Less

When I was a child, my mom and a friend of hers would participate in an annual event called, The Parade of Homes. It was a popular, self-guided tour showcasing new and remodeled homes, the latest design trends, and innovative construction. It connected prospective home buyers with builders, offering a chance to view different neighborhoods and styles.

My mom would usually take me and my brother along. From the first tour we experienced, we were captivated. The moment we would enter a home, it looked like pure perfection. Clean, open, spacious rooms, and not a single thing out of place. They were often simplistic in style, not busy or chaotic, with moderate pops of color here and there. They were light and airy, illuminated by natural light, with different patterns and themes in each room.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I had a love for home design before I entered the first home. More specifically was my love for organization and minimalistic spaces with just the right amount of furniture in a room. There were plants to bring the outside in, and unique vases that stood out on their own. Even the wall art, although not as interesting, seemed to hold my attention. Though nothing was as impressive as the paint colors and huge rugs. I soon came to notice that the foundation and character of a room began with it’s walls and floors. The paint colors told me how to feel in a room. Happy, mellow, awake, energetic. Each one evoked a different mood. The rugs told me that this was a home, not a house filled with hollow rooms, but a place where I could be comfortable and cozy. A place I didn’t want to leave, because it felt like home away from home.

The Kids’ rooms were amazing. So much color, creativity, and enough open space for my brother and I. There was often a room for boys, one for girls, or rooms that we could share. Before touring the Parade of Homes, my mother was the one to style our rooms. After the tours, and as we got older, I knew exactly what to do. I no longer needed my mom to decorate. I wanted a style unique to me. This realization was the beginning of years of moving things around. Big things, little things, everything. Since an adolescent, I was obsessed with rearranging my room. And as a teenager I made the personal decision to switch my room altogether. We lived in a four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath, ranch-style home. There were three bedrooms on the left side of our home.

One day, unknown to my mother, I moved all my belongings and furniture, except for my bed, from the last room to the first room in the hallway. It was previously a guest room, so it already had a bed. This room was slightly bigger and had lots of natural light, much like the homes I’d toured. Since the tour, I no longer thought of a bedroom as this two-dimensional square with no form or character. I now saw it as the three-dimensional space it was, having length, width, and height, and plenty of potential.

To maximize my space, regardless of the layout I chose, something else had to be considered. I needed less things. I thought back to The Parade of Homes–how less was always enough, how it still filled the room and made it cozy, and how things were spaced apart, creating an open house. This was how I developed a love for less. At an early age, I understood that I could get more out of a space, by staying organized, consuming less, owning fewer possessions, and keeping only what was necessary, yet meaningful.