diff --git a/text_formatter.go b/text_formatter.go
index cf3f17f..ec8d473 100644
--- a/text_formatter.go
+++ b/text_formatter.go
@@ -154,11 +154,12 @@ func (f *TextFormatter) needsQuoting(text string) bool {
 }
 
 func (f *TextFormatter) appendKeyValue(b *bytes.Buffer, key string, value interface{}) {
-
+	if b.String() != "" {
+		b.WriteByte(' ')
+	}
 	b.WriteString(key)
 	b.WriteByte('=')
 	f.appendValue(b, value)
-	b.WriteByte(' ')
 }
 
 func (f *TextFormatter) appendValue(b *bytes.Buffer, value interface{}) {
diff --git a/text_formatter_test.go b/text_formatter_test.go
index 7f7b78c..d93b931 100644
--- a/text_formatter_test.go
+++ b/text_formatter_test.go
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ func TestFormatting(t *testing.T) {
 		value    string
 		expected string
 	}{
-		{`foo`, "time=\"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z\" level=panic test=foo \n"},
+		{`foo`, "time=\"0001-01-01T00:00:00Z\" level=panic test=foo\n"},
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {