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Moving into your first home, fully owned by you, is a massive achievement and a wonderful life milestone. Even if you have little budget for all the trimmings given the large cost of your deposit, you now have room to sprawl out a little, get comfortable, and decide on a few nice investments to enjoy.

A good place to start is to figure out what home utilities you’re missing and make plans to budget for them. But we’re sure you have a lot on your plate. Why don’t we give you the chance to open up on your own terms? Let’s achieve that by offering some of the following advice:

1. A Great Dining Room Table

A dining room table might not seem to be an essential upgrade if you’re budgeting, because after all you can eat meals on the sofa if you really need to, but having one really does help a house become a home. If you’ve got space for one, it’s a solid investment. Even if your dining area is a bit small, there are plenty of smaller options that can fit snugly into your space without feeling cramped, or if you want to find something nice that will last the span of the years, such as a black dining table, you won’t have been frivolous with your purchase. Of course, if your budget’s tight, secondhand options are out there.

2. Bedside Tables

A bedroom can be fairly simple and even do without all the furnishings if you really need to – some new homeowners simply have a mattress with a protector on a floor until they find the perfect bedframe for the room. But investing in a good pair of bedside tables can help the space feel more adult and provide you the comfort of storage, while also giving you room for side lamps that can help the room feel so much more homely.

3. Living Room Lighting

To follow on from that advice about lighting, it really does set the mood in a home, and especially in the living room where you’re likely to spend a lot of your relaxation time. Harsh overhead lighting or improperly placed lamps can make the space feel less calming, and if you’re trying to read after a long day or just enjoy a mug of warm tea in the morning, that can be tiring. We’d absolutely recommend living room lighting such as standing lamps and wall mounted lanterns that you can dim or brighten when needed.

4. Rugs & Welcome Mats

A well-chosen rug that fits with the space can provide a sense of texture to different rooms, which helps you distinguish the space as yours and also gives you places to wipe your feet, perfect for your back door coming in from the garden. If you have wooden floors you can also add rugs to grant some comfort.

With this advice, you’ll have invested some worthwhile starting furnishings and trimmings to your new household. We wish you many happy years in your home.