Home Décor Strategies For Minimalists

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2 For Minimalists A Minimalist Home Guide: 3 Ways To Achieve a Minimalist Aesthetic With Your Home Décor. Minimalist homes are simple, free of clutter and easy on the eyes - spaces where you can rest and reflect. Whether you're looking for quick minimalist home decor strategies or you're renting an apartment and can't actually make any home improvements, the ideas in this guide are just what you need to give a little minimalist boost to your home décor. These strategies focus on the basics: your own personal possessions. By starting small in updating, organizing, and minimizing your possessions you re taking the first step in creating a minimalist lifestyle. Mastering these strategies (and enjoying the effects of them) will go a long way in boosting your confidence and shifting your mindset. Taking bold action NOW leads to bigger and bolder actions and habits that can have lasting impacts in reducing stress, increasing energy, saving money, and having more time to do the things you love all benefits of a minimalist lifestyle. Begin creating your own minimalist home today with these easy, low-commitment strategies!

3 A Word to Minimalist Renters: Home Décor Strategies Renting an apartment can lend itself nicely to a minimalist lifestyle. Here s how: Apartments are usually smaller than traditional homes. Renters tend to have less stuff (ease of movement) and smaller more versatile furniture pieces. Renters usually have lower housing costs compared to all the expenses of home ownership. These characteristics make minimalists well suited for renting. The major downside to renting for minimalists is the lack of control of the actual architecture and interior design of the rental space. Modifications are usually not allowed aside from some home decor elements, which may or may not even include painting. So how can you create a minimalist home if you're renting and can't change the architecture or interior design? The most important decision to make from the get-go is to select a rental that already lends itself to a minimalist aesthetic. Look for apartments that are full of natural daylight, have light colored walls, and simple trim details if you can. This will go a long way in helping to achieve a minimalist space. Beyond that, you're ability to create a minimalist oasis lies in what you can do with your own personal possessions. These strategies will help you in those endeavors. pg 2

4 A Note Before You Begin: Turning your current house into a minimalist home takes some time. Because it can be a long drawn out process, it shouldn't be done all at once. Small progress scattered through multiple rooms doesn't feel very productive and may lead to discouragement and giving up before finishing. Instead, start with one room. Go through these steps and then move on to the next room. You'll find that once you finish one room, you'll feel more inspired and motivated to continue with the rest of the rooms and the exterior. 1. Simplify your furniture & its layout in your spaces. Because your furniture pieces are the largest things in the room, start with them. Furniture Layout: o Figure out the best layout for the room. o Space out your furniture so that there is breathing room between each piece. o Consider the function of the room and what activities will occur in that space. o Consider flow through the space and access to each piece of furniture. Furniture Pieces: o Review your furniture needs and determine if you can eliminate any pieces without sacrificing the functional use of the space. o Keep only the furniture you need. o Consider if there are pieces that can serve more than one purpose. o Do certain pieces of furniture feel too large in the space? If so, consider replacing them to complement the size of the room. Furniture Style: o Stick to simple furniture pieces with basic solid colors. o Simply your color scheme. Modern furniture tends to have clean simple lines and complements the aesthetic of minimalist design. Bonus Tip: If you feel like you want to replace ugly, old, or dated furniture but can't afford to do all at once, make a list of what you want to replace and slowly replace items as your budget allows. Notes: pg 3

5 2. De-clutter, Stow, & Show. After you review your furniture, next move onto your possessions. Creating a minimalist home requires a diligent and thoughtful approach to buying, keeping, and storing the things that your belongings. If you move around a lot, you probably have less stuff than homeowners. So the act of de-cluttering, purging, and tossing things you don't need or use may actually be second nature to you. If not, work on it. Here's how to start: Notes: De-clutter: o Go through your personal belongings and evaluate whether you need them or not. o Donate, sell, or throw away items you don't need. o Because you will be storing a lot of stuff out of sight, ask yourself if the item is essential or meaningful to you. If it's not, get rid of it to save on storage space. Organize & Stow: o Stow most of your stuff out of sight in drawers, cabinets, or closets. o In a minimalist space, everything has a home. All objects have their place stowed away somewhere hidden from sight. o If you have built-in storage cabinets or closets, use them. Closed storage areas are great places to hide what you don't want to see. If you don't have enough hidden storage space for your things, try to de-clutter again or find other storage solutions. o Keep surfaces and floors clear and clean. While open shelves are nice, if they're cluttered and disorganized it defeat the purpose of a calm minimalist space. Try to stow away nonessential or unimportant items that typically get thrown on the table, counters or open shelves. o Keep the floors clear of clutter and unnecessary objects. Show off a few of your favorite things: o Now that the vast majority of your possessions are tucked away, select a few pieces you're especially fond of and put them on display. Setting out a small selection of meaningful items will make your spaces feel curated, homey, and more personal. o Rotate accessories occasionally or by season. o Consider replacing traditional or outdated objects with ones that are clean and modern. o Keep your walls clear of everything except a few pieces of artwork, framed photos, or shelves. Don't be afraid to leave some walls bare. pg 4

6 3. Simplify your home accessories. Accessories really bring the home design together. This is especially true for minimalist design. Review your fabrics: o If you have dated, old, or ugly rugs, pillows, bedding covers, or towels, consider updating them to a clean, simple design or color. o Replace decorative curtains with simpler ones or simple shears. If you have fancy decorative blinds consider replacing them with modern roller shades. Review your lighting and large accessories: o Lighting: Consider swapping out light fixtures for clean, modern, and minimalist designs. Renter Tip: You won t have control of the main light fixtures of your space, but you do have control over your own floor lamps, bedside lights, and desk lamps. o Larger accessories: Review your wall mirrors, free-standing mirrors, wastebaskets, hampers, racks, clocks, plant stands, and other larger items. Ensure you have clean, modern designs in a style/color that matches the rest of your space. Accent colors: o Remember that while monochromatic or neutral color schemes are nice, there's something to be said about small splashes of color and accents in a room. Don't be afraid to add some pizazz to the space. Don't go overboard, but one or two items in a room with more personality are great feature pieces. Bonus Tip: Remember to keep the color scheme of your spaces simple. While you can't change the color of the walls, you can coordinate the color scheme of your furniture, your fabrics, and your accessories to complement each other, which will have a big impact on the overall, clean, simple, calm look you're trying to achieve. Notes: So there you have it! Ready to transform your home décor? Send us your before and after minimalist photos! We d love to see them! pg 5