I don’t know how I’m still found time to write this; it’s probably procrastination. I’ve moved recently and have been living in my new house for a few weeks now. But I don’t feel at home yet, and I really want to. How long does something like that take, and how do you speed it up?!
What actually makes you feel truly at home somewhere? That relaxed feeling of coming home, the aahhhh muscle relax. Right now, I’m mostly relaxed when I can escape it for a while. Is that normal?! I didn’t have that with previous moves. Over the past few months, I’ve been busy with the new (and old) house every day. Actually, too much in the last few weeks really. That’s because I react so badly to mess and chaos and want to fix that ASAP, but I’m simply not in a position to fix everything in such a short time to give myself that mental peace.
Although I certainly feel that it makes a difference that I no longer have my old house. So yes: I have moved! That saves on monthly expenses, but also on a kind of extra sense of displacement. I honestly don’t understand why people have multiple houses for fun, haha. So much worry about keeping track of everything and organizing things.
Anyway, what I’ve noticed is that I don’t really feel at home in my new house yet. Sure, I’ve only lived here for a short time. At the same time, I’ve been working on the house for months already. I’ve been thinking a lot about why these past few days. A workout buddy said something that stuck with me: you’ll feel at home once you know exactly where to find all your stuff and everything feels logical again. I do understand the first part, in itself. It’s nice to be able to grab your tea just like that again and to have your knives in a logical place, et cetera. Personally, I think that the mess everywhere is also a big factor for me, as well as the lack of curtains. They make it ‘softer’ and more homely. They have been ordered, but they haven’t all arrived yet.
That lack of curtains created a new challenge: heat in the house. My god, I had to throw away everything in my kitchen—cookies, bread, and cake—because it had gotten so hot that it was molding, and the AH Zaanse cookies with chocolate and a white layer (you really have to try those) had melted into a kind of chunk of misery. I put thermometers in those cupboards: 40 degrees. What the actual fuck. Even the ‘furthest’ cupboards from the window were incredibly hot inside. I couldn’t believe this could happen in just a few days. Now I’ve temporarily hung some sort of paper curtains from IKEA; hopefully, that helps a bit.
I do know that there is one thing I find very important in a house: natural light. And fortunately, that’s good in this house; it’s light and sunny—very sunny, haha. Furthermore, I am sensitive to ‘the vibe’ in your home. And that was good right from the start, too. I had my housewarming this weekend. A lot of lovely friends in my garden, a BBQ, some music, relaxed chatting. It was so nice. I hope that helps to make me feel at home sooner. It for sure warmed my heart. 😊
Maybe there is something else I can do to speed up the process? Anyone has ideas? When did you feel at home in your new house?
Love,
Bridget
