To most people moving is one of the all time worst things. In a way moving is part death and part divorce. Which explains why it ranks third on the most stressful life events list following only death and divorce.
Wether you are moving across town or across the country it is stressful for so many reasons. But what about the positive changes moving brings about? A chance to meet new people, to experience new places, and above all getting to start with a new blank canvas.
For me starting with a blank canvas is the best part about moving. I love getting to reorganize and redecorate my new home. And since each home has it’s own personality, each of my homes has looked completely different from the last. Just because a picture looked great in my dining room in my previous home doesn’t mean it will look great in my next home. That picture may never even make it out of the garage. Something that makes my husband completely crazy because it involves a stock pile of randomness and half finished projects that take up space in our garage.
As we start the long process of moving into our latest home, I wanted to share some pictures of our newest blank canvas. You’ll have to excuse the bad photography, this was all part of the original listing.
There are things I love about this house and there are things I don’t. The major selling point for me was all the beautiful windows mixed with the high ceilings and hardwood floors.
This was the living room before we moved in. I love all the open space and the beautiful windows and high ceilings in every room and hardwood floors. It is such a great combination that really made this home the perfect fit.
Here is the living room as we have started to get settled in. If you are asking yourself is that a blanket on the couch, the answer is sadly yes. They dry cleaners in our last city lost our slip cover and the managed to find it. Thankfully we have amazing friends that are helping us sort out this long distance debacle.
Here is the dining room before we moved in. It connects to the living room to make one large open living space. I love all the windows!!
We’ve already started making changes. You’ll notice the ugly 1980’s gold and glass jellyfish chandelier came down and was replace by this simple little beauty, it’s one of my favorite thrift store finds for a whopping $10.
As you can tell we still have a long way to go before we are completely moved in to our new space. There are still plenty of boxes hiding in the corners and in the garage. Considering we’ve only been living in the house for one week, I am pretty happy with the results. As we get moved in and finish more projects I’ll post them so you can see our progress.
When you moved into to your newest blank canvas what was your favorite project? Was it something simple or did you redesign your whole home? I’d love to hear from you below!
As someone who has literally sold everything and packed whatever else, 2 dogs, my fiancee and myself into Landcruiser and DRIVEN to our new home in Costa Rica, I GET the jitters that come with moving for sure! But I totally agree that it’s being able to START FRESH that is sooo therapeutic to all those crazy "new home" feelings! Love your living room with all the windows! Keep up the good work!
Krysta,
Thank you for your support! I haven’t had to do an overseas move yet. I can’t imagine all the things that come with a move of that complexity. Not to mention I am a little bit of a pack rat and I would have a very hard time parting with all my treasures. Although I do have to say with each new house, I have steadily gleaned down the unnecessary junk. I think this house will be great for that. While there is still plenty of decorating to do, I am also really enjoying the bare space. I think it is because this house has amazing bones, where as our last house could only be described as a house. There was really nothing fantastic or interesting about it.
Thank you again for your sweet comment!
Cat
Love that you called it a jellyfish! Haha! You have made some gorgeous changes to the house. I completely agree that that room has beautiful windows. Look at the natural lighting!
Love that you called it a jellyfish! Haha! You have made some gorgeous changes to the house. I completely agree that that room has beautiful windows. Look at the natural lighting!
Thank you Lauryn!
I know if seen different blog posts here and there where people are reusing those old Jellyfish lights. But to me, no matter what color you paint the metal, they are still just plain ugly and weird. It was a design style that never should have become popular.
Cat
I am addicted to HGTV so I know that moving will be an exciting experience for me. Unfortunately, being a college student, I don’t get "blank canvases", just dorms and crappy apartments. So I am definitely looking forward to my first house. Thanks for sharing, it looks great!
Courtney,
Believe it or not, this house is a rental too. So I totally understand the challenges that come with not owning your home. We are a military family so owning a home at each duty station is something that were just not prepared to do right now. Like anything there are upsides and down sides to renting. When you rent you have to ask permission to do pretty much anything but when something needs repaired all you have to do is call. I’m trying to gear my blog more toward decorating options that are available to people like us who rent. There are a ton of little things you can do to make their house feel like your home. I hope you follow along with me and share our journey of decorating a rental.
Cat
I’m moving for the first time in over 12 years in just a few weeks and was feeling a little nervous of how to make it home. Your ideas and way of thinking about it has helped easy my anxiety. Thanks
Julie,
Don’t worry about the move. I’m not saying it isn’t a very stressful time. But once you get past the initial push it really becomes a lot of fun. Are you guys moving out of the area or across town?
Cat
Your home is gorgeous!! I’ve moved so many times in my adult life that it’s not as terrible as it seems to most people. I will agree that it can feel like a death in some cases, such as moving from our first house to this new one. I had to look forward to all the opportunities that I knew were ahead of us, and so far, I’ve been enjoying the process of turning this into our home. Thanks for sharing!! 🙂
That’s so wonderful Iris! How long ago did you guys move? I’ve found with a little bit of hard work it only takes about a week to make a house start to feel like its ours. How long did it take you?
Thank you so much for your support!
Cat
Moving can be such a hassle and we know sometimes painful. Your home is beautiful and we love the touches you have already done! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with us at Something To Talk About Link Party!
Thank you Vicki and Jennifer!
It’s been a lot of work. And I’m sad to say I haven’t gotten as much done this week as I hoped. But I did get to spend some time with my family instead. I have lots of great new projects underway now that we have finally moved and I am so excited to share them. I really enjoy your site and thank you so much for hosting the Something to Talk About Link Party! I’ll see you next week!
Cat
You’ve done such a gorgeous job making this house your home. As a military family, I always joke that our furniture and pictures are Garanimals style so that I can mix and match them in different rooms and combinations.
That’s a great saying Susan! I’ve never thought of them as Garanimals but it’s perfect! I always think of it as each house has its own personality. Just because something works in one place in one home doesn’t mean it will work in the same place in the next! Thank you so much for visiting my site! I’ll see you next week!
Cat
Wow what a beautiful home! Thanks for sharing on Monday Madness link party 🙂
Thank you for hosting Sharon!