Creating a home is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences anyone can go through. It requires dedication, patience and understanding – both of others and of yourself. Creating a home means making a house more than just four walls and a roof that you sleep in once or twice per week. Making your home feel like home doesn’t happen overnight, but there are ways to help it along gradually. After all, you don’t want to think of your home as merely another place where you store your stuff rather than an extension of yourself. Here are ideas on how to make your home more of a home:

1. Ways to Make Your Home More of a Home
Creating a home is one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences anyone can go
through. It requires dedication, patience and understanding – both of others and of yourself.
Creating a home means making a house more than just four walls and a roof that you sleep in
once or twice per week. Making your home feel like home doesn’t happen overnight, but there
are ways to help it along gradually. After all, you don’t want to think of your home as merely
another place where you store your stuff rather than an extension of yourself. Here are ideas on
how to make your home more of a home:
Take your time to find the right place.
Finding the right place to settle down can take time, but don’t rush it just because you feel
pressured to live on your own. If you’re a student, chances are you’ll be moving out of your
dorm at the end of the school year anyway (if you haven’t already). If you’re in a long-distance
relationship, don’t feel the need to rush into moving out just to be closer to your significant other.
If you’re in a short-distance relationship, don’t feel the need to rush your move just because
you’re tired of being stuck in one place. If you’re in a long-distance relationship and want to
move closer to your significant other, don’t feel the need to rush your move.
Make small changes you can live with.
If you’re moving into a new place and are trying to make it feel more like home, don’t go
overboard with the renovations. You might want to paint all the walls a new colour or replace all
your furniture, but maybe, just maybe, the previous inhabitants were really fond of that paint
colour or that furniture. Maybe they loved it so much that they put a little note on it so they
wouldn’t forget their feelings. Maybe they’d be really disappointed if you changed it all. If you’re
renting, you have no legal right to change anything, so be careful. If you’re buying, you have to
be careful. You don’t want to spend money on renovations that you’ll either have to change or
be stuck with for years.
Lighten up and give everything a fresh coat of paint.
Painting is practically the easiest way you can make your home feel more like home. It’s cheap,
easy and can make a big difference in the way your house looks, even if you only paint a few
rooms. If the walls are a plain colour, it’s much easier to spruce them up with a few posters and
other creative decorations. If the walls are painted, though, it doesn’t matter as much if they’re
bare – a wall you can’t do much with just looks plain and boring.
Huggle up to the things you love most.
Once you’ve found a place to live, settled into it and started making it feel like home, now’s the
time to really start adding the things that make your place special. Find a place for everything,
but don’t feel like you have to fill each and every space with something. Leave a few spaces

2. open for things that mean the most to you but are still on their way. Put together a mix-CD or
playlist of your favourite music. Find a place for your family’s pictures and mementos.
Welcome (and foster) diversity.
Make room for friends and family to come over often. Invite your friends over for a movie night
or for a board game night – any night, really. Invite your family over for holidays and special
occasions. Don’t shy away from inviting people over just because you don’t have the perfect
house yet. Make the effort to foster diversity in your life. Be open to new opportunities, both in
your friendships and in your life in general.
Mix things up with some rotating art.
Instead of filling your walls with the same art pieces all the time, mix it up a little bit. Either put
up rotating art pieces or put up a bunch of different pieces and then change them up every once
in a while. If you’re the crafty type, you might want to make something to put on your wall. If
you’re more of a picture person, go out and get some framed pictures of your friends and family
or make prints of your favourite pictures from your phone.
Add some comfy seating and throw rugs.
This is another way to keep your home from feeling boring or samey. Throw rugs and comfy
seating pieces like couches, armchairs and large pillows can really tie a room together and
make your home feel more like home. If you’re moving into a new place and have enough
space, get a couple of couches. Not only do they look fantastic, they also make it easy to have
people over to watch movies if you don’t have a lot of seating.
Enjoy the little things.
Finally, take your time to enjoy the little things. Enjoy your favourite music. Enjoy your favourite
books. Enjoy your favourite hobbies. Enjoy the little things that make you, you. And when you’re
all done, enjoy your home even more. Your home is your space to be yourself and do what you
want. If you’ve been feeling like your home isn’t reflecting who you are, it’s never too late to
change it.