One Big Room – Just the Way Life Should Be

This evening, on my walk home from my old house (~ the one where my separated-wife and our children still live) my thoughts drifted to the spaces that divide all of us.

Walls and barricades, both physical and emotional, shape our conversations, our silences, even our memories. Somewhere between the streetlights and the cool night air, I realised how much my new home reflects that difference. My perception of this has created the reality I now live within.

My new unit doesn’t bother with unnecessary walls.

It isn’t big or fancy, but it feels right and is perfect for me as a single man. The living areas all flow naturally into one another. It’s as if the house decided long ago that separation was over-rated.

• The kitchen sits on its own little lino island, sure, but there’s no wall boxing it in.
• My kitchen preparation bench doubles as the dining table, bridging two worlds with a single slab of timber. One chair rests on lino, the other on carpet – a simple partnership that works. It’s not design perfection, but it’s honest, acting as a discussion table between the two areas.
• From there, what would have been a dining space has now become my laundry-hanging zone. My work towels hang to dry after a long day cleaning windows. Beyond that, the carpet runs uninterrupted into the lounge, where I unwind, read, unwind or catch up on daily social media.9
• The space near the sliding doors – the so-called foyer – has been repurposed into a tidy work storage nook. A large sheet of black corflute divides the space just enough to hide my cleaning gear, but not enough to break the flow. It’s an unspoken agreement between order and chaos – both get a fair share of the room. (Soon, I’ll replace it with a short standalone wall – only as long as the lounge’s short end – neat, functional, and still renter-friendly.)
• The bedrooms and bathroom are separate, and that’s fine. Privacy has its place. But the rest of the house? It’s one big room, one connected rhythm. There’s freedom in that – no walls to muffle sound or thought, just open space where life moves without barriers.
• That said, the two rooms with doors are my bedroom and office. I rarely close the doors – that way I stay connected with the rest of my space. I can see the rest of my unit from my office. I awaken each morning seeing the world beyond my doors, therefore not feeling constricted by the very small room!
• The bathroom has all the components one person needs: A shower, a toilet, space for a washing machine, plus a hand-basin – all at efficient distances from each other, with a surprising amount of remaining-floor space, allowing easy movement. The tiles might be disgusting, yet function trumps form every time!

Maybe that’s the lesson in all this.

We spend so much of our lives building invisible walls between ourselves, when what we really need is space that breathes together. Why separate things that don’t need to be separated? Perhaps the best kind of living happens when everything, and everyone, simply coexists in the same space, without fear of being judged for being for who we always have been and will continue to be?