Furniture

You want your furniture to have an old world look. Chunky wood tables with chippy or distressed paint go nice. A distressed wooden cupboard (perhaps with chicken wire doors) can give you some extra storage and add to look if you have space. Display your majolica or old world pottery behind chicken wire to authenticate look.

Decorating a Tuscan kitchen can be a lot of fun. You can get look with brand new accessories, or if you enjoy collecting antiques, you can scour flea markets and antique malls for those perfect pieces. Either way, you will be creating a kitchen with charm and character.

Of course, you will need to find suitable housing in new state. You should plan a couple of trips out to look for new houses with realtors. If you are not sure whether move will be permanent, consider renting a house for first year. That way if you don’t want to stay it will be easier to pick up and leave.

Last, but not least, you need to plan move itself. Will you be using movers? Will they be packing up all your stuff or will you pack and they just haul it to truck? It’s not a bad idea to get organized with a moving checklist. Start your checklist a month or more before move and keep adding to it as you think of things. Here’s a short list to start you off:

- Buy boxes or rent crates and get packing material - Pack items you do not need for everyday use like knick knacks and decorative items - Arrange for a House inspection (for both new and old houses) - Gather pay stubs and other records for loan - Arrange for utility shut off / reconnect for phones, lights and gas - Change address on checks and business cards - Finalize with movers - Schedule move out cleaning