Buying a House for Sale in Downtown Toronto? Here’s How to Furnish it

Table of Contents

1. As Always, Planning is the First Step
2. Match the Furnishings to the Size of Your New Home
3. Prioritize the Essentials
4. Choose Your Colours Carefully

Whether you outfit your new home with a completely new look or keep your interior relatively the same, you will likely have to buy at least a few sizable purchases that can impact the aesthetics of the space they’re in.

When you do buy a house for sale in downtown Toronto, furnishing it will be one of your first concerns to help you settle in as quickly as possible. Here are a few ideas to help guide you in making a new home your own.

As Always, Planning is the First Step

Selling and buying a home is all about planning for every step in the process. A well-thought-out plan to furnish your new home can help you avoid feeling overwhelmed with all the options, making costly mistakes, or going over budget and can lighten your burden on a moving day.

Here are a few key considerations for planning how to furnish your new home:

• Be realistic about your budget and consider the space in your new home when choosing its look.
• Decide if you prefer to keep a similar but upgraded look of your current home, if it’s time to change things up, or if you like how the sellers decorated the home and want to keep it the same. Whatever your decision, make a deliberate design style choice and use it as an overarching theme for your décor decisions.
• Go through your current furnishings and decide what you’ll bring and what to sell, donate or give away. Even if you start fresh with a new look, this doesn’t necessarily mean that all of your old furniture has to go.

The style of a space in your home can contain variations on its theme, and your current furniture can still be valuable. Look for other areas or rooms where it fits well. For example, If your current kitchen table looks out of place in your new kitchen, you can use it as a card table in a games room or basement. The same is true if the size of your current furniture prevents you from using it in the same room in your new home.

Match the Furnishings to the Size of Your New Home

How you furnish any new or current home depends significantly on the size of the available space. Designers prefer a less is more approach to styling a home so that light, air, and people can circulate freely. On the other hand, too little décor isn’t warm or inviting and gives the impression that you haven’t gotten around to moving in yet.

A room’s optimal amount of free space depends on its function and your taste, but high-traffic areas like the kitchen, hallways, foyer, bathrooms, etc., should remain as clear as possible. Bedrooms, the living room, and the den are better suited for large furniture, bookcases, lamps and other furnishings.

When planning the layout of your new home, you need to know the exact measurements of each room as you decide on furniture placement. You won‘t be able to measure your new home before you move in, so you’ll need to get a copy of the floor plan as early as possible and have it with you as you buy new furniture or plan your move.

The floorplan contains vital information for designing your new home’s layout, like the size and dimensions of each room, its ceiling height, where the door is and its dimensions, and the size and placement of the windows and walls. You also need to know the dimensions of your front door and other entrances to your new home to ensure you can get your furniture inside.

Getting the floor plan and furniture shopping done as soon as possible is even more critical if you buy new furniture, as you will need to factor in the delivery time and the likelihood of delays.

Prioritize the Essentials

There’s no getting around having to make one or two major purchases when buying and moving into a new home, so if you’re budget-constrained, there is no rush for you to furnish the entire home all at once.

Focus on the rooms you need and use the most, and ensure that they contain essentials like bedroom sets and couches. Then, gradually fill out the rest of your space as you free up more budget or find items on sale.

It’s usually not a good idea to skimp on big-ticket appliances because they provide essential functions. Low-cost options can be costlier to repair or replace in the long run than a high-quality brand. Not to mention the value of avoiding the headaches and disruptions a broken refrigerator or stove can cause.

When it comes to furniture like coffee tables and bookshelves, however, they can provide opportunities to save money. Even if you’re not a DIYer, you can refurbish your current furniture or buy second-hand and paint or stain pieces like tables and chairs or change the fabric of cushions and pillows. It isn’t complicated, and you can learn how fairly quickly on YouTube.

Window treatments are another place to save on your budget. Even lower-end models of blinds and shutters can get pricey, which makes prioritization almost a necessity for covering your windows. A cost-effective and stylish alternative is to make your own curtains by picking out a fabric you like, sewing a loop at the top and a lining on the back, and hanging them with a curtain rod and brass hooks. You can also use fabric curtains as a temporary window covering and use removable hooks if you plan to buy shutters or blinds eventually.

Choose Your Colours Carefully

Most designers recommend sticking with neutral wall colors like greys, beiges, and off-whites to optimize the light in space (especially hallways) and to give your home a more open and spacious feel. This also allows you to make bold color choices for furniture and other décor pieces.

If you decide to paint your walls a different color, remember that your interior lights and light from the sun affect the appearance of paint colors and what you see on your walls may look much different than What you see on a swatch.

It’s a good idea to buy a sample, paint a small area of your wall and leave it overnight or for a few days before you commit to a color.

Thank you for reading!