Fostering the energy of a space is very important when creating a home or comfortable place where somebody wants to be. There are so many components that go into this. These include but aren’t limited to layout, lighting (including natural light and access to outdoors), size, materials (including flooring as well as stand-alone items like furniture and draperies), colours, and the ratio of tangible materials to space, or what I call the stuff/space ratio. We’re going to discuss this last component further. It’s a crucial one and something that often goes unchecked.
The ratio of tangible materials to space is simply the amount of stuff you have in a space relative to the size of that space. If you have too many things stuffed into a small space, it’s going to look and feel stressful and cluttered. Being in such a space feels overwhelming and claustrophobic. The extreme version of this is hoarding. On the other hand, if you have too few things in a large space, it can feel cold, lonely and unwelcoming. Think of an extremely minimalist and sparsely furnished apartment – typically also void of any personal touch or character. It’s important to understand this balance of materials and the space containing them, and this ratio also explains why people with larger homes tend to accumulate more furniture and stuff in general.
From Ranch to Giant: Rebalancing the Stuff/Space Ratio in Real Time
When you move into a new place that is either significantly larger or at least a little smaller, you’re most likely going to need to modify the amount of stuff you own. My recent transition was from a moderately-sized one-level ranch house to a large three-level house (including a basement). I wasn’t quite prepared to fill in all the gaps, especially with a budget in the red (though we’re still lacking enough lighting and comfortable seating to adequately fill the space, I’ve done my best with what we have). Yet, it quickly became apparent that in order for the house to feel more like a home, we couldn’t keep it so dark, cold and empty.
Before we moved, we knew we wanted a larger house. But this was primarily for more much-needed storage space and to have a modern-sized bathroom better suited for multiple adults to share (read: for one woman and one man to share). We also wanted a different layout that would allow enough distinct/separate rooms instead of a walk-through room, which was the case with one of the bedrooms at our old house – it was a walkthrough to the back door. What we didn’t necessarily want was a vast, sprawling house. And yet that’s exactly what we’ve ended up with because it’s hard to find much in between in this particular market and locale. Local houses tend to fall into one of two general categories: either slightly-too-small and inconveniently-dated ranches, or extremely spacious/bloated newer houses built after 1980.
Rebalancing the Ratio with More Strategically-Chosen Things
Moving to this house taught me the stuff/space ratio from the perspective of having more than enough space and not enough stuff to fill it in. It didn’t take long living here to realize that we don’t have quite enough furniture to furnish our house in a way to make it entirely ‘comfortable and ‘cosy.’ I’ve therefore already purchased (either used or on sale) new pieces of smaller furniture to meet different rooms’ needs. I’ve done my best and am pleased with the result, but to truly make some of the spaces welcoming (i.e. a place where you want to relax at the end of the day), we would need a few more lamps, tables/shelves, and seating such as stuffed loveseats or even comfy pieces of floor furniture or cushions.
Considering we will have to move again in the near future, I’m reluctant to buy any significant pieces of furniture that may or may not easily move into a new, smaller space. Such are not practical purchases when anticipating another move. Plus, unless you have an extremely fortunate budget, it can be time consuming (and often, a matter of luck) to find furniture items that are of good quality, attractive, and inexpensive. What to do, then? If you want to fully utilize a space and give it an agreeable stuff/space ratio, here’s where creativity comes into play.
Creating Comfortable Seating Areas
Comfortable seating areas are essential when creating a space that is inviting. An inviting space allows people to relax and have easy, spontaneous conversation. The more comfortable we are, the more likely we are to hang out together and share unplanned quality time. When you don’t have the budget for larger upholstered chairs and sofas, think about ways to create cosy floor seating. While less common in Western culture, soft floor-seating furniture pieces (in lieu of larger, traditional settees and such) are more affordable and pleasantly intimate.
How to construct something similar with already-existing household materials is what I’m currently working on. It doesn’t help having hard wood floors because while hard flooring has its benefits (it’s easier to clean and creates less dust), it’s less cosy and doesn’t offer an inviting space to lounge on the floor – a pastime my family has always preferred. (Plus, hard flooring is painful to walk on with joint pain.) Despite their benefits, we’ve decided that hard floors have no place for us beyond kitchen and eating areas. We prefer rugs and cosy cushions.
So to address our stuff/space ratio and lack of comfortable seating, I’ve filled two plush animal/beanbag cases with pillows and old quilts to serve as large ottomans to sit on or lean against. As with any fabric or upholstered material, they soften the room and dull echoes. Another idea is to lay down a foam mat on the floor by a wall, cover it with a pretty quilt, and spread some throw pillows along the wall to sit against. Or fold up a thick quilt (or several blankets, neatly folded) in a corner near a pleasant lamp and pile pretty, plump pillows to snuggle against. Hang happy things on the wall, and there’s your cosy corner!
Lighting
A cute end table and pleasant lamp go a long way toward creating an inviting space. This especially helps to create inviting corners. You can find relatively inexpensive end tables or shelving at thrift stores and online marketplaces. Less attractive finds can be relinquished with a fresh coat of fun paint or peel-and-stick wallpaper. Lamps are likewise ample at thrift stores and the like; just be sure the socket is compatible with whichever lightbulbs you use (standard-sized LED bulbs are the best option economically and can come with three different light settings).
Personal Touches
Once you cover seating and lighting, complete your space with whatever objects make you happy. My go-to for any light-filled space is to bring the outside in with houseplants. For dark spaces like windowless bathrooms, try artificial plants. I was recently gifted an artificial plant which, upon closer inspection, was suspiciously sticky and covered in dust (maybe a sneaky re-gift). Despite the grossness, the ‘plant’ was cute so I washed it, sprayed it with loads of hairspray, and then doused it in glitter. See, I’m a plant purist who prefers no house plants over fake ones. But if a fake plant is covered in glitter, it’s just a fun piece of art – it isn’t ‘trying’ to be a real plant. But if you find some artificial plants you love, by all means put them anywhere the sun won’t shine. Still, find some real ones, too – they’re excellent air purifiers!
What brings you joy? What types of objects serve as portals to your inner happy place? Are you a soccer fan? Does sports paraphernalia make you happy? Do you love to read? Do seeing favourite books – whether read or unread – inspire you? Are you a traveler? Are keepsakes from other places or décor reminiscent of those places motivational eye candy? Do you benefit from seeing inspirational phrases, whether related to your religion or personal beliefs? While you can buy inspirational art and décor, you can also make it yourself with carboard and paint/makers. The point is to adorn your space with whatever makes you happy. Is your bedroom lonely without anything inspiring? Find something inspiring to put on your nightstand so you see it every night before you go to sleep and every morning when you wake. Such things are important, even if they’re only small touches here or there.
Organizing and Storing Things with Strategy and Purpose
I think one of the biggest problems people run into is how to put things in places where they can easily and conveniently access them, but without looking cluttered and unappealing. This is where attractive storage solutions come in handy. Even with a large house, we don’t necessarily want a bunch of stuff sitting out free range and demanding our attention. When we walk into any place, our eyes catch sight of whatever is most prominent – and sometimes the devil is in the details. Don’t busy your vision with things that don’t need your attention in any given moment. Store your practical items appropriately so that they’re convenient for you but not a prominent part of the view.
Console Tables
Even in a large space, a bulky piece of furniture that interrupts a natural pathway between or through rooms is a hindrance and often also an eyesore. This is where narrow but useful furniture items come into play. I have recently come to appreciate what are best described as ‘console tables’ (no, this has nothing to do with video games) because they are typically narrow and elegant and serve a purpose without being an imposing piece of furniture. They’re really helpful in halls or near doorways but I ended up purchasing one online to assemble above my son’s toddler table in the ‘breakfast’ area of the kitchen. We simply needed a place to set things in the kitchen that wouldn’t clutter the kitchen table, and in lieu of built-in shelving, a console table perfectly served that purpose.
I spent time searching for one that was a) affordable (cheap and basic? Yes. But it serves the purpose and isn’t hideous), b) tall enough to be out of my toddler’s reach (though he’s learned to climb up on the lower crossbar that supports the two legs on either end…), and c) long enough to provide enough space for our stuff. I then ordered plastic trays and a five-shelf paper organizer to place on top. After setting up a few re-purposed cardboard boxes (some decorated with scrap fabric and other fun things to beautify them) to stash miscellaneous but oft-used items like scissors, screwdriver, nail file, and lighter, the console table happily houses what would otherwise junk up our kitchen table. I now have a place to put my son’s schoolwork and any paperwork that we need to address but which doesn’t sully the vibe of our eating space.
Shoe Racks: Underrated but Important Furniture Pieces
Even if you aren’t a shoes-off household like we are, shoe racks are super helpful in organizing the shoes that inevitably pile up near the front door (or back door). We have a small one at the back door for shoes we want to kick on or off to go out back, and three taller ones at the front door/foyer where we almost exclusively enter/exit the house. The key is to go taller. Unless you’re a hobbit, your home will always have enough wall space to accommodate a six-tiered shoe rack. What you often won’t have space for is a horizontally long shoe rack. So go as tall as structurally possible (this can get tricky when you find something cheap and flimsy – it needs to at least stay together) for space-efficiency.
The benefit of maximizing space with a taller shoe rack is that you can use the top two shelves for other things like sunglasses, car keys, purses, and other grabbable items you want by the door. You can also use small bins for seasonal accessories like mittens, hats, sunscreens or bug spray. I keep a charger cable secured at the top shelf of our shoe rack so the phone’s always charging in a central location. The top shelf of the adjacent shoe rack has a small lamp (a more energy-efficient way to light the foyer than the hanging incandescent-lit light fixture), a small clock, and the winter boots that don’t fit on the lower shelves. A nearby third shoe rack next to the coat rack along an opposite wall stores everyone’s backpacks on the top shelf. Without this organization system, our foyer would be a crazy mess!
Coat Closet (or Any Other Available Closet Space)
If it’s at all possible, store your vacuum cleaner in the coat closet. It’s almost always in a convenient location near the front door/hallway and it makes the vacuum invisible but quick and easy to access. Anything you use less often – in our case, coolers – can hide in the back of the closet behind the vacuum. I store reusable grocery shopping bags and softer insulated bags on the shelf overhead because they’re light and easy to grab. An old metal rack of hooks that hangs over the top of the coat closet door is perfect to store everyone’s hats just inside. The idea is to balance ease of access with visibility (or lack thereof) as well as how often you will need or use something.
Leveraging the Stuff/Space Ratio to Accommodate Size and Layout
As you see, even large spaces require strategic organizing and storage solutions. Just because a house has way more square footage than necessary doesn’t mean you’re just going to pile a bunch of junk in the middle of the room. We generally line furniture along walls and therein lie your options for where to put your things. Along that wall space you’ll have only so much area where it’s possible or convenient to put furniture or other methods of securing your belongings, so it’s helpful to plan where things can go and how to make that an attractive yet accessible solution.
Downsizing: Rebalancing the Stuff/Space Ratio in the Opposite Direction
While I’ve bounced between various apartments in my twenties, I have yet to downsize in my current life stage. Downsizing is guaranteed in my near future, however, so if you too will downsize any time soon, it’s helpful for all our sakes to have a plan to do so as elegantly as possible.
It will likely be inevitable that you’ll have to let go of some things. You don’t have to be a hoarder for this to be emotionally difficult. Being the sentimental person I am, I couldn’t even let go of my baby’s pacifiers. I ended up making a sparkly baby collage and stringing them though a ribbon hung on it (it’s on the wall in his room). But the point is, the science of matter governs how much stuff we can bring into a smaller space and unless we want to live a cluttered life, we will have to get rid of some things.
Of course, downsizing should only be necessary if your stuff/space ratio wasn’t already unbalanced by having less stuff in a larger space to begin with. If that’s the case, then your ratio may naturally correct itself when you relocate into a smaller space! But I advise that you go ahead and start going through things ahead of time. Unless your move is imminent, don’t make a big project out of it – just do a little here and there as you have time. Don’t rush yourself, and be sure you are in a good headspace so you can make decisions with your head and heart in tandem. But by doing at least something, you make your life easier in the future. Focusing on doing the little things also make it easier to do more thanks to the momentum you’ve built with your present actions.
The Stuff/Space Ratio: It’s All About Balance
As with most things in life, the stuff/space ratio is all about having a harmoniously-balanced proportion of things within the space where you reside. If you can master this feat, you’re ahead of most people in our modern consumer society. And please remember that the benefit here isn’t only about having a more attractive and efficient space. Your environment affects your mental health. You see, the better the internal condition of your home, the better off you are – as well as your family or others who live with you. When you improve your environment, you’re affecting your mental and emotional health in unseen positive ways. This has been extensively documented and is becoming increasingly researched. Look more into this information yourself to learn more and find inspiration to tackle your own stuff/space ratio. I hope this discussion is the spark of motivation you need to get started in your home!