A First-Time Home Buyer’s Guide to Filling Your Space (Part 1 of 2)

Buying your first home is an event that is simultaneously wonderful and terrifying. You finally have a space to call your own, but you are also on the hook for the foreseeable future for many thousands of dollars. Nonetheless, buying a home when you’re financially ready to do so is rarely a bad idea, and feathering your own nest can be a lot of fun. Today, we’ll talk about the first steps to take in filling your space. Check back with us later in the week for some more home decoration ideas.

Challenge yourself to live with less—at least for a little while. Regardless of how much money you have left in the bank after signing that mountain of closing paperwork, give yourself some time to really settle into your new home before you start buying furniture and accent pieces. It takes a few months of living in a new home to learn how you function in that space. For example, you may have been eyeing a square pub table for your eat-in kitchen, but after organizing the cabinets and preparing meals for a couple of months, you might find that a small, round, bistro-style table will work much better. That charming nook in the master bedroom that you envisioned as a cozy spot for reading might prove to work better as the location of your vintage-inspired dressing room. Don’t be concerned that your home will feel empty forever; by the time you move again, you’ll wonder how on earth you accumulated so much stuff.

Begin where you spend the most time. The prospect of furnishing and decorating an entire home is overwhelming—not to mention incredibly expensive. Don’t feel like you have to fill up the entire space immediately. To make things a little more manageable, begin by furnishing and decorating the room where you spend the most time. If your bedroom is the relaxing haven you look forward to all day, start there. If you entertain a lot, start with your living room or dining room. Beginning in a room that gets a lot of use will help you define your decorating style. As you move on to the other rooms in your house, you can always move furniture and decorative elements around. There is no law that dictates that a chair you bought for the living room cannot be moved into the guest bedroom later on.

If you really love it, buy it. An important part of filling your space is simply keeping your eyes open for unique pieces that strike your fancy. Furniture stores are a good place to look for the big pieces you’ll need—a bed, a dresser or wardrobe, a dining room set, and a couch or sofa—but scour antique stores, second-hand stores, and garage sales for occasional tables, artwork, and the other decorative pieces that express your personal style and make a house a home. You may be focused on finishing just one room in your house, but give yourself permission to buy pieces that you fall in love with—even if you plan to use them in a different room.

Although you may want to immediately buy new furniture to mark the purchase of your new home, it’s best to let yourself settle in before making any significant purchases. Later this week, check in with us for more home décor tips that will help you fill your new space.