Making Space, Inside and Out: Our Great Life Decluttering

Starting a construction project requires careful planning. For us, this means designing our house plan, preparing the site, putting our current home up for sale, and helping our young adult children create their own nests. This process also involves letting go of many belongings we've accumulated over time. And the more we purge, the more we reflect on our lifestyle and consumption habits. This project is pushing us to clear out not only our physical space, but also our inner world. This post shares our reflections and our plan to live differently.

From 2,400 to 1,200 Square Feet

We’re often asked how we’ll make room for four adults, three cats, one dog, and all our belongings in 1,200–1,300 square feet. From a distance, it seems doable. But when we consider two floors, a basement, a garage, and a shed, each filled to the brim, panic sometimes creeps in. It’s amazing how much we accumulate over the years, and the more we look at these items, the less we understand the attachment we had to them. So how are we going to make it work? By following three main steps:

1. Declutter

2. Help our children relocate

3. Optimize the living space in our new home

   
   

Decluttering

The process began months ago. We’ve been tackling the house room by room, sorting through what we no longer need. Whenever possible, we avoid throwing things away and choose reuse: giving to family, friends, or organizations like the Canadian Diabetes Foundation, which has already picked up donations twice. We’re digitizing old boxes of documents and may hold a yard sale before putting the house on the market. As the saying goes, one person’s trash is another’s treasure. We’re also reaching out to local organizations that can benefit from these items or help people in need.

Our rhythm depends on what’s happening in our lives—some days are productive, others more restful. We’ve learned to listen to ourselves and respect our pace, allowing pauses when needed.

Helping Our Children Relocate

A plan is slowly forming for our children’s housing and the furniture and belongings they’ll take with them. This adds clarity to our sorting process. In fact, the questionnaire from Plans É-Pur asked us to list the furniture we intended to bring into the new house. That sparked reflection: we realized we’d prefer to start almost from scratch. We’re inspired to follow, as much as possible, the example of our friends Jacques and Monique, who reused nearly all the materials and packaging from their earthship-style home.

We also hope to choose smaller, more energy-efficient appliances. The current challenge is coordinating the timing of our children’s departures, the sale of our house, and securing temporary housing during construction. This high-level plan, of course, brings its share of day-to-day challenges.

Optimizing Our Living Space

We’ve asked Alyson, our architectural designer, to optimize both storage and living areas throughout the house. We’ve been inspired by micro-homes, where every square inch is thoughtfully—and sometimes playfully—designed. We want every item we keep to have its place and purpose.

We believe that living in a smaller home doesn’t mean feeling cramped—it means living intentionally. It leads us to rethink every part of the house based on our real needs and daily habits. A well-designed entryway with integrated storage can transform the feeling of a space. A multipurpose room can serve as a home office, a creative nook, or a guest room. Optimization, for us, isn’t about squeezing things in—it’s about assigning purpose, creating flow, and letting the space breathe.

Returning to Our Values, to Simplicity, and to Our Roots

What we seek is a different way of living. For us, that means living in harmony with nature, building a resilient, semi-autonomous home, reconnecting with our roots, and planning for the long term—to pass down a family legacy and help protect the natural world.

We picture ourselves walking in the forest, growing vegetables and herbs in our greenhouse, learning new things (hello Hügelkultur!), cooking, welcoming family and friends, and simply slowing down. This desire to return to the essentials has been building quietly over the last decade and intensified after living through the COVID-19 pandemic.

In short, we’re returning to what truly matters and bringing our values to life in tangible, daily ways. What we’ve learned is that clearing space within ourselves and gaining clarity on what we want and value is just as vital as building the house itself.

A gentle touch, a step toward less.  Making room to breathe — inside and out.