How can I make my new house feel like home again?

As I sit here on my laptop in my empty home, I can’t help but think of all the memories I’ve had in this house. It’s been mine for so many years but now, I’ve had to downsize. It doesn’t truly hit you until you have all the boxes around you and all the memories stashed away…

My partner left recently and that was the instigator for my move. 20 years in one home is a big deal but I couldn’t bear the thought of stay when it’s so quiet, and so lonely. I needed something for me. But when I visit my new home to put boxes inside or check the mail, I feel nothing. I wonder if that’s nothing or I’m just overreacting? It can be really hard to move, I know that, but this time it feels like it’ll be hard to make my new house my home.

To me a home is somewhere that you have lived for a long time, and somewhere you feel safe and relaxed. When I go to the new place, it feels cold and clinical, and also daunting. How will I be able to make it feel like it used to?

Even more heartbreaking is letting people you’ve never met come and traipse into your home. The inspections have been really constant and upsetting, with couples discussing how they’ll knock down walls, or put a pool in the back yard. To me I’ll always own a piece of this house. I remember the feeling I had many years ago when my husband and I moved out of the home we raised our children in. We’d put our blood, sweat and tears into it and when we went into something a bit bigger, we felt remorse at leaving the little home behind. A few years later I went to check on it and saw a block of land staring back at me. I had to triple check the address – but that was it. It was all gone. Apparently the owners wanting to subdivide the block but the GFC hit and they couldn’t afford it. So very sad. I couldn’t believe my eyes and swore that we would never move again. But look at me now…

I hope with some new decor and furniture, I can make a new home with new memories. I’m trying my best to be positive.

Have you ever experienced this before? Did you have to make your new house a home?