It can be extremely satisfying to give your home’s décor a shake up, especially when you turn to minimalism for inspiration.
Not only does minimalism look amazing, it’s also great for your health with scientists saying: “Surrounding yourself with natural light can improve your sleep and boost your physical activity while decluttering your space down to the bare essentials can increase productivity and decrease stress levels.”
It’s also a lot easier to keep a clutter-free home clean. You’ll have less stuff to manoeuvre around so it will take you less time and result in a deeper clean.
Here are a few tips to help you achieve the perfect minimalist look for your home.
Clear the decks
First and foremost, you need a lot of clear space to achieve the minimalist look.
Have a clear out of your surfaces, and décor, donating to charity shops where you can. If you want to hold onto things for the future you could always consider self storage – there are plenty of companies across the UK, so you should be able to find somewhere close to you so that your possessions are still accessible.
You may also need to develop a system to deal with paperwork and bills so that they’re organised but out of sight. Minimalism is all about making room for things that matter and clearing the clutter you don’t need.
Let in the light
Maximising the natural light in your home is a key part of modern minimalist design. Light will also transform spaces from feeling small and claustrophobic to breezy and spacious. Shadows and darker colours can make rooms feel cramped.
To minimise shadows, place lighting above your biggest pieces of furniture and consider investing in roof lighting such as skylights to let more light into your home. For your actual light fixtures, the barer the better. Even plain bulbs hanging from light fixtures can be more effective than a complicated shade.
Consider your decorations
A home free of decorations would be boring but you need to find the balance between minimalist decorations and stuff that simply looks too busy (busy house, busy mind). A simple vase of flowers looks great but when you combine this with books, tableware and objets d’art you will start to lose the minimalistic feel.
You may also want to put out family photos so try and colour correspond them and position them in natural frames that suit the wall décor. Try to leave some walls bare and if you’re hanging artwork, make sure you really love it before you mount it, minimalism is about needs not wants.
Keep your comforts
A lot of people are under the impression that minimalism can mean hard, cold, comfortless spaces but that’s not what it’s about at all. By keeping the important objects around the home, you’re making space to relax.
Consider positioning natural coloured sheepskins near your bed and sofas for your feet and simple wool throws on sofas to snuggle up in. To make rooms feel more alive, add some plants to the space. They’re a great health benefit because they purify the air and they look great too.
Go natural
A lot of what makes minimalism so effective is the use of materials. In most minimalistic designs there is little use of complicated textures, designs and prints.
If you have carpets, strip things back to wooden flooring and for warmth in the winter choose natural coloured rugs.
Despite minimalism being a lot about stripping everything back, there is still plenty of room to display your personality. The key is to just keep things classy and subtle and instead of garnishing a room, display individual focal points.