Among the many benefits of buying a new-build home, one of the most exciting is having the opportunity to create your dream home interior, as you’ll have a perfect blank canvas to begin with – and absolutely no wallpaper removal or repainting required.

However, you don’t need to wait until the excitement of moving day to start adding your own individual touches, as with a new-build home, you could start personalising its interior long before you get your keys.

From selecting your kitchen and bathroom options to creating your ideal interior, we explain the exciting ways you can make your brand-new house into your perfect home.

Three steps to personalising your new-build home

Choosing your personal touches

Image: The Mason at Old Brook View, Shaw

After reserving your new-build home with Bellway, you’ll be invited to choose from a range of options to add your personal touches to its interior – such as selecting the kitchen cabinets and fittings, the bathroom wall and floor tiles, and carpets and flooring. The options that are available to you are subject to the build stage of your home at reservation, and your sales advisor is always best placed to discuss this with you.

When selecting your options, you may also be offered the opportunity to upgrade aspects of your home so that it truly reflects you, your tastes and your lifestyle. With Bellway’s range of Additions, you could add a wine cooler or hot water tap to your kitchen, install fitted wardrobes to your bedroom, or elevate your bathroom with chrome fittings, additional accessories, or even a smart toilet.

The options and Additions on offer vary from development to development, so speak to your Bellway sales advisor to find out more about what is available at your chosen development and can be applied to your new home.

Planning your interior décor

Image: The Goldsmith at Penny Way, Snaith

As your excitement builds for completion day on your new-build home, you’ll be starting to plan your interior décor and looking for inspiration – whether that’s using Pinterest to collect images, making a physical scrapbook or mood board, or simply jotting some thoughts down in your phone. If you haven’t already visited a Bellway showhome in your region, this is a great starting point for finding interior ideas, especially when there is a showhome available of your chosen house type.

It’s also helpful to see how other new-build homeowners have decorated and furnished their interiors; when you choose to buy with Bellway, you can join an online community of homeowners, many of which have set up dedicated Instagram accounts for their Bellway homes. As well as sharing beautiful photos of their home interiors, these buyers are often a great source of valuable advice – not just on decorating a new-build home, but also navigating the entire buying journey, from reservation to many years beyond. Take a look at Bellway’s Instagram account and the dedicated #mybeautifulbellway hashtag to discover more.

You can also explore the collection of Our Nest interviews to meet some of the homeowners behind the accounts, hear their unique Bellway home buying stories, and find out how they added their own stamps to their new-build blank canvases. These include Abbi and Jack and their delightfully eclectic Misbourne home; first-time buyers Georgia and Matt and their nature-inspired Bellway Oakwood; and Amy and Jack, who found their dream Chandler home after the heartbreak of a cancelled wedding.

Bringing your vision to life

Image: The Bowyer at Lathom Pastures, Lathom

As soon as you have the keys to your freshly painted and immaculately clean new-build home, you’ll want to move in, unpack, and start adding your own stamp to its interior right away. However, before decorating a new-build home it’s important to have some patience, and allow your home to finish drying out and settling so that you don’t have to redo any of your hard work.

Thousands of litres of water are used during the construction of a new-build home, and so builders typically recommend waiting 6-12 months before adding your own paint or wallpaper in case any small cracks appear during the drying out process. These are normal and can be easily remedied when you do decorate; in the meantime, you can help to speed up the process by opening your windows for a few hours each day to allow fresh air to circulate through your home and keeping your background central heating on the lowest setting possible to prevent condensation forming on windows and exterior walls.

Taking your time before painting or wallpapering your new-build home also allows you to get comfortable and familiar with its interior, and understand how you’d like to use it, and make the most of it through your décor. For example, you’ll notice where the light floods into your home throughout the day, which may influence your choice of paint colour; you might also choose a different layout for the furniture in your living space to what you had planned, or need time to find the perfect quiet spot for working from home.

But if you find yourself feeling creatively stuck when decorating your new-build home, don’t worry – the phenomenon of ‘white box syndrome’ is something that many buyers experience. This is the name given to the sense of emptiness that can come with moving into a new and undecorated house, but we have a few tips from an interior designer on overcoming white box syndrome to help you find your inspiration. 

Whether you’re a first-time buyer or moving up the property ladder, find out more about the many more great reasons to choose a new-build home, or explore the exciting current and forthcoming Bellway developments in your area and find your perfect property to personalise.