I recently visited a friend who had been living in North Carolina for one year before moving back into her condo on the North Shore. Between the Thursday she moved in and the following Sunday I saw her, she had already unpacked her 3-story, 2 bedroom townhouse in its entirety, including displaying an array of books on the nightstand in the spare room that may interest guests.
No, my friend is not superwoman. She had lived in this space for a couple of years prior so she had already decided on furniture and curtains for the space. Apparently, she placed everything back where it had been a year before.
I asked myself, what I would have done. Where's the fun in decorating in four short days if you know exactly what the end result will be? Isn’t decorating an investigation and an exploration, a journey rather than a destination? Would I have wanted to recreate the exact same space the second time around? Surely I would have edits to make or be into different colors or want to upgrade a frame or two.
I have been living in my apartment for one year and only have two of the smallest rooms finished. I fantasize (and obsess) about having the “perfect” space, but realize that creating a home is more like working out an intricate puzzle. I do a little at a time. Live with it. Add to it. Do it over again until it fits. My approach is slow.
What is your style when it comes to unpacking and creating your home? Do you obsess to get everything perfect? Or do you let it evolve?
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Unpack Now! I recently moved into an apartment and I am pretty much done. I had the opportunity to see the place several months before I moved in. I did most of my shopping in the months prior to moving, picking up several pieces after I moved. I took off of work so that I could devote the time to unpacking and settling in. I'm still doing minor decorating (putting up pictures and other art work), but my place was put together enough to have friends over a week after I moved.
I try to unpack quickly and have everything put away and presentable after a couple of weeks. But it's never finished! I may not move the furniture, but I'll add pieces and art and stuff for as long as I'm around.
I'm definitely an "unpack now" type of gal. I like to know where things are...but I will wait to put things up on the walls or get curtains until I am absolutely in love with them.
I always try to unpack right away. It makes me feel more settled. Then I take my time decorating and arranging our things to fit our new space.
I have never once moved to an unknown quantity, be it dorm room or house. I always plan ahead to the finest detail, know exactly where everything is going to go, then I unpack as fast as I possibly can. (The last time, moving from a house to a temporary rental with storeage units then to a new house, and having unassembled IKEA, and some back issues along with my partner's gall bladder surgery, it kind of slowed down. But the concept was still there, we did as much as we could as fast as we could.)
Decorating isn't a journey for me, it's an end goal. I don't change stuff around much once I'm happy with things, only swapping things out if I find a Treasure better than what it replaces, or replacing things that are damaged or that I get tire of (not too common.)
I always unpack quickly, but decorate slowly....
When I moved into my house last August, all boxes were emptied and put away within a month (it only took that long because things were coming to me from various places they had been stored while I saved for my house and because I had a to buy a few pieces of furniture to store a lot of the stuff). But it's almost a year later and I'm definitely still decorating and still developing my home's style. I have a garage full of projects that may or may not be tackled in a timely manner.... But that's what makes it so much fun.
Back when I still lived in apartments, I had everything unpacked and on walls/in its home with three days of moving in....
I wish that I could be an unpack it all now person. I mean, I want all the clutter gone, but editing the space to make it perfect takes time and really depends on the space you are working with. What may have worked in your old home may not work in the new home.
Laura
justalittlebit.net
I see unpacking and decorating as two different things. I need to be unpacked as soon as possible, including getting pictures up, etc. I can't stand to live amid boxes--makes me insane. I have never taken longer than five days (that for a 1600 sq. ft. house). But the decorating--that occurs over time. Each room will grow and change...and in my house at least they are never really "done."
The strange part is, when I know I am going to be moving, I begin to pack as soon as possible, so I can do it in a focused and organized fashion. Our last cross country move (OR to WI) took place over 18 months; we knew about the move nine months before the hubster moved; I followed with the cats and the rest of our stuff nine months later. I began packing almost immediately for the first move and once that stuff was gone, began the process for the second. For me, the slow deliberate packing means I can really sort out and get rid of things we no longer need, and there is no last minute frenzy. Moving is hard enough--I don't need to make it even worse.
I definitely need to unpack/decorate as soon as possible. I hate living in chaos. However, I'm not opposed to moving things around or changing things down the line if we decide we like a different arrangement. So in that case I can see decorating as being an ongoing, organic process.
The last three times I've moved, it was into spaces that required some substantial work. I had a choice of getting the work done as quickly as possible, or unpacking. I chose getting the work done.
I still have boxes I haven't unpacked from a move 10 years ago. We've moved twice since :)
I don't even unpack from vacation for a week or more! I love leaving it long enough that you forget about bits & pieces that you own - presents! - a very prolonged Christmas.
I'd unpack right away. Whatever is still packed (except Christmas decorations) after a month or two could probably be tossed out altogether.
Decorating I do as the spirit moves me. And I do it once. I know what I like and I don't like change [thumps cane].
To me, unpacking right away doesn't mean things are not allowed to evolve to become the perfect space. I moved into my current space nearly 4 years ago and I still move things around, remove some things, add others as I continue to obsess about the perfect space. But I unpacked everything as soon as possible.
That being said, I have a few boxes that I have moved multiple times and rarely opened. But these are my childhood memories and various family things that I don't put out on display but want/need to keep around.
I definitely unpack right away, then slowly decorating the place. People tend to move during weekends. I don't know about others, but I don't want to go to work on Monday and come home all tired yet still have to face all the boxes. =)
I may have unpacked my place in 3 days after moving in 3 years ago, but never stopped molding it to my personality/taste.
never do today what you can put off until tomorrow ... .
Ugh, I'm with @meetmyuglybaby, unpacking from a trip is my least favorite thing.
We moved more than a month ago but we're still dithering over changing the flooring and paint so we're still partially living out of boxes and it is the WORST. I'm resolved to unpack it all this weekend and we'll address the decorating part as we have time; otherwise it'll be December before I can find that cute maternity shirt I bought to wear this summer.
Last time we moved I unpacked about 120 boxes in the first two days and then after that it slowed rather and I still have a few to deal with, 18 months later. The decorating is yet to come as we have major renovations in the works, so all that stuff will be going back into boxes in the not-too-distant future.