Relocating, moving, selling a home, and building or buying a home are daunting tasks. Having gone through the process in the past few years, I have some insights from an Interior Designer's point-of-view. Perhaps they can make your experiences less stressful and more productive.
The design dictum, "If it isn't beautiful or useful, get rid of it" is something we all need to do, whether you are staying put or moving. If you pick up an object and stare at it for five minutes, trying to decide if you love it, hate it, need it, and have a place for it, you probably need to get rid of it. It's like that dress or suit that's been hanging in your closet for three years, just waiting and taking up space....We all need to "edit" our homes. Clutter makes our already hectic lives more hectic. Also, moving is expensive...I learned the hard way, as my husband had to leave early for his new job in Texas....leaving me behind to finish up some design projects and ready our home for the market, which was just starting to go into decline.
Being a designer, photo stylist, home stager, photographer and artist meant a lower level packed with the accumulation of twelve years of "things". I am a pack rat...rather, I WAS a pack rat. Whether totes full of fabric,accessories for just about every style of home, or over a hundred quarts of paint, I knew I had to pare down. The stress nearly killed me - literally. By the time I finally got to Texas three months later, I had to have major surgery, due to all the stress and heavy lifting. Buy a dolly, or hire someone to do the heavy work. Also, make friends with by our garbage man (seriously)...I met mine at the crack of dawn with a box of doughnuts and a hot cup of coffee...Had I not, I know I wouldn't have gotten him to haul off alot of things that I would have had to pay to have hauled off.
If you are up to it, have a huge yard sale. Then, whatever is not sold, call your favorite charity and ask them to come get the rest. Don't get caught in the trap that you might need it when you get to your new home.
If you have pieces of furniture, art, silver, etc., that you feel are too fine to be in a yard sale, there are usually up-scale consignment furnishings stores that can fetch a decent price for you...splitting the revenues (sometimes 50/50, sometimes 40/60.)
If your mattresses are 10 to 15 years old, don't ship them to your new destination. If your dining room is something you've inherited and have never particulary liked or you are just plain tired of it, sell it. I have gotten many calls from clients who want to know what their Henredon dining room suite they bought thirty years ago is worth. I tell them it is worth whatever someone is willing to pay for it. Also, if your sofas, loveseats or upholstered chairs are looking worn and tired, keep in mind that unless it is a "classic style", has a sentimental value, or the frame is exceptionally well-made, it will cost just about as much or more to move it and have it reupholstered than to buy new.
Selling your present home is especially daunting in today's market. I recommend keeping all the window treatments up, and leaving behind enough pieces to make the house more appealing to prospective buyers. I left a table with linens and dishes and also left a mirror over the fireplace, along with a few decorative items. Mirrors make a space feel more open, and lighten an dark space. Make sure it is reflecting something interesting (a window with a nice view, or a chandelier). Keep rugs down in the kitchen and bath areas, along with some attractive towels and shower curtain. Don't expect these things to be returned to you once you have sold your home.
We ended up moving things from our home to controlled temperature storage,which was expensive, as we were in an apartment before we found our home here in Georgetown. By the time we found our home, moved once again, and opened all the boxes in the garage, I realized that most of what we had was too formal for our casual "Texas-style" home. Also, we downsized considerably. I also found that most Texas homes don't have a basement, and storage in hot attics is not an alternative, so I had to go through the process all over again.
I am not telling you to pare down to the point that you have nothing to move...just remember the dictum - I'll say it again...."If it isn't beautiful or useful, get rid of it".
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