Newlywed survival: Consolidating your two previous homes into one

*In collaboration with Abby Campbell. Abby Campbell has moved house countless times in her life. As a military child and a military wife, she has moving down to a science and loves writing about her tips and tricks to smooth transitions in a variety of settings.

There are many more of us than ever before who have set up home on their own but then true love comes along and before you know it, you are married.

This lovely romantic scenario is a nice thing to happen especially if it applies to your life, but there is just one small logistical problem to solve, fitting your two homes into one.

Merging of two separate households definitely presents newlyweds with a few challenges, as you are merging not just styles but furniture and personal items too.

Practical approach

As a newlywed couple, romance is very much in the air still, but you still need to take a practical approach to the problem of merging two homes into one.

Take an inventory of all the things that you have in each other’s houses and note down all the duplication of items that occur, which will almost inevitably involve things like toasters, ovens and various other domestic appliances that most of have.

Out with the old

The last thing that you both want to do is disagree about who takes what into the newly created marital home, so it might be a case of either agreeing on alternate choices as you work your way through the list, or in the case of furniture for example, you might want to start a fresh.

As you will both have items of furniture in your existing homes, you might want to work together by raising some cash for old items that are surplus to requirements or simply want a new look that is unique to your new home, rather than recycled from either of your previous properties.

Once you have had a bit of a clearance, work as a couple to furnish your joint home in a style that you both love, by visiting sites like http://www.swiveluk.com and making a joint decision on what would look good in your new environment. It also helps to avoid any potential disagreements on which couch or dining table you are going to take with you, or any other fixtures and fittings that you need to downsize on when you merge two homes into one.

Planning your space

Planning out the space you have available in your new home is an integral part of getting the right look and feel that you are both really comfortable with.

Take the time to have a good look around at the space that you have available and measure the furniture that you intend to use so that you can draw a plan and visualise how it is going to fit and how it is going to look.

Style

As well as making sure you plan out the space as efficiently as possible, you also need to agree on the style and design features of the décor and furniture that you are both looking for.

It could be that one of you has much more creative flair or interest in this aspect than the other, but as long as you are both happy with one or the other taking the lead or prefer to decide together, both of these approaches will work.

Starting out a new life as a newlywed couple is an exciting time and setting up home together with a view to spending you days as Mr & Mrs forever more, is also really special.

Just make sure that you have a plan and an agreed direction on style, so that you can both enjoy the experience.