Moving to a new home is always challenging, but knowing the order of unpacking after a move will automatically help you streamline the tasks ahead. Stay with us as we take you step-by-step through the process of unpacking after a move.
Order of Unpacking After a Move
If you’re wondering which room to unpack first, you’re in luck. Our list below covers just that:
- Kitchen
- Bedroom
- Bathroom
- Living Room
- Storage Areas
- Outdoors
We’ll discuss the unpacking order in detail now, so you can avoid some of the most common moving mistakes, like forgetting to pack a box of essentials, which is the first thing to unpack before you even think about unpacking any of the other boxes.
Unpacking the Kitchen
Once you’ve gotten your box of essentials unpacked and ready for use, it’s time, to begin with the kitchen, because quite frankly, you’ll need a meal before you head to bed. Here is everything you need to unpack and set up in your kitchen:
Large Appliances
It’s best to get the hard work done in the beginning, like setting up your refrigerator, deep freezer, water cooler, microwave, oven, and other appliances in the kitchen. Drag them into place, turn them on, and move all perishable goods into their respective cooling units, before they go bad.
Small Appliances
If you have a toaster, a coffeemaker, an electric kettle, or any other small appliance that you need for breakfast daily, then you’ll most likely place them on the countertop. Organise the ones you want to display neatly and store the rest away in your pantry, storage area, or kitchen cabinets.
Essential Food Items
Stock up on dry goods before the move and store them once the appliances have been put in place. Dedicate a cabinet or cupboard as your pantry and use some easy tips to store food in your kitchen smartly. This includes filling up jars for coffee, tea, sugar, as well as storing any food items that are not perishable, like cereal, grains, rice, flour, oil, sauces, and so on.
Kitchenware
Everyday utensils, plates, spoons, forks, knives, bowls, trays, cups, mugs, and glasses come under this category. These include all formal dinnerware and delicate china, as well. Unpack this box with care and determine whether you want to wash the utensils and cutlery before storing them or whether they’ll be washed upon use.
Kitchen Cabinets
Next, unpack all your food storage boxes, jugs, jars, trays, and other belongings. Clean and line the kitchen cabinets before you fill them with your stuff. You can leave this task to the next day and move on if it’s taking too long because there are a thousand different odds and ends that we all store in our kitchens.
Unpacking the Bedroom
The next room in the unpacking order is the bedroom, which needs to be set and ready for a good night’s sleep. Here’s what to unpack first:
Bed
If you’ve been able to transport your bed without breaking it apart, you’ll simply need to place the mattress on it, and unpack your bedsheet to make the bed. However, if you had to pull the bed apart, the first task is to assemble the bed. Make the bed once the frame is in place. Then add some pillows and blankets as needed. You can also choose to simply place the mattress on the floor and grab a pillow and blanket for the night if you’re too exhausted to put the bed frame together.
Clothes
You’ve probably already unpacked a spare change of clothes from your box of essentials. Thus, you can delay this tedious task to another day if you want. However, regardless of when you do it, you need to unpack all your clothes and set them up in your wardrobe. You might choose to iron a few for your hanging wardrobe while folding the rest neatly in piles. Consider opting for a built-in wardrobe if you have a nook in the room that is perfect for it.
Furniture and Accessories
The bed is the most essential piece of furniture post-moving. The rest can wait for a few days to be set up. This includes any seating arrangements you might have, your side tables, your dressing table, your lamps, and so on. You can keep a few essential items from your dressing table, like a hairbrush, a deodorant, or a body lotion, in your essentials box, and place them on the floor in the corner of the room until the dressing table is set up.
Unpacking the Bathroom
When you’re unpacking after a move, there’s very little to do in the bathroom, because the bathrooms are functional as long as you turn on the water and all the fixtures have been fitted into place. However, if you want to take a bath after a long hard day or plan to do so next morning, here’s all that you’ll need to set up in the bathroom:
The Essentials
The bare essentials of a bathroom include a towel, soap/handwashing solution, toilet paper, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and toiletries, including your facewash, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, and other products. These will make your bathroom functional for all purposes. You can do this for any one or two bathrooms on moving day if you have more than one bathroom in the house. For instance, you can skip the bathroom in the guest bedroom for now, as that can always be set up at a later date.
Shower Curtains
If you have a shower cabinet made of frosted glass in your bathroom, you might not feel the need for shower curtains. But shower curtains can be ideal for bathrooms containing bathtubs, as they offer a measure of privacy to take a bath while leaving the toilet and sink accessible to the rest of the household if you’ll all sharing the same bathroom.
The Extras
Aside from the items that are a must-have for every bathroom, some other things you can set up at a later date include buckets, your children’s bath time toys, as well as bath mats that will keep the floor dry and slip-proof.
Unpacking the Living Room
The order of unpacking after a move should be based on your priority, and since you will not be entertaining guests immediately, unpacking the living room takes a backseat. Here’s what to unpack first for your living room:
Furniture
Since you most probably collected all of the boxes in the central living space initially, opening some of them up will now give you space to set up the living room as well as the formal drawing-room. Start with the furniture, pushing the sofas in place, adding your TV console, your coffee table, as well as setting up the dining area if you have an open-plan home. Add bookshelves as well, if you have any.
Electronics
Once the furniture is in place, unpack your entertainment hub, which includes your TV, your gaming console, and other gadgets that you might have, including a surround sound stereo system for amazing movie-watching experiences. Connect all of your devices. Turn them on to make sure the connections have been done properly and then move on to the next part of unpacking after a move.
Décor Items
Once the furniture and electronics have been set up, fill the racks with books, set up small decorative items on the tables and shelves, add throw pillows to your couches, place and connect all your floor and table lamps, and focus on making your home seem lived in.
Unpacking for the Storage Areas
Most homes in Pakistan generally have one of two ways to store their extra belongings—a spare storage room or a cupboard dedicated to the purpose. Here’s how to go about unpacking the items for storage:
Food
We’ve already covered this aspect in detail when you were unpacking the kitchen, but if you did not store the dry food ingredients at that point, now is the best time to do so. Dedicate a cabinet in the kitchen as your pantry and start organising it, keeping items with longer expiry dates at the back.
Tools
There are a number of tools that are essential for every home. If you already have a selection of them, choose a drawer or a shelf that is dedicated only to your home repair kits, your tools, and spare switches, bulbs, and other similar products that come in handy in a pinch.
Winter Clothes
Do not unpack your winter clothes unless it’s the season for them. Simply carry the boxes into your new home and into their new storage space as they are. You can clean the boxes/bags as needed, but there’s no need to unpack each clothing item unless you want to browse through them and donate a few to the needy.
Utility Items
If you stock up on toiletries, tissue rolls, toothpaste, and a number of other utilitarian goods, choose a cupboard in a less frequented part of the house to store all of your spare products. As with the food pantry, keep newer items at the back and older items at the front according to their expiry or ‘best before’ date.
Cleaning Chemicals
Who can forget the ‘under the sink’ array of cleaning chemicals that are a staple in almost every Pakistani home? You might not have a cabinet under the kitchen sink to dedicate to these products, but due to their strong odours and frequent use, all cleaning supplies are kept apart from the food and utility goods you’ve stored earlier. Unpack each item, and arrange them as per their frequency of use.
Unpacking for the Outdoors
Focus on the outdoor space only after you’ve set up the home and unpacked all the boxes indoors to follow the correct order of unpacking after a move. Your outdoor space might include a front garden, a backyard, a terrace, or a balcony. We’ll simply cover what needs to be set up and unpacked for the outdoors, and you can move forward with each item based on the space you have available:
Furniture
Patio chairs, a cosy swinging chair, and other furniture can help you create a relaxing seating area outdoors. Unpack any furniture that belongs outdoors and set it up stylishly. You can check out our décor ideas for small balconies for more ways to make your outdoor space welcoming and user-friendly.
Plants
While plants are ideal for decoration both indoors and outdoors, and some plants can help clean the air indoors, we’re talking about your yard or garden here. Organise the potted plants, sow seeds in the flowerbeds, mow the lawn, trim the bushes, and work on your home’s curb appeal once you’re well-rested after the move.
Accessories
Remember to find a storage space for all your gardening tools. You can opt for a gardening shed, hang them on a wall at the side of the house, or use a box or cupboard indoors to keep your tools and supplies. You can also set up your barbeque grill now, along with your children’s outdoor play area, unpacking items, and organising them as necessary.
This concludes our guide on which room to unpack first after a move. You can check out our tips on unpacking efficiently after a move for more guidance.
Stay tuned to Zameen Blog for more helpful tips and tricks. Reach us via email at blog@zameen.com. Please note that you can also subscribe to get prompts of our daily posts in your inbox by subscribing to our newsletter.
