Choosing a New Place… The LONG READ

Relocating, changing where you live can be a jarring experience.
There are all sorts of practical things that you need to figure out when you move – like the fastest route to the market for when you need to zip out for that one ingredient you forgot – but moving can be a psychological shock for more than practical reasons.

Handling your move like a neuroscience pro means less stress for you and starting to enjoy spending time in your new home sooner.

Choosing a New Place

Selecting a place to live can be a challenge.

It’s relatively easy to think about your basic practical requirements for a place to live. How many bedrooms do you need for your kids? Does your dog need a yard to cavort in or is he a fine-being-on-a-leash sort of canine? Do you do mammoth holiday bakes and actually need counter space in your kitchen to gift-give as you wish?

Your psychological requirements are more difficult to pin down.

Personality has a big effect on where you should decide to live.

Forgot what your personality profile is? Your housemates’ personalities? There’s a useful quiz here: https://gosling.psy.utexas.edu/scales-weve-developed/ten-item-personality-measure-tipi/
There is some evidence that people who are more open to experience and more extraverted are more likely to live happy lives in a bustling city and introverts are happiest nearly anywhere else, but those particular findings are less important than living in a place that is convenient for where you need to travel to work. Extraverts similarly are likely to feel particularly good about living in a neighbourhood with lots of community spirit, but that’s not nearly so important for introverts.

Once you get a general location locked in, it’s time to choose a particular housing unit. Extraverts prefer more open interior design, with one space merging into the next with only the slightest signal (for example, a change of flooring or carpet) or nothing at all to indicate that you’ve moved from one zone to another, living area to dining space, for instance. Introverts thrive in a more segmented space, living rooms and kitchens clearly walled off from each other, for example.

There are fewer and fewer new homes being built with the segmented space design that earns so many points with introverts because open building can be less expensive and because extraverts are often quite vocal about the fact that that’s what they would prefer. If you are an introvert living in an open space, invest in freestanding screens, as tall as you can manage. They’ll break up long sight lines. Make an effort to place at least one or two seats in each room are placed just in front of a wall or a screen or a tall plant or a substantial piece of furniture—introvert users will be particularly interested in claiming these seats.

Introverts and extraverts, left to their own devices, are likely to invest in different sorts of furniture, make sure whatever you’ve got will fit, reasonably, into wherever you are going to be. For living rooms and similar spaces, extraverts are likely to invest in sofas and introverts individual upholstered chairs. Those individual chairs can be easier to shape into a smaller space or one that is an odd shape than sofas, but clever solutions are always possible.
If you are buying a home, you’ll likely have all sorts of options for what you do to its insides, at least aesthetically, but if you are renting your options can be much more restricted. Also, even though you may be able to make lots of changes in a home that you buy, you may not want to do so.

Painting a new space seems to be a way of claiming ownership – smelling wet paint seems to be a signal that a space is finally ours. Surface colours that support different activities are discussed in detail in this article. LINK For example, warm colours are great in areas for mingling whoever you are. Whatever your personality profile, it’s best to follow the specifications in the linked to article. If you are an extravert you just may not feel like using the less saturated shades, even when you should. You have a special affinity for more saturated colours and will select them—and doing so is actually OK in spaces where you will not be trying to relax or problem solve, or be creative, or having a great time mingling with others. For example, if you are an extravert and redoing a powder room, paint its walls candy apple red if you want!

If you score higher on the conscientious scale you’ll be happier in a place that supports your goal to lead a well ordered life. You’ll feel particularly good at a home where systems seem well-maintained and functional and that has the closets, drawers, and other storage spaces you need to keep your life well-organized and your home as tidy as you like. If you’re more conscientious, you’ll enjoy a home that is straightforward to keep clean. You also will find a home with relatively more rectilinear, less curvy type mouldings and other decorative elements to be more your cup of tea. You’re also a big fan of symmetry.

Those of you who are open to experience relish novelty, something earns big points with you for just being different. You may be a fan of a tiny home not because it’s efficiently design (that’s why someone who is conscientious would feel positively), but because it is relatively unique, unlike the usual living situation, even supporting, potentially, new ways of living. People who are open to experiences are concerned about aesthetics, those that align with their tastes. Make sure any potential new home can, ultimately, look and feel and sound and feel like you want it to—no magical thinking allowed! If you’re open to experience you are likely into art and if the art that you favour is paintings and photographs, make sure you have the wall space to display what you want—vertical surfaces on which art can be displayed are often lacking in newly built, very open homes. People who are open have a wide range of interests and those interests can and should influence your choice of a home. Are you a huge opera fan? It might be worth your while to live near the Opera House. Is your hobby welding large pieces of iron into stupendously large sculptures? You’ll need a place where you can do all that ironwork, in your home or nearby. You get the idea. Don’t short-change your hobbies and interests. They help define who you are as a person.

A home whose form aligns with your personality is a home where you will live comfortably for a long time.