Can I ask your best tips for a first house?

[wontletmelogin]

Moving into a new house with my partner. We've both previously lived with parents/houseshares so it's all new to us!

What's the best tip you could give someone moving into their own home? Things to do/not to do, what to buy or not bother with. Anything and everything very excited!

Are you renting or buying?

Remember rome wasn't built in a day. It won't look exactly how you want it to straight away & that's ok. It might take some time!

Try to keep on top of the house work so your doing little bits regularly instead of having to spend hours doing it.

My grans tip for me was to buy really good pots and pans lol, and she was right I suppose they are still perfect years later 😂

We have bought. It's a new build (been ready since December)

Get a moving company. Don't do it yourself unless you have only a car load or two.

How much stuff do you already have?

Get your mail redirected.
Take a meter reading on day 1 for all utilities.
Pack a box with tea coffee cups sugar biccies kettle and milk on the morning.
Label it, put it next to you in car. Straight to kitchen! Priorities!
Enjoy😁😁

Just take your time. Its so easy to get carried away with sorting it all out (it's an exciting time!), but we wasted money and effort on things that in hindsight weren't right. Live in it a bit, and see how you want to use the space first.
Also, as its a new build, enjoy the lack of DIY! I was excited to get stuck into that sort of thing. Now we live in a 'doer upper' and I hate DIY with an absolute passion!!

Don't be tempted to decorate everything too quickly.

It's wise to live in the space for a while and see how it works for you before investing in big ticket items.

Related to the above don't overfill a space. A tape measure is your friend. It's also worth marking space out on the floor with low tack tape to see how furniture will really fit into a room and how the "flow" is around it.

Don't discount second hand furniture. Vintage furniture is often better made and less expensive than modern pieces. It's amazing what a tin of paint and new handles /upholstery can do to transform a table/chair/cupboard/chest of drawers etc and make what were initially very different pieces co-ordinate.

Try and form a style/theme for your home so decor flows from room to room. I dont mean everything has to be the same colour rather the "look" you want eg minimalist/modern/vintage bo-ho/lux etc

Take a room at a time having decided the above and complete it before moving on. It's better to have a few rooms "done" than every room painted but otherwise unfinished.

Make some key investments if you can afford to. As a pp has mentioned I still have the same pots/pans/knives for bought 20 years ago. They still look good and function beautifully.

On the other hand for everyday use I have pretty bog standard white plates and glassware. They inevitably get chipped/smashed through use. You can still make a table look beautiful with lovely napkins/flowers/candles etc even if your tableware is very simple.

Lastly think about storage. You will never have enough . Having nowhere to put coats/shoes out of the way and cluttering a hallway will drive you potty (if you are like me).

Things like coffee tables with storage are good - as is any furniture that can be dual purposed.

Lastly don't paper over the cracks. You need to work from a good foundation. So don't put in a new bathroom if the plumbing/boiler etc are old. Your new shower won't feel wonderful if the water pressure is useless. Or a bedroom might look wonderful but is freezing because you didn't prioritise good insulation in the loft and double glazed windows.

Good luck and have fun!

00100001 we are only taking one kingsize mattress and our room contents minus furniture. We have microwave, hoover, plates, glasses, utensils, some cleaning bits, mugs, coffee machine. Will order white goods and other furniture once in!

Not too worried about rushing in once we've got the keys. Would like to take a few days to get unpacked properly.

Wavingwhiledrowning I would've LOVED a do-er up-er! The amount of white paint in the new house is ridiculous. We are going to paint a couple of rooms I think when we get the keys.

DeRigueurMortis Thanks! We have had lots of offers of house warming gifts so we are going to ask for some nice pans and knives. We are getting our white goods bought for us and have a fair amount for other furniture. The house has a lot of cupboards! Really impressed with the room sizes and amount of storage.

Check it has a phone line if its a new build. I moved into a rented new build without one and it took ages to get phone/broadband.

Get phone/broadband sorted before moving in. Along with any decoration if you can. So much easier if you're moving from parents too.

Painting tip.

When selecting a colour, rather than paint the wall I use tester pots to paint a sheet of A4 that I can blu tack on a wall.

Shades can look different depending on the light, so perfect on one wall and then too dark on another.

By painting on the paper you can move the samples around easily and also group different colours together and next to wall paper samples etc

Also helpful when you've chosen as you can take the sheet with you when choosing soft furnishings to check the shade.

Don't buy any shite. Seriously. My house is full of crap that I can't get rid of. If I had my time again I wouldn't buy anything at all. Clutter is the devil's spawn.

Dermymc Thanks! There is a phone line, it just needs connecting. We have found the internet supplier and will be booking them as soon as we get our move in date.

DeRigueurMortis great tip, thanks

If it's a new build check out the"snagging" rules before doing anything as this may be invalidated by any decoration/DIY.

Definitely get washing machine plumbed in before moving. That was the hardest thing I lived without for 2 weeks.
If you want to move any plumbing, radiators etc do before your furniture is in. (unlikely with a new build though).

Make sure you have an aerial point anywhere you might want the TV.

Change any flooring you don't like before moving furniture in.

Dermymc Thanks! We do need to change some plumbing actually and will book our plumber for the day we get the keys. Also changing some flooring so will get that done once plumber has finished (as they will need access across that area)

Ratbagratty thanks! Paint is ok, wallpaper needs to wait a year.

Measure every gap, alcove and chunk of wall, then head to an antiques warehouse if you have one nearby. We’ve got some lovely, characterful pieces that were about the same price as cheap Ikea stuff (mostly 30s-50s bits) but have lasted us a lot longer, that we’ve managed to fit perfectly into odd spaces. Measure at floor level as the skirting board will take an inch or so offf the gap!

Freecycle or its equivalents are great when you’re on a tight budget, even if just to get things to tide you over while you either save up for or stall over a decision about the ‘perfect’ sofa, table etc. If someone else was going to chuck it away otherwise you don’t need to feel guilty about passing it on to someone else after a few months.

Ok

Get good quality furniture. Not flatpack crap. As pp said, check out second hand and look in charity shops. And the like

Pay someone else to do the work. Including that painting your excited about. Unless you love it, it's a ballache, you won't do a great job, will have to buy all the brushes/paper etc. Get someone who has all the equipment, and has been doing it a while. They will do it better and faster and less messily than you.

As PPs have said. Live in the space for a while.

Also, if you start a job, finish it. Eg. If you decide to redecorate a bedroom. Make sure everything is done. Don't leave the blinds and say you'll do it next week or whatever. You won't. It will be ages!

If you've never lived together/away from parents before, remember, he really is 50% responsible for keeping the house running, and you do NOT need to do everything yourself because you "do it better" or "he's not bothered" or whatever.

(Voice of bitter now divorced experience).

If your house is newbuild, why are you already thinking if changing the flooring and plumbing??

Leave it be, that what you've paid a premium for, and it will be under warranty. Leave the bug stuff alone!

Live in it for a while before decorating or deciding on styling the rooms. I wasted time and money repainting after moving it and doing it all again differently within the year.

Have any essentials box so you can have a drink, brush your teeth, have a shower without having a unpack everything.

Buy the best quality you can afford even if it means second hand. If you buy cheap you’ll want to replace it fairly soon so something better quality.

Ask your family for anything they have that they don’t need, you’ll be surprised how many people have duplicate rolling pins, garden tools etc and will gladly give them to you.

Also don’t let decorating or housework become ‘your thing’ even if you enjoy it.

Do these things together, ask for help rather than getting irritated by doing it all yourself.

We actually have quite a few pieces of IKEA furniture and they are very good, not crap. Every item we have is robust and sturdy and looks OK (although some people might not think it looks nice, everyone's entitled to their opinion). We do have some much older pieces but the glue in the joints has become brittle with age and ordinary wear and tear, so these are not necessarily without issues. IKEA stuff is great when you are setting up home.

Don't rush into anything though. Take your time to see how it works for you. The amount of light coming in will make a difference to how you perceive colours, so if getting wall colours just right is important to you, the pp's suggestion of painting pieces of paper that you can move around is excellent.

It's great that your new gaff has plenty of storage, it's really annoying having nowhere to park your vacuum cleaner, iron/ironing board, mop & bucket, waffle maker, spare vases, light bulbs, all that sort of thing...

The worst thing about moving is getting those king-sized items up/down the staircase and round bends, I don't envy you that