Establishing a minimalist look in your house can be difficult, especially if you don’t know where to begin. But it becomes easier if you take it one room at a time, changing what you can. The first step to a minimalist house is eliminating anything that isn’t needed and storing away what you do need. Cluttered, messy rooms will never look minimalist. Next, take a look at your furniture and rooms themselves to see what needs to be changed, painted, or replaced. A minimalist look can take a little time to establish, but these tips can help you break down each room into parts.
It can take a lot of work to achieve the minimalist look you desire, but the style of home is very popular. Once you have finished your renovation and decoration, you may find that the value of your now very attractive house has gone up considerably. When you are ready to move on, you will be able to sell your house fast with this Little Rock based company.
Natural Light
Large open windows and a lot of natural light are key to the minimalist look. By incorporating the windows as decorations and inviting the outdoors in, you open up the space and add color and texture without adding color. Window treatments are usually minimal or eliminated altogether, in cases where the window units are new, clean, and attractive. If you need shade or privacy, window treatments can be neutral and simple with clean lines. Simple fabric shades that can be pulled back to expose the window are one option. Straight-line, neutral fabric drapes that can be opened or shut are another good choice.
Neutral Wall Color
Use a neutral color for the walls in your home to open the space and make it feel airy and light. Neutral colors also look simple and clutter-free, exactly what you want in a minimalist home. White is probably the most popular minimalist color, but other pale neutrals, such as gray, greige, and beige are also used. Some homes successfully feature dark neutrals in areas, such as dark gray or black. This is usually done as an accent and not as the wall color for an entire room.
Simple Lines
Simple lines are the hallmark of the minimalist home. Wherever possible, use simple lines in your home to open up the space. This can be done by using simple trim and baseboards without any details, eliminating elegant or fancy furniture, and simplifying window treatments. In the kitchen, simple lines can be applied to cabinetry and hardware, eliminating any carved or detailed cupboard fronts and simplifying the knobs and pulls.
Use Practical Decorations
Decorations can be practical when possible. Attractive items with simple lines can be stored in visible places, such as shelves and coffee tables, to double as decorations. In the kitchen, simple wooden bowls can be used as decorations on shelves and to mix cookies in. In the dining room, your fruit bowl can contain snacks for your children as well as decorate the table.
Even when your decorations aren’t practical, they can look practical, supporting the minimalist feel. Even if you prefer to use plastic bowls to mix your cookies, you can still use attractive wooden ones to decorate your kitchen rather than kitschy figurines.
Add Warmth With Texture
The minimalist look can begin to feel cold and sterile if taken to extremes. Add warmth to your rooms with texture. Fur throws or pillows can add interesting texture to your living room. Textured rugs can bring both physical and visual warmth to areas with hard floors. Twine, metal, weathered wood, and woven fabrics are all great ways to add texture and warmth without cluttering the home.
Greenery
Greenery is a great way to add color and warmth to any room, even those in minimalist homes. The addition of a natural element and color can brighten a cold, sterile room, and green looks good in almost any minimalist color scheme. As an added bonus, the addition of plants in your home can make you feel better. Greenery can be used as decorations in most rooms. A row of succulents can be used to dress up a window sill, while a tall plant such as a palm tree can fill a lonely corner without adding clutter.
Simple Flooring
Flooring is a big part of any home decoration scheme. The flooring, while often unnoticed, is one of the largest surfaces in the room and sets the stage for the rest of the style. A minimalist look requires simple, neutral flooring. This will often be a light-colored wood or wood-look flooring with little or no visible grain. In areas where more warmth is desired, consider a low-woven carpet or rug in a neutral color, such as Berber or natural fiber.
Go Hardware-Free
A hardware-free look can increase the minimalist look in kitchens and bathrooms. While not all cabinet doors support this style, many do. The streamlined cabinet fronts that result from not having any hardware can take your kitchen from boring to modern with little work. The minimalist modern cabinet style also minimizes visual clutter by having the cabinet fronts shut closely, leaving no gap between the doors, and by having smooth fronts with no decorations or panels.
Conclusion
For most people, minimalism is a lifestyle as well as a home decoration style, and unless you can achieve that lifestyle you will have a hard time achieving and maintaining a minimalist look. A minimalist lifestyle is a work in progress and no one arrives overnight, but the result is a clutter-free home that is free of unnecessary things. While you are working to decorate in the minimalist style, you should also be working to minimize the clutter in your home, life, and mind.
