This week I got to be my own client as our remodeled bathroom and kitchen became “done enough” for us to move back into our home. After living with friends for 8 months (yes, they are GOOD friends!), my beau and I have a renewed appreciation for our little corner of the world and couldn’t wait to resume our “real lives” back in our own home. In spite of our friends’ over-the-top hospitality, I have felt a bit discombobulated regarding my normal home and business routines.

As I was wiping off construction dust, putting away dishes and hanging the shower curtain, I realized just HOW important having a comfortable and functional “nest” is for my physical and emotional health. I got to thinking that whether old or young, rich or poor, 900 square feet or 9,000, we are all alike in that need.

I realized that daily I get to help people who are moving THEIR nests and that it is my and my team’s passion for doing this work that keeps us going. I understood why our clients sometimes focus on what might seem minor details to an outsider, but are of utmost importance in their lives and why our inclusion of any detail that is paramount to them sets a Seamless Move apart from a routine one.

Why do we take a picture of a senior’s family photo wall or of papers and items on the table next to their TV chair? Because those are the important things for us to replicate to maintain continuity from one home to the next. Why do we unpack and set up the bedroom for a special needs child before any other room in his new home? So he and his mother can watch videos while we unpack the kitchen. Why do we visit The Container Store so often? So we can better advise our clients regarding organizing solutions. (OK, you caught me–The Container Store is fun!)

One of the things I particularly remember about my friends’ and my military relocations was how important it was to set up our new homes as quickly as possible to lessen the stress on children and spouses whose routines have been disrupted by moving across the U.S. or to a foreign country.

My mother jokes that when I was a child she could never punish me by sending me to my room because I would happily rearrange the furniture, reorganize my bookshelves or clean out my closet. After 13 years in this business, it surprised me to have an “aha moment” this week when I realized that the reason I founded the precursor to today’s Seamless Moves was because having a comfortable, cozy, functional nest is SO important to me that I wanted to help others to have the same.

How about you? How important is YOUR nest?