Shortly after I moved to North Carolina, I picked up a pair of curtains for our master bedroom and my sweet new husband hung them for me. About two weeks later, I hated them.

To prevent the same mistake when we moved the second time, I started out using basic white curtains I’ve had for years. It helped me figure out what I wanted – something light and breezy mainly for aesthetics, or something a little more heavy duty to actually help with sunlight and/or privacy.

We still have two sets of windows that I’m trying to figure out {one is in our living room like a faux french door and the other in our kitchen} but the rooms that have curtains feel so much more put together!

Do you have any basics that you rely on?

Mirrors, frames, pictures, and a map.

MC Hammer would be so proud.

It took us a few months to start, but our walls are slowly being filled with things that make our space home.

And when it starts to feel like home, it makes contentment a whole lot easier.

Once you have boxes unpacked, it’s time to organize.

This is one of my favorite things to do but I know not everyone enjoys this process (a-hem, but please don’t look in my guest closet right now – on my to-do list). If you take it little by little, a drawer here, a closet there, cleaning and decluttering are made easier because everything has – or should have – a place.

When you’re renting home, you might have smaller spaces to work with, so maximizing every square foot you have is important. But once you do, know that it will make being content easier – at least it has for me 🙂