Credit: Downsizing Diva

Sifting through family pictures you shared on Facebook, you try to remember the story behind each snapshot. You suddenly stop at this one picture, it’s a picture that was taken 3 Christmas’ ago when you were still living in your old home. Close friends were invited to your home for a small get together, warm and cozy celebration. Everyone in the frame could be seen with a smile or laughter.

You recall the story behind the smile and laughter. Your friend’s 16 month daughter had the cutest laugh ever and would laugh at almost anything and everything. She was on the floor running to and fro to your back since you were seated on the carpet and you would look over your shoulder at her and laugh and she would give the cutest giggle ever.

Looking closely at the picture, you realize have much your new home has changed compared to your old house. The amount of planning you had to put into decorating the new space before moving in. Having to think about general safety and also for your children while not forgetting about being creative and showing some of that creative juice. Nevertheless, you pulled through and made your new home fit your style of living.

Moving is a great opportunity to start fresh and find new spots for your favourite accessories. This is the time to consider new lighting conditions, architectural features, traffic flow and colours in each room.

Get your imagination going, gather all your artwork and décor in one spot and plan new groupings.

• Do you have a large wall where you can use it to feature a gallery of favourite family or travel photos and treasures? Is there an area where floating shelves could be installed to display your prized collection?
• Does one of your windows have a not-so-terrific view? You think can think about installing glass shelves to draw attention to your magnificent collection of paperweights. Alternatively, you could install sheers and place oversize photos from a favourite vacation spot on either side of the window.
• Have a horizontal surface? Horizontal surfaces are perfect spots to create vignettes with small works of art. Select items with similar theme and incorporate a variety of heights and styles. There is a decorating rule of odd numbers – three or five items are more attractive than two or four. Be creative and declare your sense of style. An extra tip: less is more.

You can try hanging artwork. It is all personal preference. If the artwork is placed too high, only the tall people can enjoy it; if it is too low, it loses impact. When hanging pictures above a bed or sofa, a good rule to follow is to have the bottom of the picture around 5” above the furniture.

Now that you have a little bit of know how to decorating your new home, it is time to get your creative mind going and make your home fit your life style.

Read more on how colour choices and lighting effect the feel a room gives.