Unpacking and Space Planning
You know that feeling you get when you drive up to your new home with a truck full to the brim with boxes of everything you own?? You were going to say STRESSED THE HECK OUT, right? Well, when you follow our guidance, the only feelings you’ll register are relief and excitement to tackle the next steps!
Our goal at the beginning of a new moving project is to get rid of ALL of the boxes. People just start to feel like it’s a little bit less chaotic when all signs of moving have disappeared. Plus, if you want to arrange for a junk pick-up or way to have everything removed, you want to have that ready as soon as possible and you want to have everything removed at once. The best way to do this is to start with knowing your new space before you even unload the moving truck.
Make UNPACKING simple with these 5 steps:
1. KNOW YOUR NEW SPACE
Labeling the spaces before unloading the truck makes it easier for people who are helping you to put the boxes in their correct destinations.
Unload the truck and make sure to place all boxes in their appropriate rooms as they come into the house. If you’ve packed purposefully (check out our packing blog) and labeled your boxes, you should be able to find their final destinations easily. Here are our favorite go-to labels.
2. GET RID OF BOXES
Break down boxes as you go so you can keep disposal to a minimum. Get everything unpacked and get the boxes out of the space. This will eliminate the chaos and give you room to think about the next steps.
Designate a place for all of the boxes to go that is out of the way and won’t cause you more stress!
3. PLACE YOUR ITEMS
Unpack with direction and intention. You hopefully will have made sense of your items on the packing side, making these next steps far smoother. Lay down drop cloths (or something similar) and place all items by their categories. When you can clearly see the contents that will be living in the new space, it makes the next step, SPACE PLANNING, that much simpler.
4.SPACE PLANNING
Now you need to dive deeper. Make a specific plan for where you want your items to go within a space. We like to use blue tape (when is that not the case?!) because it's non-damaging to surfaces and it's easy to pick up and move as we reconfigure the layout of a space. We write the category of different items on the tape to come up with a visual game plan before we actually implement it. This way, we don’t have to double the work if things aren't where we want them to be the first time.
Start with the obvious — things that you know are only going to be in certain areas, like the silverware drawer, plates, and cups; things that make the most sense. Take into account where your dishwasher, stove, and fridge are in the space and plan accordingly with item placement. Think about the flow of a space. Once things are in their obvious spaces, then start planning by priority—
What are the most important things in this space?
What items do you need to be most accessible? The most visible?
As you start answering those questions and placing your items, your space starts to fill in itself. Whatever you have left to fill the hardest to reach places are the things that you need the least often and would make sense to store them in the less accessible and visible spaces.
5.PRODUCT PURCHASING & INSTALL
Now it’s time to think about PRODUCT. What will make the space more functional and flow better? Yes, you have your items neatly placed on shelves and in drawers, but that will not last. Product isn’t just for a beautiful aesthetic—product will elevate the space and finalize a true SYSTEM for your space.
Leave the blue tape labels to see your categories as you decide which products to purchase to fit your space. This is the time to MAKE A PLAN! We’ll tell you more about how to plan and what to buy in our next blog on Product Planning, Purchasing & Implementing.
Stick around to see where this car is heading. ✨