How Soon After Moving In Should You Renovate A New Home? The Pros and Cons Examined

Your first day in a new home is full of possibilities. You stand at the threshold of new memories, new experiences and a whole new chapter of your life. It’s a beautiful, prosperous and incredibly annoying day.

Hang on, one of those doesn’t fit, does it?

I’m not just referring to the normal stresses that we all experience when we move home. When I say annoying, I mean the reality of having to live in your new home begins to bite.
So that wallpaper that you saw when you viewed the house – the one that immediately made you snap: “well, that’s going!”. Remember that? You now have to live with it. Or the small bedrooms that you wanted to knock through into one master suite – on moving day, they’re still just small bedrooms. The house has not become what you envision for it yet.

Many a person will tell you that beginning to make changes to your new home from the start of your occupancy is a bad idea. They will tell you to rest, adjust to your new surroundings – except, it’s no good if you despise your new surroundings, is it? If you want to start tearing down walls and making all the changes you desire immediately, then what’s to stop you?

PRO: Your adjustment is genuine

If you move into a house, call for skip bin hire and immediately start gutting the place of the decor you just can’t stand – it’s stressful. That’s inevitable; you’re going to be stressed for longer.

But when it’s done, you can truly adjust to your new home. You don’t have to tell people you will love the house when it’s finished – it’s already at the point you want it to be at. Any settling in or adjustment is done quickly rather than prolonged until you find time to make changes.

CON: Why make moving harder?

We’ve all heard the well-trodden trope about how stressful moving house is, so why make it harder? If you’re tearing down wallpaper while still surrounded by boxes, you’re just making the agony last.

PRO: You get off on the right foot.

If there is something you dislike about your new home, then you’re going to focus in on it. Every time you are asked how you like it, you’re going to pepper it with sentiments like: “well it’s fine, but it will be better when…”

If a particular problem runs for too long – say your workload increases, and you have less time for DIY – then it’s going to colour how you feel about the house.

CON: It’s expensive.

Moving isn’t exactly cheap. If you’re then adding the cost of immediate renovations onto the bill, you could be looking at an expensive few months.

PRO: You’ve not settled in yet.

Renovating – or even just redecorating – is difficult when you have to move furniture and clear the usual detritus that results from general living. If you make the changes from the start, then you already have a blank canvas to work from. You can go about filling it up with your junk when it’s complete.

Which will you choose?