You have come a long way now and can be proud of your achievements. You have mastered the unpopular task of de-cluttering and have decided what to take to your new home. You also went on a self-discovery journey and immersed yourself in the creative process of visualisation. Once you have decided on the look and feel of your room, it is time to layout the space.
To become crystal clear what will fit in a smaller home, you need to layout your space. Measure the furniture pieces you would like to take with you. If you already have an apartment in mind you would like to buy, take the scale of your floor plan and draw your furniture to the same scale. All you need is a piece of paper and a scale ruler. Then cut out the shapes of your furniture and place them on your floor plan. Move them around to create different looks and see if they will fit. If it does look too big on the paper, it won’t work in the apartment.
If you have not yet decided on a new space, work with your furniture shapes and calculate how big a new home would need to be to fit your pieces. This gives you an indication of what to look for when researching housing options.
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More tech-savvy readers can search for online floor planning websites. Some programs are free of charge; some require a subscription or payment as you go. The advantage is that you can view your floor plans in 2D and 3D. The downside is that you will need to invest extra time to learn how to use them. I recommend the old pencil and paper method, because it is quick and you don’t need your computer.
A general rule of thumb is that smaller pieces are much easier to move around and, with some creativity, can be used for different purposes. Consider this when buying new furniture while you are still in your family home.
It is also a wonderful opportunity to redecorate your new space and create a new look combining a couple of feature pieces from your family home with some new pieces. There is a wide range of versatile and stylish furniture available that suits an apartment lifestyle.
Tune in to this week's podcast to get started and discover additional bonus material to make your interior work.
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