creating space.

birds flying in the wide open sky

This week, I've been feeling quiet and contemplative, and I've been thinking a lot about the space in which we live. Since Thea's birth, I've felt a bit crowded in our house. I started thinking that it might be time for us to start looking for a new place to call home. Perhaps it was all of the extra things that go along with having a small person occupying your space, or maybe it was just that we have lived here long enough that it felt like time for a change. Either way, something needed to shift. I found myself dreaming of other houses and how our family would fit into them.

But recently I have found myself falling in love with our house all over again. And I've been taking small steps to clear out the old, the tired, and the unused to make space for the life we are living right now.

This is tough for me, as I tend to hold onto things just in case. But now, I really want the things in our home to be a reflection of what is important in the present. I want to be selective about what occupies our space.

I plan on sharing bits of this process, and how our home is transformed as a result.

But for now, I'd love to know -

what makes your house feel like home?

Comments

[JasonL]

Our pets..

[Wendy]

The things that we have collected on vacations...the little painting and ceramic fleur-de-lis we bought in New Orleans

The photos of our family and friends

The toys and related baby things scattered about (we recently adopted a baby girl)

[beth]

Awesome post. We have a really small house (900 sq. ft.) and clutter can be a real issue. There is a book called "It's All Too Much" that I've been wanting to read because I tend to keep stuff. But after Zadie, it's been really easy to get rid of stuff. If I'm in a mood, I just go for it. I've never missed a thing.

Our house feels like a home because we've resurfaced almost all of it. Every bit of it belongs to us now (although I've disowned the bathroom!).

[Kim Rakes]

You make me want to go outside (in 209348234mph winds) and capture a pretty sunset :)