Just as designers need whitespace to create a visual flow of a design and an area for the eye to rest, it occurs to me that people need their whitespace too.

I’m on vacation, sitting in a quiet nook around the corner of a beach house on a deck on the ocean and I can think. Not only think, but be creative. Much of life is about doing: going to work, doing your job, driving to and fro, cleaning, watching TV, even playing with the boys (although that part is fun)… but rarely is it just about being. Being allows the mind to open up, be free, and in this case release any writers block and allow me to post. I suppose this is akin to meditation.

So, it makes me think about living spaces… In many ways the ideal home opens up and allows for interaction and closeness of the people living in a house. After all, I live with my wife and kids and want to be near them. Houses are not typically built for much privacy outside the bedroom, and perhaps they don’t need to be, but they do need whitespace.

Just as I am sitting in this quiet nook around the corner, I am still on the connected deck, I am still part of the working flow of the house. The ocean creates a white noise that clears the mind, but not so loud that I couldn’t hear the boys if they needed something. I am not so desolate as to be alone, but I am in my own little whitespace; part of the design, but restful and open.

My house will need nooks.