What Is This Room For?

You probably have a room like this.

Maybe it is the dining room nobody has really eaten in since the kids left.

The table is still there. So are the chairs. But now the room holds the things that need somewhere else to land. A box to go through. Papers that came in from the car. Something you're planning to give your daughter the next time she visits.

Maybe it is the guest room.

Except nobody has slept there in a very long time.

There are boxes along one wall that hold paperwork that needs filing or shredding. A few things you weren't sure where else to put. Clothes hanging in the closet that belong to your son, who moved out years ago.

This room has become the place where things land when nobody has quite decided what to do with them.

Then there is the office closet that became another office during COVID.

Before that, it was a catch-all closet.

That has become a mishmash of nostalgia and knickknacks, and you're not really sure what to do in there.

So you close the door.

Nothing is particularly wrong with any of these rooms.

But in all of them, something hasn't been decided yet.

The decision is sitting underneath the stuff

It would be easy to look at that guest room and think:

I really need to get organized.

Or walk past the dining room and think:

I should deal with this.

Maybe you've been saying that for months.

Maybe years.

This isn't necessarily a housekeeping failure.

And I don't think it means you lack discipline.

Sometimes a room fills up because there is a decision underneath all those smaller decisions that nobody has made yet:

What is this room for now?

That's a different question from:

What should I keep?

What should I get rid of?

Where should these boxes go?

Those questions are about things.

This question is about you.

And that can be much harder.

Because the room may belong to an earlier version of your life

Your daughter's bedroom was her room for twenty years.

Of course it still feels like her room when you stand in the doorway.

The dining room held birthdays and Thanksgiving dinners and weeknight meals when everybody was still living under one roof.

Of course changing it can feel like changing something connected to a memory—something much bigger than furniture.

Our homes hold evidence of the lives we've lived.

The people we've loved.

The roles we've held.

The routines that once shaped our days.

And sometimes a room stays exactly as it was because we haven't quite figured out what comes next.

Not because we are incapable of clearing it.

Because deciding what comes next is asking us to look forward.

What do I want now?

That can be an unfamiliar question, especially if you've spent much of your life thinking about what everybody else once needed from your home.

What did the children need?

Where would guests sleep?

Where would everyone gather?

Where would the extra things go?

And now life has changed.

Maybe the people who once needed those rooms don't need them in the same way anymore.

But you are still here.

And your home gets to support the life you are living now, too.

Don't sort yet

This may sound strange coming from a decluttering coach, but I don't want you to start with the boxes, the papers and such.

Not yet.

Stand in the doorway first.

Look at the room without immediately making a list of everything that needs to leave.

Close your eyes if you want and imagine this space beyond the stuff.

And ask:

What could be possible in this room now?

You don't have to know immediately.

In fact, you may not know yet.

And that may be the most honest answer.

So give yourself some room to explore here.

What would you like to happen in this room?

How would you like the room to feel?

Calm. Functional. Current.

And how would you like to feel when you walk past the doorway?

Relieved. At ease. Accomplished.

What is missing from your life that this space might make room for?

Maybe you still want a guest room.

Maybe you want a place to paint.

Maybe you want a beautiful chair, a lamp and somewhere to read in the afternoon.

Maybe you want a room where your grandchildren can sleep when they visit.

Maybe you don't need another room with a name at all.

You are allowed to imagine before you organize.

Because once you begin to see what you're moving toward, some of those decisions about what still belongs there can begin to answer themselves.

The box is no longer just a box you should deal with.

With new insight, you can ask whether it belongs in the room—and the life—you are creating.

The question is part of the work

If you've been walking past one room in your home thinking you should have dealt with it by now, I hope you'll give yourself a little grace.

There may be more sitting in that room than stuff.

There may be an old dream or a new passion you want to explore.

Take your time. There is no rush to have the answer.

You don't even need to have one before you ask for help.

Having a question—or even a little curiosity—is enough.

In fact, helping women discover what they want their home—and this next season of their life—to make room for is a big part of the work I do.

If you have a room you keep walking past, we can start there.

Not with what needs to go.

With what you might be ready to make room for.

You can schedule a free conversation with me whenever you're ready. The link is right here.

You don't need to know the answer before we talk.

We can find it together.

I would like to invite you to a free call.

If you would like someone in your corner, I invite you to a free call. Just a real conversation.

Schedule your discovery call here.

And if you're not quite ready for that, the quiz below is a gentle place to begin.

I welcome you to move at your own pace.

I'll be here when you're ready.

A FREE GIFT FOR YOU

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