In Praise of Small Homes

Would I like a six bedroom house?

Definitely.

Would I have a stellar good time decorating and rearranging those extra bedrooms?

Absolutely.

Based on what I know thus far in my life and what I suspect will happen in the future, will I be living in a six bedroom house?

Probably not.

For most of my adult life I have been a renter of homes.

(And the lessons I have learned from renting are many.)

Three years ago I was able to purchase my first home.

It was a little middle age miracle and I’m still not tired of the magic of owning my own place.

It’s not perfect – and neither am I.

It’s not what I imagined my home would be like – and that’s okay.

It sure doesn’t have six bedrooms.

In fact, it only has three.

Simple math will tell you that it means every one is sharing a bedroom. I mean, I guess technically I am NOT sharing a bedroom. (Truth is, of course, that I have had an extra kid guest in my room for half a decade, at least.)

Sharing a bedroom can be hard, but I think it teaches a few simple concepts that every one in my home (and in the entire world) needs to learn:

• The world is not about you.
• Think about someone else before yourself.
• If people are already sleep, it’s rude to turn the lights on.
• Pick up your stuff already.

As a homeschooling family, we’ve been home more often than other families, perhaps. And, this year, everybody is home all the time. Some days, six people in a small home feels excessive.

But, I know the truth is, I would pick this life and this home anyway.

Because one great thing about having only a few bedrooms and primarily a house full of open shared living space, is that there’s really no place to hide.

You can’t stomp off to much of anywhere.

Which means, I get to see the faces of my teenagers more often because they’re lounging across the sofas or sitting at the kitchen table. And I’m not complaining about that. (I feel the weight of their imminent departure bearing down on me like a train on its tracks.)

Another benefit of a small home is less to clean. As my dad laughingly reminded me the other day, I’m not an ace housecleaner. (Dad, I promise, it did NOT hurt my feelings!) So a small house just means less floors to mop and shelves to dust (raise your hand if you like dusting!) and less in general to keep tidy.

(I do like living in a clean home – I just don’t love the labor involved to make it so. In fact, I’m so not kidding — if any one of you loves to clean and owns a cleaning business and would like to barter, you should talk to me. I can offer advertising at Travelers Rest Here for routine house cleaning. Can you even IMAGINE how delightful that would be??)

I’m so thankful to love my little house so much. I love deciding changes, rearranging, making fun additions and changing things up. Just tonight I rearranged the kitchen a little – turning a desk I have used for decades for the computer as a little kitchen island. (It was a solid wood desk freebie when a school where I taught was ditching it.)

And – right now there’s a bathroom remodel taking place. Can’t wait to share all that. Like any good remodel, the floors were damaged more than I knew, but it’s all good and I have an amazing team making it all happen. (Hooray for that little government check this spring, right?)

I am always thinking of big future plans – one day putting hard woods throughout the entire house, ripping out some cabinets for open shelving, a hot tub outside, a covered side patio. Not yet, of course, but all in due time. It’s fun to dream.

It sure doesn’t have to be big to be beautiful.

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