Dare to Different-Size

 

            When we told my mom we were planning to move, she wanted to hear all about the new place. We described it to her, and at the end of the story, she said, “It sounds to me like you’re going to have to downsize quite a bit.”

            If you know me, you know that downsizing doesn’t scare me, but the new place isn’t smaller than where we are now. (Or at least that’s what the paperwork says.) It is, however, quite different in its layout and use of space. It does sound smaller when you hear about it. And so I told her that we weren’t downsizing…but we were different-sizing.

            It isn’t a word, I know, but it fits here.

            We aren’t going into a smaller space, but we are going to have to be creative and particular about how we use what we have. Some things may not fit in the new layout. Some things may fit even better. I am confident that all things will be evaluated before we carry them inside, and only the things that truly fit our life in this house will be given a permanent place.

            You don’t have to move to different-size your home. I’ve often redecorated and reorganized merely by moving something from one room to another to see how it might look if it lived there instead. Finding a new home for something in your own home without spending a penny is one of the most satisfying things, I think.

            I’m looking forward to seeing how the layouts look in the reality of the spaces in comparison to how they’ve looked in my mind for the last several weeks. If history repeats itself, I imagine some of the spaces will look identical to my vision and others will prove to me that I am not a professional decorator for a reason – and I’ll go back to the designing board to different-size it again.

            If the cold winter days have you longing for change, newness, and warmth, try different-sizing something in your home. Swap something from one room to another. Bring new life to a new year without spending anything other than a little time on some creativity.