Last year we moved from a 1200 sq ft home to a 3000 sq ft home.  The #1 most important thing for me when we were looking for a new home was SPACE.  I did not care about upgrades, fancy appliances, granite countertops or crown moulding.  I just wanted plenty of room for my 4 kids to get out of my hair & good office space for my business since I work from home.  In our old house, one of our kids was rooming with my husband & I (granted she was a newborn but I still bruised my leg every time I tried to get in my bed & hit her bassinet) and my entire business was run out of a bedroom closet that I turned into an office (not a walk in closet, mind you).  I’m SO grateful to now have ample room for everyone to have their own space, and my husband & I to each have a private office.  Space is something that is important to me with a large family.  When we moved in and friends would visit I heard “wow, now you need to go shopping to buy things to fill this place up!” multiple times.  I wonder why that is?  What’s wrong with having empty spaces?  I, like every North American woman I’m sure, have great appreciation for a beautifully designed home – every nook & cranny thoughtfully decorated and adorned.  Absolutely nothing wrong with that – but I also find beauty in a simple space.  Less clutter, less to over take your mind, less to dust.  

For awhile, I actually felt embarrassed to have guests over and see my “simple” space – not yet filled to the brim with possessions.  That is until I started cleaning out my kitchen.  

In my old home our kitchen was TINY.  Besides appliances, there were exactly 3 cabinets.  I cussed every time I had to find a spice when cooking because they were all jammed into one little spot.  Our new house has such a great kitchen size – it was one of the first things I loved about it.  We joked when we moved in about how my cabinet space drastically increased & “I don’t even have enough to come close to filling these cabinets out!”  Well guess what, one year later & those bad boys are packed.  And as I cleaned things out of them to trash or send to Goodwill, I quickly noticed that SO MUCH OF IT are things that I simply don’t need!  But by golly, there was a space & it needed filled.  Mission accomplished?

Don’t be afraid of an empty cabinet, an empty drawer, an empty room.