Three Chairs in My House

“I had three chairs in my house; one for solitude, two for friendship, three for society.”

Henry David Thoreau, Walden

Thoreau wrote that line in the “Visitors” chapter of Walden, about the cabin he built by Walden Pond in 1845. The whole house was ten feet wide by fifteen feet long. Not a lot of room for a sectional.

What I like about it is that it isn’t really about chairs. It’s a quiet little budget. He decided how much company his house was built for, and then he let the house hold exactly that. One chair for the days you need to think. Two for the friend who drops by. Three for the rare small crowd. When more people showed up, he wrote, they mostly just stood, or the visit moved outside to the pine woods behind the house, which he called his best room.

Most of us furnish for the party we throw twice a year. The guest room that stays empty, the dining table that seats ten, the second couch nobody sits on. Those things cost money, floor space, and cleaning time on all the other days. Thoreau flipped it. He furnished for normal life and let the big days be a little improvised.

That’s a big part of the appeal of a tiny house or a small apartment, too. A small space makes you decide what your home is actually for. And a lot of the best visits happen with two people, two chairs, and a pot of coffee anyway.

How to live it this week

Count the seats. Walk through your place and count every chair, stool, bench, and couch spot meant for sitting. Then ask how many people really sit in your home on a regular Tuesday night.

Free up one spot. If the gap is big, pick one piece that only exists for the “someday” crowd and move it out. Sell it, give it to someone who needs it, or stash it for a month and see if you miss it. Use the space you get back for something you do every day, like a reading corner by the window.

Sit in the first chair. If there’s one seat in your home that’s truly yours, sit in it for ten minutes this week with no phone. That’s the solitude chair. Thoreau listed it first for a reason.

Want more lines like this? Browse our full list of simple living quotes, or these tiny house quotes for people who want a smaller life.