Are you looking at your home, or even a room in your home right now, and wondering what else you could do with it? Maybe you need a style shake-up. If that’s the case, have you ever considered the minimalist style?
This style isn’t for everyone. People who get a headache from blank space or cannot ever throw anything away need not apply. The point of minimalism is high contrast, bold colors, few patterns, and very little dressing.
So, who would like minimalism? Well, anyone who likes to incorporate the terms “sophisticated”, “classic” or “timeless” into their style. It’s also good for people with a small space to decorate as the lack of frills will make an area appear more open and bigger.
But there is a way to do it right. Take a look at our tips to make sure you’ve nailed minimalism and not just placed a bare mattress in a white room and called it a day.
Declutter, Declutter, Declutter!
The first step to minimalism is choosing what you want to display, which means starting with a blank canvas. Most people are attracted to the idea of minimalism as it means severe decluttering. This can be useful if you’re someone who needs a clear space for a clear mind.
So, all those knick knacks that are lining your shelves? They need to go. Your books and DVDs, vinyls, etc. things that have a practical use as well as a decorative use, could perhaps go into another room rather than your living room. If you have a spare room, you can turn that into a little library of all the things that make you, you.
If you haven’t got a spare room, you can look into a storage unit. Stick any superfluous items in a unit where they will be safe from harm, and you can swap them out whenever you feel like it. You can find self storage in Liverpool or any city near you.
Think More About Your Furniture
If you can’t bear to separate with your practical things, consider your furniture. Swap out your display cabinets for furniture with covered doors. Clutter hiding in plain sight, your items will be hiding in your home, ready for use but behind a door so that you’re not ruining your aesthetic. Additionally to this, you could purchase a slab of ash wood from the company Alderferlumber (or one similar in your local area) and make a DIY coffee table for your living room to add a unique and aesthetically pleasing feature to your home, that without a doubt will impressed your guests.
Bolder Is Better
The idea of minimalism is to be bold and simple. This means walls with no pattern, high contrast between furniture and surroundings, no long tablecloth, just the table, etc.
Don’t be fooled by the pictures you’ve seen of entirely white rooms. You are supposed to inject color, but it’s to be done simply, like one richly colored accent wall, or letting the wood beams, furniture and door and window frames do the work. Not everything is supposed to be white, or your home would look no different to any other rented flat.
Warm It Up With Nature
The biggest complaint about the minimalist look is that it is cold. Too much white and black contrast has made for a chill atmosphere. If you want to avoid that, you can take a tip from Japandi and Asian minimalism.
There is a lot of nature incorporated into Asian interior design, which is where you can warm things up. Swap out black for deep, rich, browns, swap out your stark white for beige walls. As long as you are contrasting one with the other, you’ll get the effect. Incorporate forest greens and burnt oranges.
And then there is the other element(s): incorporate nature into every item you show off. Your decorative items should be sparse, bold, and high contrast but also introduce one of nature’s elements to the room. So, candlesticks are a good idea, plants, water features, art centred around nature, etc.
