You moved in a year ago, but your home still doesn’t feel very homey.
Why is that? There are no boxes anywhere, all your pictures are on the walls, and yet you still don’t feel like you’re truly home.
Please take a closer look at your furniture and decorations because that’s probably it. Your dresser looks pretty, but it wobbles every time you open a drawer, and that wall art that goes so great with the couch cushions?
Be honest, you bought it because it was 50% off, not because you actually loved it. And you can stop rearranging your furniture every weekend because that won’t help.
Please keep reading to see what makes your home feel iffy and how to fix it.
What Keeps a Home from Feeling Settled
Some houses are beautiful, but you can never feel cozy and relaxed in them. If your home is one of these houses, you have a problem.
Here’s what could be causing this.
Fast Furniture
If it has the adjective “fast” in the name, there’s a 99% chance it’s no good. Fast food, fast fashion, fast furniture, fast everything. It’s cheap and it looks (or tastes if it’s food) okay, but as far as performance goes, it’s all trash.
If you have fast furniture in your home, then it’s no wonder that it all feels off. It’s designed to be replaced, so what can you really expect from it? The real problem is that it makes your space look and feel disposable.
Instead of buying a bunch of cheap pieces, pick a few that will actually last. Even if it’s just 1 or 2 good-quality pieces, it’ll still make a difference. If you manage to find some truly wonderful, superb-quality solid wood furniture for sale, that’ll give your home a sense of weight and permanence; plus, you won’t have to spend too much!
Short-Term Fixes Instead of Actual Upgrades
Peel-and-stick wallpaper is super fast and easy to use.
Or, if you want a quick change, why grab a plastic storage unit? But these are all just temporary fixes. They don’t fool anyone, and they’ll start to make your space feel unfinished after a while.
Instead of messing around with wallpapers you’ll have to replace pretty soon, why not put some effort into it and paint the walls? Also, add built-in shelves and swap out that cheap light with a real fixture.
Yes, this all takes some time to do, but if it’s your home, isn’t it worth it?
Rearranging Rooms Too Often
This week, you moved the sofa. Next week, you will move the bed.
Then you rearrange the lamps and switch out the curtains. Do you feel productive yet? If you do, great, but you’re actually not being productive at all. What is the point of this? A room that’s always changing never feels finished, and that can create low-level stress you don’t even notice.
It’s okay to test out a few layouts. As a matter of fact, you should switch some things around to see what works best, but once you find what you like, leave it all alone.
A stable setup makes the room feel calmer and grounded.
Forgetting Personal Touches
You could have the most perfect, Pinterest-style room, and it could still feel empty if there’s nothing personal in it.
Generic wall art that everyone has might look pretty, but is it really you? The same goes for random trinkets and knick-knacks you bought on eBay. None of this tells your story, meaning the space ends up feeling like it could be anyone’s.
Put up a few family photos, maybe a favorite print, a cushion you got from a relative, or a blanket you’ve had since you were a kid.
These are small details, but they can make a house feel like a home.
Not Having Proper Storage
Clutter has a way of stressing you out, and that’s not all it does.
It makes your home feel like something temporary, like you’re still unpacking and don’t really have a space for all your things yet. This happens because there’s no actual storage anywhere, so your stuff ends up living wherever – on the floor, on the couch, in a random bin somewhere, around the bed, on the TV…
It’s chaos.
It’s a real shame because there are so many storage options out there. You could get built-in closets, shelves (but the ones that fit your space), shoe cabinets, baskets, and even furniture that has hidden built-in compartments; it all works beautifully.
Conclusion
Regardless of the size of your home and the amount of money you spent to renovate it, it can’t feel like a true home if everything in it is disposable and without meaning. I’m not saying you shouldn’t have some basic stuff if you like them, but you have to have something personal and something of value in there.
Start with a piece or two and you’ll see what a difference it makes.