This weekend I tackled a larger-than-usual minimalist project – the pursuit of floor space. This required jettisoning two pieces of furniture, which was scary, but completely awesome! The catalyst for the project? This chair:

This chair is actually a very nice chair, purchased under the heady influence of pregnancy hormones. I was told by several people that it would be best to sleep in the nursery with my babies (wrong!), so this chair extends into a single bed. I was also told that breastfeeding triplets was a plausible idea (wrong again!) so this chair is wide enough to accommodate a woman breastfeeding an infant army. This chair has sat relatively unused in the nursery since the day of purchase. But it now resides happily in my living room, where it is used daily.

I couldn’t stop there. My roving minimalist eyes spied a heavy corner cupboard that is used mainly as a pedestal for my mail sorter. Inside I stored nothing more than coupons, stamps, and some envelopes.

I relocated the coupons to another drawer in the house and replaced the heavy cupboard with a minimal, airy plant stand that had been sitting unused in the basement.

I also used the new-found space in the nursery to relocate a changing table that had become a living room toy shelf/diaper depot. In essence, a portion of my living room went from looking like this:

To this:

Hallelujah, floor space! It makes my feet want to do a little happy dance (which they do, every time they tread on this glorious patch of uncluttered carpeting.)

As a bonus, I donated the chair and cupboard to a friend of mine who is holding a garage sale to raise money for a year-long missions trip to Africa. My trash, her treasure. She was so grateful to receive the furniture and I was so grateful to be rid of it. Win-win!

Is there impractical furniture in your house that could find a better home? Do you have an ugly chair, bumpy couch, or heavy cupboard that is simply not used? Could you cleanse your home of some unloved furniture and welcome some open, beautiful space? Think about it…