My baby girl is turning 21 this week; I can’t believe that the little girl who used to let me put her in pigtails is a grown woman!

It is a sad turn of events when you sit down and help the wee one with the papers for a new car when you used to sit side by side pondering a new colouring book. Pride and sadness mix together as you watch them leave the nest and start out on their new life while leaving a huge space in yours.

I often wonder if people feel the same way about their possessions.

So often I visit with clients who are holding on tightly to their old couch or to a really awful chair that they bought at their relatives’ garage sale in 1983.

Of course I need to tread carefully and ask them the significance of the item to determine how much it will factor into the decorating scheme but it makes me wonder when they respond that they hate the furniture and will get rid of it someday. Why someday?

Why not move it out and get ready for the new space in the room? I think people may be afraid of space – me included.

The Christmas tree came down this weekend and I have to say I was very excited to put the holidays away in their bins and to be able to see my new home without all the decorations hanging about.

Nothing had changed with Christmas except for placement of a few items but for the fourth time in as many years I was in a new home so when the tree came down I was left with an unfamiliar space. For the past few days I have been looking at this hole in my living room and have been quite anxious to fill it up.

Do I purchase a dining room table or create a separate sitting area in front of the window? Should I put my piano there to look out and watch the scenery as I try to teach this old dog a new musical trick?

Even though my dog loves running around and playing in the partially empty room, there will come a day when I figure out what that space should be used for. Luckily I haven’t been in the house long enough to have gotten visually accustomed to the space so it is easy to visualize what the possibilities will be.

When you have been in a house for years and have looked at a space over and over again you may not be able to see the space in a new way so the idea of creating space is a great one.

Move out those pieces you don’t love and don’t be afraid to live with blank space in your home until you figure out what would absolutely thrill your decorating dreams.

Sometimes a little space isn’t a bad thing, whether it is repurposing a new space or just giving new life to an existing space – you might just need a little space.

Empty the room and just allow it to be vacant for a time as you dream of the new possibilities. The blank walls may inspire you to move ahead to a new project even if you are re-decorating your little one’s room as they move on to their new adult life.

Kim Meckler is an interior designer with Carpet Colour Centre in Red Deer.