I mentioned earlier in this series that sometimes creating white space takes a little bit of work. It isn’t just about going through and quitting everything and then calling it a day. Ta-da! White space!
We have responsibilities. We can’t just quit life.
But my need for white space is all about my family. Being able to give Hudson and Hayes more of my time, and not feel stressed over messes and schedules and clutter.
(If you’re new here, here’s a little catch up moment: We sold our house in October 2012 after 10 months on the market. We moved into Todd’s grandmother, and started building a house in April after searching for months for the right home.)
As we’ve planned our home and gone through the building process, the part of the house that I am most excited about is that we’ve created a place for everything while making the most of the square footage.
We don’t have an overabundance of rooms. There is not a craft room or a formal living room or even an actual mud room. But we’ve made a space for everything.
We wanted to maximize functionality with the least amount of space as we could. So we have a hallway just in from the garage. (We have a garage for the first time! A garage!)
Inside the back door is a laundry room. Just past the laundry room on this hallway is a small powder room, built-in cubbies and a built-in desk. This small 100 square foot space is my favorite thing about the new house.
these were my inspiration via here
We can come in from the garage and drop off book bags, purses, and shoes at the cubbies. Then I can drop off the mail and piles of paper that always steal my white space at the desk. I can always have my chargers in one location.
inspiration photo via here
I hope that this will cut back on the time we spend looking for things and the constant feeling like the piles are running our lives. Do y’all know what I’m talking about? Those piles are just the worst!
Mail, kids’ “artwork,” reminders from teachers, church bulletins, magazines.
There are file cabinets and cubbies and cabinets and places for all the things that you don’t want to keep, but you can’t throw away. (Although I will touch on some plans for how to decide what I can throw away.)
But these things can be achieved without building a new house. What are some of your tips for managing the clutter? The things you can’t throw away.
And how do you decide what you can throw away?
This post is Day 11 in a series called 31 Days of Creating White Space. You can read the rest of the posts here.
We have a filing area that we made a series of folders for things that we don’t really need hanging out but can’t throw away. Sometimes piles still happen but this has seemed to at least alleviate that problem.
I used that mudroom photo for our house when we were renovated-I love it and it has been a lifesaver for collecting all of our stuff!
I don’t have a problem throwing things away. I LOVE getting rid of things we don’t use or finding a spot for them. I love functionality and having everything in its place. I usually keep things for a month and then decide if we still need it — paper work that is. Toys are my biggest issue right now. I’m probably going to donate a bunch before Christmas and Owen’s birthday in January. Looking forward to hearing more about this series and your new home 🙂
I keep saying it, but you literally take the words out of my mouth. We are in the midst of planning to build our house starting this spring. We can officially break ground April 1, 2014. We found a floor plan that sounds similar, no “extra” rooms, but making the absolute most of the square footage we have. When you come in from the garage, there will be a drop zone or bench before the laundry room, along with a desk space to drop all that clutter that we have taking up our kitchen table right now. I find myself obsessively planning every nook and cranny of this new floor plan to make the most of the space, to allow for maximum organization. We can’t wait! Who knew a desk/mudroom would be the highlight of our house.
I am really enjoying your posts on white space. I am excited for you to have a spot for everything. I am taking inspiration from you! I’ve been needing/desiring to create white space. We are remodeling a 100 year old home and it has been going on since June 2012. We still haven’t moved in. I am most excited about having a spot for everything. I know my biggest challenge will be changing my bad habits! Thanks for these wonderful and inspiring posts!
Loving the white space series so far – keep up the great work!
We have a small 1920s home and so space is at a premium! I have no problem getting rid, re-using, recycling things that we don’t need…except when it comes to things to do with my two young boys! 🙂 I am experimenting with the app ARTKIVE to preserve the boys’ artwork without keeping it for years only to get tossed some day. Check it out!
Can’t wait to see all your pre thought out plans! Almost…
In our garage, I love to maximize the space with overhead shelving for things we don’t get at much. Like holiday stuff or camping (cuz we aren’t frequent). I use those $4.98 bins from walmart with big paper labels on the inside. Uniform and contained! Love!
We always enter the house through the garage into the kitchen and all of our stuff gets dumped here. I have a small bookcase with baskets, hooks on the back of the pantry door for the diaper bag and my pocket book, and the biggest thing is our file cabinet and shredder are in the corner. When I open mail, I file and shred immediately. Before starting this system it would pile for months and then take me hours to go through.