accessories. Besides being the easiest and most economical, it will be easier to update them in the future without having to change the apartment's decoration completely.

Once we have chosen the base, it's time to decide on the style. Vintage, Nordic, minimalist, rustic, or mid-century modern? These would be, as of today, the five main prevailing styles in interior decoration. And from these trends, a world of possible combinations, from choosing a style for each room to offering an eclectic style, with elements from each of them.

Whatever the choice, we do firmly believe in the power of symmetry as an ally of order. Any room arranged symmetrically will always appear, visually speaking, more spacious and organized than one with a more random layout. Moreover, as experts say, an orderly home is synonymous with an orderly mind. In this way, we will also be working on our inner balance.

Following this premise, it would now be time to choose the furniture for each of the rooms. And although it may be obvious, it's worth remembering that every room needs empty spaces, which oxygenate and fluff up the room and should allow us to move freely through it. Returning to style, if we opt to give a personalized touch, to our living room for example, we can always design our own furniture by repurposing objects like pallets, suitcases, tires... It's just a matter of going on YouTube and finding the right tutorial. And if we get tired of it after a short while, sometimes it's enough to change the arrangement of the furniture to get a completely new look for the room.

Lighting is another factor to consider when decorating our home, as proper lighting can make a space appear larger. In that regard, a good way to maximize the natural light available in our home is to place the curtain rod as high as possible. This will make both the window and the room seem more spacious. To further enhance this effect, placing mirrors in strategic locations can also be very helpful, as they amplify the sense of space.

Regarding artificial lighting, the most functional approach is to adapt it to the intended use, establishing lighting points with lights of different temperatures according to the activities we plan to carry out (reading, work, living room, dining room...). For the latter, a timeless classic is the ceiling lamp. It adds a lot of personality to a dining room, provided that it is proportionate in size to the table. And from there, as many materials as there are tastes: from the classic metal chandelier and the reflections of glass lamps, to the new trends using linen, paper, or natural fibers.

Although we have focused on the living room as the core of the decoration, being the most visible room of the house, there are tricks to add our personal touch to bathrooms and kitchens. For the former, something as simple as using bar soaps and storing them in transparent jars allows us to decorate the bathroom with their colorfulness and scent the room at the same time. Unifying all dispensers also brings a homogeneity by removing various brands and sizes of bottles that, inevitably, evoke a certain disorder. Another everyday item that helps us decorate the bathroom are towels. Just a basket and four or five rolled-up towels of different colors can give the space a different feel.

For kitchens, and for the rest of the home, flowers are an element that work perfectly. Arranged in groups of three (which often works very well in decoration to organize things in trios), they give you a touch of color and uniformity, as long as they share shades. Baskets also offer a lot of versatility. We have already seen their usefulness with towels. They are also very handy in the dining room to store cushions, blankets, or magazines. But regardless of their content, the basket itself is already a decorative element that will give our home an authentic touch.

Although perhaps the star element of decoration are the candles. They provide intimacy, allow us to highlight dead areas, and even serve to scent the home. Just approach any decoration store and observe the huge variety in candle holders and lanterns to understand the power of candles.

So far, ideas for decorating your home in your style, in a 100% personalized way and at your own pace. If this is your choice, the internet is a great source of inspiration. In addition to the already mentioned Youtube tutorials, we can find dozens of magazines and specialized blogs with ideas and examples of the latest trends in interior decoration.

Now, if you decide to outsource the service, there are interior design companies like Espaciodeco, which offers an online decorating service that incorporates virtual reality and, best of all, is adaptable to all budgets. They are responsible for the virtual decoration projects carried out for Núñez i Navarro in office buildings such as Marina Factory in Hospitalet de Llobregat. Functional, pleasant, and welcoming workspaces “where employees and clients feel comfortable”. And the fact is that, as its CEO, Maria José González, pointed out in an interview we conducted for this blog, “interior design is part of a company's identity”. And, obviously, it is also part of our homes.