It’s official: you’ve moved into your new house. The boxes are unpacked, and everything is in its place. But there’s one problem. Despite your best efforts, your home doesn’t feel like yours; it feels like someone else’s, and some of the home’s features are very tired.
You’re still determining what’s missing, but something needs to be corrected to make it feel more like yours and less like the previous owners’.
It can be frustrating if your home doesn’t feel like yours. It’s your sanctuary, after all, and it should reflect your style. You can make a few easy tweaks to help your home feel more like yours. But that probably raises the next question; “what makes a place feel like home?”
Don’t worry; you’re not alone in asking that question. It’s common for new homeowners to feel like their house isn’t their home. But with a little effort, you can make your house feel like a proper home.
You can create a unique space by rearranging furniture, adding personal touches, and changing your color scheme.
It can be tough to feel like your home isn’t yours, but there are plenty of simple ways to make your home feel more comfortable. Let’s solve the issue of what to do when your home doesn’t feel like yours in a few simple steps!
Table of Contents
(1) Use Personalization When Home Doesn’t Feel Like Yours
Personalizing your home with style is one way to make it more comfortable.
Add personal touches like:
- photos
- artwork
- wall decor
- key hooks
- clothing hooks
(2) What Makes A Place Feel Like Home? Organizational Items
Organizational Tools Are Accents For Each Room; you’ll want to use them when your home doesn’t feel like yours!
A big step in making your home more comfortable is to make it more functional, and by adding storage solutions, you can help keep things organized or create a space that suits your needs.
- create a dedicated workspace and add some shelving
- create a family room space with cabinets or an entertainment center
(3)Creative Accents Make A Home More Comfy and Personalized
Making your home more comfortable can also be as simple as making it more inviting.
- add cozy blankets to chairs
- use throws on couches
- toss in some extra throw pillows with fun cover colors
- add greenery (real and fake)
- Add in scented candles
- Add window treatments to block out the world or let it in.
Doing this should remove the feeling that your home doesn’t feel like yours and make you feel much more comfortable and relaxed.
When you add your style and taste, you OWN the living space, making it comfortable.
Example: 5 Things Our Checklist Of How To Make My House A Home Works
Yes, we have a checklist we use when we go house shopping, whether we are flipping homes or shopping for a summer home. Security is a feeling that allows us to feel comfortable and makes a place feel like home.
The thing is, these five things take the tired appliances and fixtures and update them, which provides a feeling of security which is some of what makes a place feel like home, especially when you feel like your home doesn’t feel like yours (which is true of a home that has been a VRBO or a rental turning into an actual home.
Our story: One summer not long ago, we searched for a home to flip or use as a vacation home in Wilmington, Delaware, because it’s not too far from Pennsylvania, yet the area is closer to the beach and perfect for a getaway and makes a great rental (or not…)
We soon learned that every home we looked at would require at least 5 things (our new checklist for every home we buy) to make my house a home, even if it were for others to rent and for us to use once in a while.
- New entrance doors with fresh locks from a locksmith
- Fresh paint – we checked with a few paint companies in the area
- Updated landscaping
- A New Roof
- New Air Conditioning units
So we checked with Thumbtack for a painter, a locksmith, and a reliable HVAC to understand the cost in the area.
We contacted Best Choice Roofing for the room because the small issues we noted were not so small after speaking to the realtor and learning the amount of work needed to correct the situation. We would not blindly go into a new home flip or a potential getaway home; the roof was the deal breaker.
My overall point here, without being too lengthy, is that making my house a home (for me) is all about safety and comfort, while others might need photos and paint on the interior rooms.
So, each of these items on my checklist provided security updates and comfort, and while we walked away from a particular home, we maintained our checklist.
The Answer To The Question: Why Home Doesn’t Feel Like Yours?
What was once someone else’s doesn’t feel like yours, right? That’s how we felt too.
When owners leave their homes behind and move, their lives are there, not yours. Their tastes, their paint, their gardening. Unless you put YOU into the equation, a home doesn’t feel like yours and won’t feel like yours!
Moving into a new location or home is exciting, but only some feel the same way. For most people, it’s a time of new beginnings, a time to start fresh. However, uncertainty and a new home base can temporarily create a bit of upset.
If you’re not used to moving around, or if you’ve just never felt like you had a “home” to begin with, then a new home can feel like it doesn’t belong to you. It can feel like you’re just visiting or living in somebody else’s house.
There are a few reasons why this can happen. Maybe you never felt settled in your childhood home, moved around a lot and never had a chance to put down roots. Or you need to get used to having your own space or things.
Whatever you do, make sure it reflects your style and your personality.
Try to create a routine in your new home. Whether making your bed every morning or taking the dog for a walk every evening, having a pattern will help you feel more settled.
Finally, be patient. It takes time to adjust to a new home, and it might feel like yours. Moving is an adjustment, so let time pass, and it will eventually feel like the place you belong.
Put a bit of YOU into your new home, which makes a place feel like a home! ~ Dana XO
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