Moving Without Moving: Make Your Old Space Feel New

There's been a lot of moving among the LA team. As the only one staying put we, or rather I, am jealous. The living out of boxes part, not so much, but there are other parts — the getting rid of clutter, the chance to start fresh, exploring a new neighborhood, the enthusiasm for home and all the home projects —that are very appealing. Until I move, here's how I fake it.

Splurge on a cleaning lady: coming home to a freshly cleaned apartment, smelling of lavender or other natural scents, makes me feel as if my home is new.
Make a small change: I went to Ikea and got new pillows and duvet covers. Suddenly my bed feels different.
Hire a professional organizer: Revamp a space in your home that's been troubling you.
Redo a closet. paint it, wallpaper it, rearrange it, get rid of stuff.
Rearrange the furniture - you could discover a new arrangement that is a big improvement.
Swap homes with someone for a week or two to try on a new neighborhood and get some fresh ideas for how to arrange things in your own home.
Mix up your habits: Sleep on the couch, eat sitting in a different chair. We all have corners of our home we never use. Try them out.

(Image: Beth Zeigler)

Comments (22)

I have been know to have my husband help me move everything out of a room over the weekend and then "move" back in. Really helps if you are thinking about moving furniture. Lets you get over "no the TV is there, the couch wouldn't possibly work" issue.

1) declutter
2) paint
3) move your furniture around

Make your old space feel new by sleeping on the sofa? Hiring a cleaning lady? Doing a house-swap to a different neighborhood? Umm... this must be a joke!

I've done a house-swap kind of thing when I house-sat for my second cousins to take care of their pets when they were out of town. It's kind of cool, actually - I got to see what it's like living in a house in the neighborhood I like, rather than an apartment in the same neighborhood.

My roommate has cured both of our cases of insomnia by bogarting the couch to sleep on when I'm in the shower - makes me go to bed rather than stay up and watch late-night CSI: NY on TNT like I've been doing.

If I had the money to splurge, having someone else clean my house for the day might be neat...has to be green though!

IMO, the best way to make your house feel "new" is to redecorate:

Sell the things you don't love on Craigslist/eBay and purchase "new" items from CL/eBay and fleamarkets - You're not adding to landfill and you're passing along items to others who will appreciate them more...
...it's also a great way to meet interesting people.

I just rearranged my apartment - I got antsy and was in an "I want to move!!!!" mood - and it's made a huge difference. My apartment feels bigger. It involved doing what bepsf suggested, too: sold some furniture/donated it, and then bought some on CL and at an antiques store. Voila! New apartment. And more compliments on it :)

Unfortunately, it's made me want to redo the whole darned thing, now... And I still kind of want to move, but that's a whole other can of worms.

I'm in the middle of painting my entire apartment. This is forcing me to declutter and get rid of stuff. I love it!

Maybe I'm crazy, but sleeping on the couch doesn't make my place feel any more 'new.' I just wake up with a crick in my neck. So that's just silly.

http://www.abbeycatchat.com

@architexas People actually like to move? *shudder*

I'm in the process of doing as Bepsf suggested. I'm also concidering a cleaning lady, although that's because I would rather spend the money than the time to clean. Rearranging furniture is an old hobby of mine, too. I move everything at least once a year. It's fun, makes the place look new and forces me to clean under everything.

Sitting in a different chair for dinner is kind of weird... I mean, I have four chairs, and all of them look the same. They're on different sides of the table, but I really don't have much space to differ my view...my dining table is 4 feet from my living room, which ends 1 foot from my office desk.

I can't believe the writer is jealous of those moving. I have a move coming up, and all I feel is anxious. I guess the grass is always greener...

I hate moving, and to me, that "just-moved" feeling is stress, disorientation, and not being able to find anything when I want it. However, having a professional cleaning person is my favorite thing in the world - that I would recommend to anyone!

I make my apartment feel like fresh by re-purposing or moving furniture I already had. I recently considered buying a new media stand for my living room, a new bookshelf for my office, and a kitchen island. Instead of spending the money, I moved the shelves in my living room to my office and moved my mini-bar to where the bookshelf had been. I started using my existing 2-shelf, very small coffee table as a media stand, and I also converted a small ottoman to a cocktail ottoman in place of the coffee table. The living room is far more spacious - and I can now do yoga there because my cocktail ottoman is on wheels, so I can just ship it off to the side for a bit.

I also took an old Ikea desk on wheels with a bottom shelf and converted into a kitchen island by putting cutting boards on top and a few boxes of essentials on the bottom shelf. It's like I got all new furniture but I spent nothing.

"To me, that "just-moved" feeling is stress, disorientation, and not being able to find anything when I want it."

Emily--

I'm in the midst of redoing the kitchen (painting the cabinets inside and out, then the walls and new backsplash) having the hall bath completely redone and doing some redecorating in the living room - It's not much easier than moving with things in boxes everywhere....

New linens in the bedroom, slipcover the sofas in the living room, new rugs.

I recently decided I had to have a new bed, but didn't want to spend any money. I took the bed skirt off, covered the base with a queen sized bedspread with a one inch piping, which went all the way to the floor of my raised bed. I put the bed skirt on the mattress under the pad and bottom sheet. It's box fitted, and it looks great overlapping the bedspread. (It looks way better than it sounds.) Then I took throw pillows, of which I have too many, and stuffed several shams with them. With those on top of a matching comforter, now it looks like a huge day bed, and I like it so much better than before, plus I used so many more of my linens. I am ashamed to say I have 72 pieces of the same pattern. I first bought a FEW at retail, a few more at a discount shop (I got four sets of sheets for the price of one at retail, no kidding), and then the gates opened when various pieces hit Ebay. I paid almost nothing for the pieces I got on Ebay, but I have something for everything. I have lamp shades, a tissue cover, and valances with plenty of fabric to repurpose for table rounds.

Another trick, use what was meant to be panel draperies for windows in a door opening. I have an opening between my public and private areas, outside my bedroom, and I hung two sets of drapery panels on a tension rod. It makes a great divider, and a wonderful set up for the bedroom area.

Also, in the bathroom, I have glass sliding doors, which aren't that attractive. I have two shower curtains in the pattern, but I didn't want to buy the hardware. So I took a tension rod I already had, and put half a dozen sheer panels on the rod. It transformed the bathroom much more than I thought. A friend gave me new white towels for my new white bathroom, so the panels really pop. At no cost to me! I repurposed a gold framed mirror by turning it from portrait to landscape, and I don't recognize my own bathroom. And I didn't spend a penny.

Or make a new focal point. I have a LARGE open living room, so occasionally I put up a round card table near the windows covered with serious fitted linens, a pair of Henredon chairs out of the bedroom, and set it for two with crystal, sterling, and china. It has the feel of a little restaurant setting right in my living room. At night, with a glass of wine overlooking the city lights, I can imagine I am anywhere.

Or just move, and get rid of most of your stuff. I just did that. I like the feeling of having just the few things I really wanted, and knowing where they are.

get rid of everything and start from scratch (even if everything goes into the garage for 1/2 a day while you rethink the space).

I made my apartment feel new by selling my crazy aztec lounges and replacing them with a contemporary plain leather modular lounge. Once the lounge was gone so did everything else and finally did all those projects I was always going to do. My place now looks and feels new.

Stripping down to the things you love and being ruthless about it makes you happier in the end. I can't stand being surrounded by iffy things.

Every few months or so, I take a few things down to the op-shop that aren't really suiting my style anymore. Then while I'm there, I look around for pieces that will work better in our living space. I like the challenge of creating something amazing on a small budget. I also do a lot of sewing, and changing cushion and couch covers :)

Honestly, if we weren't renting, if we owned our house, I would be knocking out walls everywhere - I love open-plan living!

Even though we are talking about NOT moving, I just did and let me tell you-the feeling is so refreshing. We got rid of some furniture, clothes, shoes, dishes...you name it and started fresh. If you are not moving-do the same. De-clutter, and edit things out of your apartment/home, you will be surprised as to how fresh you feel.

I am moving, dreading it, and also welcoming it. I want to simply close the door to my house and just move into my townhouse which is about 2/3 the size I have now. And just find new things to re-purpose and fill the place with. I hate packing and unpacking!! ARGH!

Perfect opportunity to downsize and decorate!

Swap houses? with whom? a bit far fetched for me to grasp...