Month: November 2021

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General

5 Exciting and Fun Things to Do Before Moving

5 Exciting and Fun Things to Do Before Moving

Even when you’re moving into your dream house, the actual moving process can be grueling and emotional. The months before a move are busy, even when you hire professional movers and are super organized. While moving can be stressful, that doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun to make the process a bit easier. If you need a break, the following activities can help refresh your batteries so you can get back to moving with gusto.

Throw a Party Before Moving to a New City

Whether you’re moving to a new city or a new state, organizing a going away party can be a nice distraction from all the packing and planning. Sure, it’s not particularly fun to say goodbye to good friends and neighbors, but a party is a great opportunity to see everyone in one place and spend time with the people who matter.

You don’t need additional stress during your move, so plan to make this party very informal. Reach out to your closest friends and neighbors and have a laid-back get together on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Make sure you have some drinks and snacks, but you can also ask guests to bring something as well. At the end of the party, make sure you exchange your new contact information. Heck, you can even mix business with pleasure and have the moving-away part after your friends have helped you pack for the day. If you’re hiring movers, you can encourage your guests to take some items that you don’t plan on bringing with you.

Visit Your New and Old Places

Unless you really hated your area, chances are there are a few spots in town that you love. Maybe it’s a cozy diner, a small museum, or a quiet green area in a park. Wherever it is, take some time out of your hectic moving plans to enjoy your neighborhood for the last time. Don’t rush yourself either! Take your time and truly relish the experience. That might mean clearing up a day or two in your busy moving schedule, but it will be worth it!

If your schedules align, take one or two friends on a greatest hits ‘tour’ and visit your favorite places. You could even take a walk down memory lane and revisit some of your old haunts. If that’s not your style, why not be a tourist in your town for the day? If you live somewhere like NYC, chances are you probably avoid tourist locations like the plague. Now is the time to take in all the attractions and enjoy them! It’s a great way to recharge your battery for the tough relocation ahead.

Capture Beautiful Memories Before You Leave

Leaving your old home can be an emotional experience, especially if you have a lot of good memories in it. It’s hard on everyone, but doubly so for children as they have come to associate the house with comfort, love, and warmth. Fortunately, your upcoming move doesn’t have to be a somber affair as long as you believe your new home will be even better.

Of course, that doesn’t mean you have to forget all about your old house. If anything, to make the transition easier, you should capture some memories before you leave. Maybe that means making a farewell video where each member of the family tells their favorite story or memory linked to a particular room. Avoid scripted takes as you want authenticity!

If you’re not into video, take some time to take some pictures as you move out. Later on, you can arrange these pictures, along with others you have taken during your stay at your old house, into a photo album. If you have kids, let them contribute to the album as well so everyone will have fond memories to look back on.

Speaking of memories, if you can bring a memento from your old place to your new one. This might be a bit harder if you live in a rental as you could be charged for not leaving the apartment in good condition. Choose something that is meaningful and either add it to the photo album/scrapbook or add it to your new home. This way, every time you look at the memento, you’ll be reminded of good memories.

Reward Yourself  in a Way You Choose

If you hire trustworthy movers, hopefully your residential move will be perfect from start to finish. Many people will wait until after the move to treat themselves, but there’s no rule saying you can’t take a much needed pre-move break. In fact, it’s a great way to keep your motivation high, especially during the height of moving.

It might be tempting to try and push through all the tedious packing and organizing, but take some time to relax. Maybe that means catching a movie with some friends, going out for romantic dinner with your significant other, or attending a concert. If you’re moving alone, it could be as simple as taking a luxurious bath or relaxing in bed watching your favorite show. Whatever it is, you want to choose an activity that will recharge your batteries. The point is to do something you love and enjoy. You’ll be less stressed the next day and you might even be able to get everything done faster by taking a break.

Create a Proven Floor Plan to Avoid Mistakes

When moving into a new place, you have the opportunity to truly transform it into the home of your dreams. Sure, there might be some limitations, especially if you decide to move into an apartment. However, there are still plenty of ways you can unleash your creativity and create a cozy dwelling that reflects your personality while also guaranteeing maximum comfort. And you can start planning all of this out before you even move! In fact, you should create a floor plan before you move, that way you can avoid costly mistakes such as:

  • Incorrect furniture size – there’s no point in spending money moving heavy furniture if it won’t fit in your new home. A detailed floor plan will tell you which pieces you can keep and which ones you can donate or throw away.
  • Poor furniture placement – you’ll have to know the exact dimensions of your house and furniture for this, but it’s well worth the effort as you can figure out where to place each item to maximize open areas and traffic flow
  • Rearranging furniture after move in – why spend time rearranging furniture after you move in when you can simply have the movers place items exactly where you want it? With a floor plan, you can tell the movers exactly where you want each item to go. Not only does this save you time, it also reduces the chances of you or loved ones getting injured because you’re trying to move heavy items.

In order for the floor plan to work as intended, you need exact measurements of everything. Make sure to include quirky wall layouts such as round sections or slanted walls. Also make sure to note the location of all windows, doors, and doorways as you don’t want to block any of these areas with furniture. While you’re at it, you should also look for the location of electric outlets, ceiling lights, and heating vents on your floor plan. When you have all the information, draw the rooms to scale. It usually works best when you use graph paper and represent one foot with two squares on the graph paper.

Once that’s done, measure all of your furniture and decide which ones you want to move into your new home and see whether they will fit. Draw the outlines of your furniture onto another piece of graph paper using the same scaling method as you did for the actual house/apartment. From there, cut the furniture shapes from the paper and start arranging on your floor plan. Pay special attention to the flow of traffic and how you can break up a large room into different ‘sections.’ Sure, you can always rearrange furniture later on, but a good floor plan can save you time and reduce unnecessary stress. Plus, you can keep the plan for future use if you ever replace your old furniture.

Hire the Best Professional NJ Movers

The moving process can be grueling and stress-full, but these tips can hopefully help make it a little more bearable. Another great way to reduce stress is to hire professional movers who can help load and unload your belongings and even arrange your furniture based on your specifications. Working with the pros means you don’t have to worry about broken items or injuries. And that’s a great way to start a new chapter in your life!

Categories
Moving Tips

How to Organize Your Furniture in Your New Home After a NJ Move

How to Set Up Furniture in Your New NJ Home After Moving

So you’ve finally found your perfect NJ home and you’re ready to move. While moving can be stressful, it’s also exciting especially if you enjoy interior decorating. With a new place, you’re starting with a blank slate even if you decided to move furniture from your old place. Even if you don’t enjoy arranging and set up furniture, the helpful guide below can help you get your bearings and set everything up in no time.

Evaluate the Space: Create Room Patterns and Focal Points

A crucial step when planning the arrangement of furniture in your new place is to carefully assess what you’re working with. In order to do so you should:

  • Clear the space – remove everything from the room including boxes, scattered furniture, and other objects that will prevent you from seeing the true view of the area. While you might have seen the empty room when you were on the search, it’s all too easy to forget the exact dimensions and things like awkward corners and curved walls.
  • Think About the Room’s Purpose – Even if you’re living in a studio apartment, it’s important to understand the function of a specific area. You can easily use your furniture to set up boundaries to create ‘rooms.’ Of course, it’s easier if you live in a place that has more than one room! With that said, the process is the same. Before you start placing your furniture willy-nilly, you should think about the purpose and function of the room. This might be an obvious step, but it’s easy to lose sight especially after a big move.
  • Consider traffic patterns and focal points – A focal point is something that draws the eye and helps balance out the space. This could be a piece of furniture or some other kind of decor. For example, a fireplace acts as a natural focal point as do picture windows. If you don’t have a natural focal point, you can create your own by using drapes, artwork, or furniture. Also pay close attention to the location of doors, windows, and awkward areas. You definitely don’t want to block windows or the natural path between rooms.

Strategize with Furniture Layout Tools for Better Arrangements

Now that you’ve had a good look at each room, it’s time to consider different furniture arrangements. Rather than expend a ton of energy moving these bulky items multiple times, you can draft up potential ideas beforehand. This will require measuring the exact dimensions of each room as well as your furniture. Otherwise, you might decide to place a couch in the corner, but realize it won’t actually fit, wasting precious time.

If you took measurements beforehand you can leisurely plan each room’s layout weeks or months before your move. If you didn’t have the time, you can still do so after the move! Don’t skip this step as a good layout can change a room from being calming to stressful. If you need some help visualizing room placement you can:

  • Use free online tools  – Sites like Floor Planner allows you to place furniture, change the color scheme of the room, and more making it much easier to figure out a good layout.
  • Create paper replicas – If you have a difficult space to work with, you might want to experiment in the space with paper replicas of your furniture pieces. You don’t need to get anything fancy, plain brown paper or cardboard should do the trick. You will need measurements of each piece of furniture, which you can trace onto the paper and cut out. Label each paper and then start arranging. If you don’t want to waste all that brown paper, you can create a miniature version of your room and furniture. Just make sure everything is scaled properly!

Formulate a New Balanced Layout

Even if you’re not an expert home decorator, you’ve probably been to a house where something just doesn’t feel ‘right’ about a particular room. Maybe it’s too cramped or everything looks mismatched. Either way, if you follow the tips below you can achieve a practical and balanced layout:

  • If you have heavy furniture, balance it out with other large objects or groupings of smaller items.
  • Don’t put all the furniture against the wall. It might be tempting as it keeps it out of the way, but that leads to a large empty space in the middle of the room. Instead, place some in the middle area as it will create depth and interest
  • Consider the height of furniture pieces and arrange them to create multi-levels in the space. If you have a shorter piece, hang a large print wall to elongate the space. A large print will also encourage the eye to travel up making the room feel taller.
  • Don’t be afraid to play with color and patterns. Eye-catching colors can help turn a room from drab to fab. Just make sure you don’t overuse a particular color or pattern especially if they are very bright or loud. Instead, use them as accent pieces through throw pillows, curtains, or art.
  • Similar to the above, experiment with a variety of textures to add depth and interest to the room. Pillows, rugs, and drapes are all great ways to add textures. Mixing materials can also add interest. You can use marble, wood, and metal to ground the space while glass and light fabrics can give a room a ‘breezy’ feel.

Don’t Forget to Focus on Better Lighting

Setting up your furniture isn’t just about finding the right place for your tables, chairs, and sofas. Lighting also plays a key role in how to arrange the pieces in the room. So take a moment to actually look at the lighting you have in each room and how you use it to your advantage.

  • If you have a big heavy sofa or chest in the room, try to place it under your overhead lights or put a lamp on it to visually lighten them
  • Darker rooms tend to feel smaller than brighter rooms. While this might work for cozy living rooms, it might not be great for places like the dining room or kitchen as it can feel cramped. If you can’t change up the lights, consider reducing the amount of furniture in these rooms or investing in some floor lamps to brighten it up.
  • If you have end tables or stands, place them in ways that make sense for both the room’s flow and as potential light sources in case you need some more in the room
  • Consider using hue lighting as it can be used to set the mood. You can add some wall sconces for extra lighting and it doesn’t take up any real estate on a table or floor

Hire Professional NJ Movers

Setting up your new home can be an exciting and painstaking process. Even after you arrange your rooms when you move, you may end up going through multiple layouts throughout the years as your needs and moods change. Your tastes may also change so you’ll end up rearranging your house multiple times! These tips can help you layout your home whether you decide to change up your furniture or move to a new place.