A WELL CURATED HOME

It's Moving Day! 

How to set your home up for your success:

While this is not the most convenient time of year to buy a new home, I know a lot of people braving the process. According to Redfin, the average interest rate on a 30-year-fixed mortgage was 7.07% in August. And moving fees have increased by as much as 33% in some parts of North Carolina (we live just outside of Charlotte) since 2020 according to "Hire aHelper.com.  And still ----409,000 people bought homes just last month. I want to dedicate this post to a friend who is braving the process  in the middle of the school year and trying to not lose her mind in the process. She's been kind enough to give me some feedback on some still to come articles and I thought I would try to help her in turn. 

With that, I want to share with you how we will go about setting up her home and getting her to the next phase: decorating! No, this is not some boring post on home sales and mortgages. This is about the fun stuff--decorating a beautiful space and making it organized and functional for the whole family. 

So, here we go--

The moving trucks have pulled up and neatly packed all of your belongings and have managed to not scratch, break any beloved items or scuff your walls--this is not a dream--it does happen. I don't know anyone personally--- but it does happen. If you're lucky, you have hired a moving team that will at minimum deliver your boxes to the correct rooms. 

What do you do first

First----Order Pizza for the Crew and your family as soon as you arrive at your new home--you'll thank me for it later.  Don't do it any earlier. You want the crew to keep their momentum with the promise of pizza coming. Whether it's a professional company or your college buddies lending a hand, I always recommend this one.

Next up in short order---Make the beds!!!--keep your linens handy if it's a local move and get straight to working on tight hospital corners. This is one of the most strenuous days of your life and I want you to be able to drop whenever your body tells you it's time. Hopefully the kids will go to bed long before you. 

If you want to keep this kids from driving you fruity before day's end, --set up a play area with their favorite toys once they've run through your moving "to do list" for them. Consider letting them play at a friend's house or a few hours or better yet, get them outside in a fenced in yard while you move on to the next daunting task.

For our next trick--we are going to make sure all of the boxes are in the correct room and move any that are not. It's easier to identify if a box went to the wrong spot while everything is neatly packed and labeled. You may even want to consider color coding with masking tape to easily ID which boxes go where. 

Now folks, we head to the kitchen. Start opening boxes with the biggest items: pots and pans, bakeware, dishes, glassware, COFFEE MUGS/Coffee Maker --do not lose these!. Place those boxes on the counter below the cabinet where you intend to store those items. I want you to then walk around your kitchen and envision yourself cooking Thanksgiving dinner with your mother, sister, brother in the kitchen. Where would be the most natural direction to turn for a cooking spoon, utensils, a glass of water, the pan for the turkey (rarely used so that can go in an inconvenient spot where you only have to climb to once a year.

As the next month progresses, be open to moving things around to where they create the best flow for your family. For me, My cooking spoons are in the drawer next to the stove, because I don't function having to move them every time I wipe my countertops. For others, that may be on the kitchen counter as you need to see things in order to access them. Confession: I struggle with things being out of sight--I forget I have them and sometimes will buy a new one. If you struggle with memory or have a neurological-divergent brain, it may work better for you to have glass or open cabinets and leave your cooking utensils on the countertop.

Next, dishes are heavy and the most often used items in the kitchen so they should go in the cabinet immediately opposite your dishwasher or beside--depends on your kitchen layout. Utensils (including casual serving utensils) should go in the drawer beneath the cabinet with your plates. You will see that you will "spin" less in your kitchen as a result. My pots and pans are in the drawers to the right of my stove and you guessed it, cooking utensils are in the drawer above my pots and pans. My cutting knives and boards are in the drawer to the left of my sink but closest to my refrigerator--these items include: my knives, potato peeler, kitchen scissors, and my cheese grater. That is essentially my "sharps drawer". And, I have a drawer next to my sharps that is next to my refrigerator that contains all of my food wrappers/travel food storage--ziplock bags, aluminum foil, my parchment paper, ties for bread bags, twist ties, chip clips, and a giant ball of rubber bands--just like granny had--as a friend once pointed out to me laughing uncontrollably. As I use up my bread, I keep the twist tie in that drawer--this comes in really handy folks. And, I want to share with you some tools I purchased that have made prepping my kids' lunches so much easier and worth every penny I've spent---I'll share the link below. ((((((ADD PIC OF DRAWER))))))))), underneath that drawer are my dishtowels and under that drawer, are my trash bags which are immediately to the left of my trash can btw. My builder had the genius idea of creating this space so that I can wipe my kitchen counters while pushing crumbs straight into the waste bin. It really is genius and makes my life so much easier.

One of the ones that I don't love because of location is my spice drawer--but that's because I like to cook and have a LOT of spices. To keep me sane----I spent one afternoon organizing my spices into new jars/labels and combining whatever I could. I also got this tip from a friend and OMG---I alphabetize my spices. Sheer genius! It takes so little work to maintain as I pull what I need to cook and I can see the empty spaces where I fill them back in--even my husband is a die hard believer in this method. Underneath my spice drawer, I created a baking drawer. This contains flour, measuring cups, baking soda, vanilla, chocolate chips, etc--to make chocolate chip pancakes every Saturday. This is a tradition my husband started a few years' ago and our kids know the measurements to a tea. I wanted these items especially accessible to the kids so that they remember how special this was when they're all grown up and not stress about fumbling for items in the pantry--we have a baking section in the pantry as well which I put inside of a tray so when we bake cookies (not done often), we can just pull down the whole tray.

Next, I do not have a junk drawer. I have one drawer that we use to store batteries and repair items like crazy glue, floor protectors--because they fall off all the time or need to be replaced because of dog hair, wall protector silicone dots, 3M Hooks, food markers, chalk markers for pantry and mudroom labels, and measuring tape. I am in this drawer almost every day so it's definitely another essential. In my top drawer in this section of my kithcen are other essentials that run my household--markers, pens, extra stapler and tape, a ruler, post its, calculator, stamps (for when we are on our way to the mailbox), charging chords, and all of our extra charges. I also have an awesome tip for labeling your kids' clothes---get yourself a stamper (also kept in this drawer because it's next to the mudroom) to label uniforms or school items. As you buy new items, we walk through this path in our kitchen every day and head out the door so if I notice something that needs to be labeled or "stamped", it's convenient. I can't take credit for buying this--a good friend gave it to me as a gift---consider this for your friends who have to make school lunches this Holiday Season. It's an amazing stocking stuffer. 

From the kitchen, I want you to turn your attention to your master bathroom and the primary kids' bathroom--even if temporary. If you think to do it beforehand, pack a toiletry bag with you and your kids' essentials. Don't lose your mind trying to find toothbrushes and your face wash/face creams. Maybe even throw your jammies in there for when the time is right.

From the kids bathrooms, move to the closets--yours and theirs (in that order). This should be easy and may require some shuffling later but just get your clothes hung up in the closet and toss those bags/boxes. I like to take the huge moving boxes and pile my clothes in them while they are on their hangers and wrapped in garbage bags. You will thank me later.

As for the rest of your home--dining room, family room, library spaces, just open the boxes and take everything out and lay it on the floor or a table. Over the next 2 weeks--commit to putting 1 box worth of items away per day. You can live without the rest of these things if you can't find them but in no time at all, your house will be beautifully organized and functional. PS==garage is last so park in the driveway for the time being.  Break down your boxes and keep them in your garage--consider helping our environment and offering them up on Facebook for free to anyone that will pick them up.  It gets one more thing off your plate.  And--welcome to your new home!