My Kids Said Our New Place Didn’t Feel Like Home Until We Bought This One Piece of Decor

My family and I recently moved into a new home; for the second time in our collective lives, it happened during the very first week of school. Even with the best plan in place, moving is incredibly stressful and overwhelming, but if you have kids, you can probably guess the chaos of this particular timing.

Thanks to the first time it happened, I had learned a few tricks to ensure we had all we needed to keep our schedule running as smoothly as possible. I also knew that getting us unpacked and settled in as quickly as we could was paramount to our sanity.

It wasn’t until I’d set out one final item, though, that the kids seemed to relax. My daughter even walked in after school and announced, “Ok, now it feels like home.”

To be honest, I laughed, because that piece? It was our living room area rug.

But she was right.

Area Rugs Are Multi-Functional

In other moves, laying our area rugs was more of a functional priority than it was for anything aesthetic. In the last place, we had a downstairs neighbor, so I knew that getting some softer pieces laid quickly on the floor was key for sound–proofing.

Before that home, we had the ground floor, but it was laid with a hard stone. With two small children running around, area rugs felt more like a safety option, so this was also one of the first things I set out.

But now we’re in a house now with no one below us, and our ground floor is all wood. Sound and safety aren’t a major worry anymore, but I still could understand why our rug was an instant comfort to my daughter. Plus, once it was down, she was right—it made the living room feel like home.

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The Right Size Rug Is Key

One thing I’ve learned to value in our area rugs is that they’re scaled to the room correctly. For a brief moment, we lived in a top floor flat with a neighbor who felt she could hear every move we made. It was a stressful time—we moved after about six months.

But during those six months, I layered multiple area rugs on top of each other, and learned the importance of size, scale, and pile. Most designers will tell you to buy an area rug that’s big enough for the front feet of all your furniture to rest on, because this will anchor the rug in the room. It’s a good rule of thumb, but if I can, I like to go even bigger.

The rug we currently have was sized to a large room, so in our new space, it actually dips halfway under the sofa. Our main floor is long and narrow, so I think this helps create the perfect space to designate a zone as the sitting room.

Keep it Neutral

If you’re also a renter, moving is probably a familiar feat. While we hope to stay in our current home for the long-haul now, I still try not to buy anything that’s too specifically suited to the space. Instead, I like to keep the biggest pieces neutral and add personality with smaller, softer touches.

This also makes it easier to move things between rooms. Our biggest area rug in our living room worked perfectly in our old flat and just as well now, but we have others that had to move across spaces. One that used to be in our kids’ room is now under my desk, for example, while another that once existed in our bedroom is placed in front of the shoe bench in our entryway.

It’s a great way to feel like we’re keeping our spaces refreshed, but without needing to buy something specific with each new home. Plus, as my daughter so astutely pointed out—with each old rug on the floor, it makes our new house feel like home.