sldkjfalksj Category Archives: Decorating Your New Apartment

Moving Checklist

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The Ultimate Moving Checklist

So, you’ve visited one of our clean, comfortable, and well-maintained apartment communities, loved it (YAY!), applied, set your move-in date, and are ready to Love The Place You Live. We can’t wait. But now the grim reality of packing up your stuff, hiring a truck, deep cleaning your old place, schlepping your stuff, unpacking, decorating, and maybe even buying some new furniture sets in. It’s never easy, but we’re here to help you plan this next adventure so your move can be as smooth and stress-free as possible with our Moving Checklist.

One To Two Months Before Moving

Give Notice

First on our Moving Checklist is giving notice. The standard notice for most landlords is between 30 to 90 days. But this can vary by state and rental agreement, so be sure to check your lease/rental agreement. Ask your landlord/property manager to schedule a walk-through so you can be sure to do everything that’s expected for a full security deposit refund. An alternative is to photograph your empty place to prove you left it in good condition. Don’t forget to provide your forwarding address so there won’t be a delay in receiving your refund.

Schedule Cancellation of Utilities and Services

Contact each provider and let them know the effective date to terminate or transfer your service. Providers may include:

  • Water and sewer
  • Internet and cable
  • Gas and electric
  • Renters Insurance
  • Gym (if moving too far to continue membership)

Purge

A move is the perfect time to get rid of clothing, furniture, cookware, small appliances, and accessories you don’t use or no longer want. Why pay to move them?  Check our guide to assist you with purging your clothing.

Pick a Moving Company | Reserve a Truck Rental | Enlist a Friend with a Truck

Start now to ensure you have a truck for your planned moving day. If you’re using a moving company, be sure to check their reviews so you hire a reputable firm and get the best price. Large companies will be happy to provide you with an estimate, or you can get a ballpark price on many moving company’s websites. Confirm your moving company is licensed and insured by verifying their Department of Transportation (DOT) number.

Consider purchasing moving insurance to cover any damage. I learned the hard way (and by not reading the fine print), that most moving companies will not cover damages.

Create a Moving Binder or Digital Moving Folder

Key on our moving checklist is to use a three-ring binder or create a moving folder on Google Drive to keep track of everything—all your estimates, receipts, and an inventory of all the items you’re moving. Take photos of each room to assist you with the inventory. Photos and inventory will also come in handy if you need to file a claim for damaged goods.

Organize School Records

If you have kids, be sure to go to your children’s school and arrange for their records to be transferred to their new school district.

Get Supplies and Start Packing

Having the right supplies will not only ensure you can pack all your stuff but also that it will fit well inside the truck.

Moving supplies are readily available from your selected moving company and truck-rental facilities like U-Haul. In addition to boxes, consider getting tape, Bubble Wrap, and permanent markers. Don’t forget to order specialty containers, such as dish barrels or wardrobe boxes. Be sure to label all your boxes with the destination room and contents. Consider color-coding by room. Be sure to mark any boxes containing fragile items as such. Remove light bulbs from all lamps.

  • Walmart has a deal for 36 boxes, tape, bubble wrap, and packing paper for $92. Using uniformly sized boxes can help make packing up a truck much more efficient.
  • For items to take in your car, consider inexpensive IKEA bags. And the best news – while you can go to IKEA to get them, they are also available to buy on Amazon. I’ve moved almost too many times to count, and IKEA bags are a dream. They hold a boatload of clothes, towels, and sheets – and you can nestle breakable or large, unwieldy items In between the soft items. But use these only in your vehicle – having sturdy, taped containers for the moving truck is best.

Electronics

  • Take photos of all your electronics so you’ll have a guide for hooking everything back up.
  • Back up your computer.

Change Your Address

Important on any moving checklist is to make a comprehensive list and add it to your moving binder. Make notes of the dates you speak to anyone on the phone and get their name. Also note anything the agent tells you, like if you’ll owe money beyond the termination date.

  • United States Post Office (USPS). Click here to change your address online.
  • Voter Registration
  • Social Security Administration, Department of Veterans Affairs, IRS
  • Landlord/Property Management Office
  • Physicians, dentists, and veterinarians (be sure to ask that your records be transferred to any new providers).
  • School (for your kids or you if you’re at university)
  • Credit card companies and banks
  • Subscription services
  • Department of Motor Vehicles for your car registration and drivers license
  • Auto Insurance Company
  • Your Employer (for your W2 form)
  • Amazon, Chewy (or any store that delivers to you regularly)
  • Don’t forget your friends and family! To make it really easy, you can send out cute a postcard with your new address or you can send a  digital

Request Time Off from Work

Unless you are super-organized and don’t have too much furniture, you’ll probably need to allow more than just a weekend to move. Add moving dates to your calendar so there are no conflicts.

Eat Everything

Try and consume everything in your fridge, freezer, and pantry so you don’t have to pack your food. You especially don’t want to try and transport perishables. Donate any nonperishable food items to a local food pantry.

Moving Week

  • Confirm your moving date with the movers, rental truck company, or friend-with-a-truck.
  • Warn neighbors so your truck doesn’t block anyone in.
  • Confirm transfer of utilities and services.
  • Clean your old apartment paying special attention to kitchens and bathrooms. Remove all trash. Clean out closets and storage areas.
  • Organize personal items to take in your car like a couple of changes of clothing, toiletries, and medication so you don’t have to hunt through all your belongings to find what you need. You should also keep valuables with you such as jewelry and important documents like birth certificates and passports.
  • If you’re moving with a furry friend, make sure your pet has an ID tag, and arrange for a pet sitter.
  • Line up a sitter for your kids.

The Day Before

  • Remind your neighbors that there will be a truck taking up space the next day; say goodbye to neighbors who have become friends.
  • Get cash for tipping anyone who helps with the move and for the pizza delivery person on your first night. Trust me, pizza or other food delivery will make your first night in your new place much less stressful.
  • Go out to eat the night before your move so you don’t mess up your sparkling-clean kitchen and create more trash to take out.
  • Shop for snacks and drinks to have on hand on a moving day, and pack some paper towels, toilet paper, basic cleaning supplies, trash bags, and maybe even paper plates, cups, and plastic silverware.

Moving Day

  • Inspect your old place to be sure you haven’t left anything behind, including trash, and that the apartment is clean. Turn off all the lights, close the windows, turn the thermostat to 55 degrees, and lock the door behind you.
  • Check your mailbox one last time.
  • Turn in your keys! Many landlords will charge rent against your security deposit until they have possession of the apartment, meaning your keys are in their hands.

Your New Home

  • You’ve done it! Your first order of business should be to inspect your apartment and note anything that you don’t want to get charged for, such as a stain on the carpet, missing switch plates, bent blinds, or torn screen. Document in writing and take photos. Many apartment communities will provide you with an Inspection Form to use.
  • Don’t forget to update your driver’s license.
  • Go grocery shopping.
  • Meet your neighbors. Here’s a how-to guide.
  • Now for the unpacking and decorating. For me, it’s the best part. Opening each box is like Christmas morning. And finding new homes for all my thingy. Maybe I’m weird, but I love it. As you begin, check out our guide for hanging artwork in your new place.

Well done. You’ve survived the move. We hope that our moving checklist checked all your boxes. Welcome home.

 

The Art Of The Hang II – Hanging Artwork

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The Art of Hanging Art II – Methods

 

So. You’ve assembled all the beautiful things and are ready to get them up on the walls. What are the next steps? How can you ensure you hang art without damaging your walls and/or your pride? What tools will you need? We’ve got you covered.

If you are a renter, be sure to check your lease, your community rules, or with your landlord or management company to make sure it’s permissible for you to affix items to your walls.

    • Determine the material of your walls.
    • Most common, and easiest to work with, is drywall aka sheetrock.
    • Plaster walls can be a challenge as a regular nail hammered into plaster will crack it badly. Learned this lesson the hard way. There are nails especially designed for use on plaster walls.
    • Exposed brick walls are beautiful but tricky. If you’re a renter, don’t even think about pounding a hole into the brick or the mortar because 1) it’s hard to do and 2) it’s almost impossible to repair. Let’s not risk your security deposit! Instead, use a product you can use to hang items on brick without causing any damage – Aieve Brick Wall Clips.
    • Best to avoid trying to hang anything on tile walls unless you are using a product like Command Strips (which are also an excellent solution if your landlord says no to nail holes), and are readily available in big box, hardware, and grocery stores.

Gather supplies. Besides a hammer, measuring tape, level, and pencil, you’ll need the following supplies to hang art on plaster or drywall. Consider a tool kit which contains everything you need!

    • Weight-appropriate nails or picture hanging hooks
    • Wall anchors and screws for heavy pieces; these are super easy to use, but you’ll need need a small, lightweight drill and/or a screwdriver – ideally that has changeable flathead and Phillips tips
    • Good-quality, low-profile adhesive hooks for hanging on tile or glass
    • Brick clips for hang on brick

Decide on Placement. Most installers recommend arranging the art on the floor first, below the wall where you intend to install it, and creating a composition you find pleasing before transferring the arrangement to the wall. The ideal spacing between frames depends on the number of pieces of art and the size of the wall, but should generally be between one and a half and three inches. The vertical and horizontal spacing doesn’t necessarily have to be the same.

Now for the Art of the Hang. You’ve already decided on the placement – hopefully with the help of our The Art Of Hanging Art I – Placement. To be exact, the center of a framed piece of artwork should be 57 inches above the ground (that being the average human eye level, and the height galleries and museums use to decide where to hang pieces). Mark that height using a pencil, then measure to find the middle of the wall (from side to side), and mark where the two points meet. That’s where the middle of your artwork should go! Now, measure the distance between the middle of the piece and where it will catch the nail (either where the wire hits when bent to bear weight, or where the saw tooth hanger is. Measure that difference from your mid-point mark on the wall—that’s where the nail (or picture hanger, or wall anchor, or brick clamp) goes. If you’re hanging a super-heavy piece, first use a stud-finder to locate a stud and see if it’s in a logical location for your nail to go. If it is, hammer a big nail in and be done. If the stud is in a weird location, use the anchor-and-screw method instead: Drill a pilot-hole, tap the plastic anchor into it, then screw a screw into that, leaving it to protrude just enough that you can loop the wire or saw tooth right over it the same way you would with a nail.

Hanging Alternatives

  1. If you’re not up for hammers and nails, just lean it. The laziest way to display art is also best for anyone who is afraid of putting nail holes in the wall: lean the frame against the back of a chair, or the wall, or on a shelf somewhere. (Even homes with lots of art hung up on the walls take well to a few casually leaned pieces—it actually looks very intentional!)
  2. If you’re always re-arranging, consider a picture shelf. If you’re into the whole leaning thing and want to formalize a place for such activity, consider adding a shallow picture shelf in one of your rooms. It’s a perfect solution for those with constantly changing styles (or the rearrangement bug).

And a gentle reminder – if you are a renter, be sure to review your lease, rules and regulations, or ask your landlord before you start hammering nails or drilling holes for anchors. Now go and make your home Instagramable!

 

Resources: ApartmentTherapy.com, StudioMcGee.com, ArchitecturalDigest.com, NYTimes.com, HomeStarStaging.co

The Art of Hanging Art I – Placement

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In a past work life, I staged model apartments. While there was a ton of legwork (shopping, assembling, searching for perfect accessories to complement the furnishings, spending someone else’s money LOL), there was a great sense of satisfaction in creating an environment that showcased the best features of the home and making it desirable for the prospective renter while ensuring that person felt so at home, they’d be inclined to sign a lease. During those years, I learned that not only is artwork like the frosting on a cake, there’s also an art to hanging art.

“HUH?” you ask. Let me explain. When my daughter was a preschooler, we went to the home of a classmate for a play date, Bethany. As we walked down the hall to the living room, my neck craned upwards to look at a series of framed pieces of art. All were the same size, nicely framed, and evenly spaced. But something felt so…off. Wait! I was looking up while standing up. These prints were hung just a foot below the ceiling. I don’t know what Bethany’s mom was thinking (or not thinking), but this was not good. How could anyone enjoy artwork if doing so gave one a crick in one’s neck?

Doing some research, I learned that this is one of several mistakes that you can make when hanging wall décor in your space; mistakes that will not make you or your guests feel at home and at ease, but rather feeling a bit discombobulated.

Mistake #1: Hanging Art Too High

See what I mean? Hanging art too high is number one on the ApartmentTherapy.com mistake list! So what, exactly, is too high? This will be different for every home based on where the art is going, what it will be hanging above, how high the ceilings are, and what the room is used for. In other words, there’s no one-size-fits-all formula that can tell you exactly where on your wall an art piece needs to go. But fear not; here are some easy guidelines.

  • 60” is a measurement to remember. Although different homes can require different placements, 60” on center is a great starting point. This means to place the center of your art piece 60″ from the floor. Then step back and see how that looks and feels. When hanging two art pieces, treat them as one and still hang them 60 inches from the floor to the center of the grouping. This rule also applies to groups of three and four. Make sure they are spaced only a few inches apart, so they look together and not disconnected.
  • Eyes on center is another consideration. What will you most likely be doing in the room – sitting or standing? If in a hallway where everyone is standing, you’ll want to hang art higher (but not a foot from the ceiling!) than if you’re in a room where you’re sitting most of the time. Place the art so your eyes rest on the center as appropriate in the room. Consider where your eyes rest when you walk into the rooms you use the most, including the foyer, living room, and primary bedroom. Common sense must prevail here, however. If you are 4’10” or 6’10” eyes on center may not be the best placement methodology for you.
  • Let your furniture guide placement. For a sofa or a headboard, start with 4″ to 8″ between the top of the furniture and the bottom of the art. This method will depend on how big the art piece is, and how much space exists between the furniture piece and your ceiling. Start here then step back to see if it looks right. NOTE: If the art is going above a sofa or console, the piece or group of pieces, should be approximately 2/3 width of the furniture.
  • The buddy system is also a useful method. Ask someone you trust to hold a piece of art up against a wall while you instruct them to move it up and down an inch or so at a time until it looks right. Then change places to see if you agree.

Mistake #2: Not Realizing Size DOES Matter

A tiny piece of art on a small wall will look and feel just as awkward as a huge piece in a small space. Why? The wrong size art makes the entire room – and its furnishings – seem out of scale and out of balance.

If you’ve fallen hard for a piece that’s too small, consider creating a collage wall. Two ways to achieve a successful collage wall are:

  • Use prints and photos with a similar theme and consistent frames. They could be black and white photos, botanicals, sketches, vacation pics, etc. Mixtiles is a great, inexpensive way to have fun with same size and shape photos. An added advantage is that they stick to the wall, so no nails needed, and the photos can be moved around easily.
  • Go with completely different pieces in mixed frames for an eclectic look. Hang large and medium pieces 2-3 inches apart, and smaller pieces 1.5-2.5 inches apart.

Other options for your too small art piece are to reframe using a larger frame and mat to make the piece seem larger. Or, you can paint (or hang) a solid square or rectangle of color or a beautiful piece of wallpaper behind the piece to make it seem larger. But don’t worry about achieving perfect proportion when hanging art, just remember the “go big or go home” attitude: If you’re going to do something out of scale to the rest of the room, make it obviously out of scale with the room, either way too big or way too small, so it seems intentional.

If you find you’re staring at a long, cold expanse of barren drywall, that’s usually an ideal place to hang a favorite artwork. A short wall that is sometimes obscured by an open door may not need anything.

Mistake #3: Not Enough Variety
When I moved in with my fiancé, there were Thomas Kinkade prints in every room, in every size, all framed in heavy, ornate gold frames. Kinkade’s are not really my thing, but he had a sentimental connection to this collection. So we compromised by creating The Kinkade Room – a guest bedroom filled with the entire collection. While the Kinkade’s in every room were overwhelming, they look great in The Kinkade Room.

When you hang the exact same type of art on every wall in every room of your home it’s called the Art Gallery Effect. It’s also called as “boring.” Mix unframed canvases and framed art. Hang tapestries or quilts. Display a collection – farm tools, decorative plates, masks, old printing stamps – and group on the wall. Your wall can tell the story of who you are and what you love.

Mistake #4: Improper Hanging
I used to report to a fellow who, upon entering any room, went about straightening crooked artwork. His actions drive me nuts, so I quickly got in the habit of checking for crooked artwork every day. This has become a lifelong habit (just like making sure the seams on all lampshades are turned to face the wall). Crooked artwork lends an air of “no one cares” to the space and is easily avoided by:

  • Using two nails spaced a couple of inches apart (depending on the size of the piece) instead of just one.
  • Adding small rubber bumpers to the corners of the piece will prevent your art from moving about.

Mistake #5: Not Leaning
Like an attractive person leaning up against the bar, leaning artwork can lend visual interest to a room. Consider leaning a tall mirror against the wall in a bedroom or hallway, or leaning a piece of art placed on top of your sofa, dresser, desk, or TV stand.  Not only does this trick add visual interest, it also adds textural interest to your place.

Well there you have it. You’ve decided where to hang all the beautiful things in your home. Next step? The actual hanging. Tune in next week for tips on the handyperson part of the process – The Art of the Hang.