Living with even more furniture
My ideal mode of relating with furniture is living without it. I lived without furniture in Finland, and it felt wonderful. I did it for several reasons. One was ecological. Furniture, like anything else, requires materials and energy to come into being. It's possible to get second-hand furniture too, and perhaps I would choose this option if I didn't have other reasons. So another reason is aesthetic. I love "empty" spaces. Yet another reason was spiritual. I wanted to feel free and move much. I wanted to move my body and be able to move places. When I was leaving Finland, it was so easy to take everything with me in a backpack and a tote bag. I also felt that I didn't need furniture. I enjoyed sleeping on the floor and working from the floor. I didn't need storage because I lived with very few objects.
When I moved to Denmark, I moved in with my fellow human. He wanted to live with furniture. Luckily, we prefer similar styles and both of us practise ecological living and minimalism. We decided to meet in the middle, to welcome the chairs and the lamps he had in his previous apartment and buy a few items from Danish businesses, made from certified wood. We wanted to buy once and keep these objects forever. We welcomed a bed frame, a tøjstativ, a table, and a bench. The table we use for work and when we eat. While I liked how everything looked, I still know that I would have preferred to live without furniture.
When my fellow human's child started to visit us more often, she would sleep with us in our bed. There is not enough space for three persons, so we agreed to get another bed. The bed is not specifically for children but it's very low, and the child likes it a lot.
Because there are not many objects in our space, the space doesn't feel cluttered. But this unfolding of events made me contemplate compromise and how one's sustainability practice changes when relationships and circumstances change.
