February 10, 2015

Day seven.

I think it's funny when people talk about living a minimalist lifestyle and how they love living in small places with less things and are so much better than me. Okay, they don't actually say that last part, but they might after this. I love living in a place with stuff. I like the cozy look that comes from crowded bookshelves and walls. You heard me. I like it.

Our house is 2000 square feet (total) with four bedrooms and 2 1/2 bathrooms. And I like it. I like having the room for the baby, the bedroom for the office (grown-ups have offices), the guest room, and our own bedroom. I like it!

I hate cleaning three toilets, especially since I stopped being able to find my favourite toilet cleaning tool and I am really not a poop person (but sure, we can talk about it if you want). I do, however, LOVE having multiple bathrooms. Karl and I use our en suite and the main bathroom at the same time all the time. It's what I like to call a marriage tension releaser. Our third bathroom is for guests when they stay and is in the basement so is perfect for when we watch TV. To be totally honest, we don't need that downstairs bathroom 90% of the time, but it's amazing for company. And commercial breaks.

I like that we have an upstairs living room and a basement with a TV in it. That's what civilized people have. Sometimes I feel like we have too much space because it certainly doesn't all get used all the time, but I know that it does get used. The extra basement space is awesome for kids to hang out in and we fully intend to make it the official play area of the house. You know, when our kid is big enough to play and not just hug my bladder.

People with minimalist style kitchens blow my mind. I had a tiny kitchen for years and it made me want to start knocking down walls, ripping out my hair, and throwing things. Sure, we got rid of our espresso machine when we moved and I'm thinking of getting rid of our toaster oven that we never, ever use, but that's about as downsizey as I want to go right now. I may not have used my waffle maker in a few years but I have room for it and I will use it again! Like this weekend, okay? Baby needs waffles. With coconut whipped cream, bananas, and strawberries. Or maybe raspberries. And a dusting of cocoa powder. What about some cinnamon sugar? I think I just drooled on the keyboard.

Sorry. I got lost in a food fantasy. Which would be hard to make reality in a teeny tiny kitchen, okay?

Oh, man. Waffles.

Now, I don't need a lot of space to feel like my life is worth living. We lived in roughly 600 square feet for almost four years, remember? But having lived in an itty bitty basement suite for almost four years really makes me appreciate what I have now. And that's room to lay on the floor unencumbered. And windows. And a deck. And a front and back yard and who even uses front yards if they have a back yard anyway?

I appreciate the notion of not having stuff stuff stuff everywhere and not finding our worth in stuff because, really, it's just stuff. And it's fleeting and meaningless and we can't take it with us. But I also appreciate having enough space for you when you visit, a kitchen with enough room to make waffles in, and enough bathrooms that if Karl and I get sick at the same time we're not going to risk our marriage over it. I also like that I'm at a stage in my life where I might even have too many bookshelves and am contemplating getting rid of some. I may not be a minimalist, but an empty bookshelf is just as sad as a puppy that thought it was going for a picnic. We don't need that much stuff or sadness in our lives.

I hope I'm not giving the wrong impression that we're super rich people and poop five-dollar bills (in our multiple bathrooms) because a lot of our stuff has been given to us, picked up used, or bought after great discussion and forethought. I'm also not a hoarder except for books. Hoarding would really interfere with my ability to lay on the floor.

All that to say, I applaud you minimalist people for doing your thing and living in your tiny houses with your tiny kitchens and only having enough bath towels as warm bodies in your house. You're great in your own way. But you're totally welcome to come over and use my excess of small appliances any time because I know you secretly want to.

5 comments:

  1. Sometimes I would kill for a house your size...more than twice the size of ours, bigger than any house I've ever lived in my entire life. Then I remember how much I hate cleaning, and I'm satisfied with our 900 square foot house, until the next time I'm trying to cook in our tiny kitchen or put away laundry in our one-person-sized closet. It's a back and forth, pretty constantly. But I also remember that a 2000 square foot house in Sitka would run us probably around $750K and I like having money leftover after each mortgage payment.

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  2. I loved having a bigger house, however after moving to a smaller place I realized how much of that space we didn't use. Our stuff seems to fit better in a smaller home.

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  3. I have to laugh a little bit when I think about the fact that we live in half the amount of space with (currently) twice the amount of people. Having only one bathroom sucks if you are using it and then your potty training toddler decides he needs to Pee! Now!

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  4. We see eye to eye on this completely. Except I am SO JEALOUS of your space. We have a 1200 square foot townhouse. It's not tiny, but a little more room wouldn't suck either. It felt huge until we started accumulating baby things and now I feel like Babies R Us is going to smother me in my sleep.

    Due to the bringing a baby into a small house thing, I've developed a few minimalist qualities. I've fully embraced the whole "if you don't find it beautiful or useful, get rid of it" mentally. You would never think I'm developing a purging obsession if you were to walk in my house. We have a wall of fully stocked bookshelves (be still my heart) and gallery walls and the like, but it's all stuff we use and love. Our kitchen is TINY, though. I recently bought an ikea shelving unit to put in the dining room so I can spread the love and have room for both bottles and sippy cups AND my waffle maker in the kitchen. I would store my waffle maker under my bed if I had to.

    Waffles....

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  5. We had a big place before we moved. Now we're living with my grandparents - who have a huge house - but our space in their house is about 700 sqft. We've been living with them for 2 years and I'm DYING to have a place of our own.

    I would LOVE a bookshelf full of books and things. That's my goal when we move. I envy your gigantic bookshelf wall (I think I saw it on Instagram?). It's beautiful.

    Our waffle iron died. I miss waffles...

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