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What Happened When We Traded Space for Simplicity

By Ashley French
What Happened When We Traded Space for Simplicity
What Happened When We Traded Space for Simplicity

When I was six months pregnant with Emerson, I decided to renovate my life. That meant quickly putting our house up for sale, buying a new one, and bracing for the down-to-the-studs renovation it needed. That's going to be about two years' worth of work, so Chris and I decided to live in our vacation home during the renovation. It made a lot of sense, actually. We are lucky enough to have that as an option, we love being by the beach, and it was freshly updated with all of the features and finishes I had chosen. 

The only thing that I was a little nervous about is its size. It's not tiny, but at around 1,200 square feet, it doesn't exactly have a ton of extra space. Chris and I were both used to working from our home offices, but that wouldn't be an option since it doesn't have any office space. Chris joked that I might not have enough closet space for my shoes. Ha, ha, very funny.

But we decided to go for it. After all, "less space" isn't the same as "not enough space." Now that we're nestled into our beach home, I love how cozy it feels. It required a few adjustments, of course. I've learned that I have to be more organized and selective about how much stuff we have. But with less space and fewer things, being at home is just… easier. It's easier to keep the house clean. It's easier to find lost keys and lost toys. It's even easier to bump into friends since our homes are close together, and we all take walks in the neighborhood. What I've learned from this is that when you cut out unnecessary extras, you have more time to enjoy your life and find meaning in it. And that goes whether you live in a studio apartment or a sprawling house.

I'll admit, there was a time when I felt like I needed to live up to others' expectations or project an image of success: the nice car, the big house, and so on. But now I know that if you can let go of your ego, you free up space to learn more about your happiness. For me, that involves creating spaces simply for the love of design, whether they're big or small or somewhere in between. Before we moved into a smaller home, I thought I’d miss the extra space. Turns out, I was just making room for the things that matter.

(But it turns out, Chris was right about the shoes.)