Finder leaves me with an empty column... Ideas?

So when I am in my finder window, clicking between the shortcuts on the side bar, the window goes from two icons wide to three- I have found a pattern though-

When going from a directory that has more than three icons to a directory that also has more than three icons, it changes to the two wide view. But if I go from a directory that has more than three icons to one that has less than three, it changes back to three icons wide. (if that all makes any sense)

I posted pictures so you can see what I'm talking about. The size of the window doesn't change, and neither do the size of the icons, so I know that it could still fit three wide, it's just f'ing stupid and won't! It is really starting to bother me...

Resize the window so it is wider and see if that does anything.

Well I tried that before and it didn't really do anything, but it seems to work now. It quit changing all the time. Good call!