Homes don’t always come exactly as we want them. Sometimes a few customizations are in order. Occasionally, you might be left with an unfortunate color scheme, but more often than not, homes are passed on from one owner to the next with much of their personality stripped away, leaving a blank space in which to create the home you envision. If you’ve just recently purchased your first home in the NoMa DC area, you may be facing this realization for the first time. On the other hand, if this isn’t your first time in a new home, you may still be wondering how to handle the foundations of your new interior design. Here are some tips to help ease the process of settling into a new home and making it your own.
Have the home painted before you move in
Once you move into your new home, it’s natural to want to get settled as soon as possible. However, if there’s still painting or touch ups needed to be done, this can delay the process somewhat. Save yourself from unpacking twice and invest in painting beforehand. This can also have the psychological effect of making it feel as if you’re moving into your own home and not into someone else’s that you’re customizing over time.
Choose a color scheme that you can customize as you go
In the excitement of moving into a new home, it can be tempting to start off with wild colors and bold statements. While this is a freedom you have every right to, being a proud new homeowner, it can save some time and expense to instead choose a more subtle color scheme with a broader range of possible matching colors in order to accommodate for new furniture and features. You can always leave room in your design for feature walls that can be added later once everything else is in place.
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Take lighting into account
When choosing a color scheme for your new home, don’t forget to take into account the variety of novel light levels and qualities that exist in your new home. Select the color in the context of the room’s lighting profile to ensure an accurate impression and avoid moving into a home that is vastly different from what you had envisioned.
Match to permanent features first
Especially if you’re having your home painted before you move in, the key to selecting a successful color scheme is to take permanent features into account. These features can include built-in closets and cabinets, floors and tiling. Unless you’re planning on making changes to these features at a later point, they can provide an excellent anchoring point for your color decisions. Stained wood goes well with a vast spectrum of color schemes and can be the most practical option for wooden cabinets, floors and built-in furniture.
Floors or walls first?
This is something often debated by new homeowners, home improvement specialists and DIYers. One school of thought argues that doing the walls first avoids the possibility of ruining a new floor with fallen blobs of paint. However, the advantage of hiring a professional painting company is that these are avoided anyway through thorough preparation, proper equipment and expertise. Instead it can be argued that first attending to the floors will create a permanent foundation on which to base further color choices for walls, trim and ceiling.