6 Ways You Can Complete a Minimalist Look when Decorating

*This is a collaborative post on ways to complete a minimalist look when decorating

70 years after it first started, the minimalist look is still really trendy. But even though its aim is to simplify your décor, it is actually pretty hard to get it right. So here are some tips to remember.

Consider Your Flooring Carefully

You probably think of your walls straight away when decorating your house. But flooring is just as important. It’s one of the first things your eye is drawn to in a room, and it can be imposing if it’s across a large area. For a minimalist look, you want simple, clean lines. So parquet flooring, crazy paving and shag carpets won’t do. Instead, consider tiling. Tiling is clean and effective and provides a calmer tone. Concrete finish porcelain paving is a beautiful example of how a floor should be kept in a minimalist style. And it’s not only for the bathroom or redone patio.

A Minimalist Look Can Have Color

Some people think minimalism includes monotone styling. You can indeed use black and white tones throughout. But most people still use colour as well. It is how you use the colour that makes the difference. You should use a neutral tone and follow through with it for the most part. But it gets boring. You need to break up masses of one colour with staggered bursts of colour. For instance, create focal points with colours that contrast your main. You can do this on a feature wall or by repainting an original feature like a door frame, ceiling beams, or the fireplace.

Accentuate with Contrasting Decorations

You don’t want too many decorations when making a minimalist look, but there’s nothing that says you can’t have them. You just need to think carefully about what you place and where. Consider clean and even spacing with colours and style that accentuate your primary tone. And only consider placing something if it has a use or adds value to the room’s décor. These include shelving, accent artwork, plants, and storage. Try to follow a theme when putting things in your room, and never mix and match for an eclectic style. It just doesn’t go well in minimalism.

BONUS: How to Declutter Properly

When adopting a minimalist style in your home, you need to get rid of stuff that doesn’t work, or you don’t need. This is known as decluttering. Follow these steps to declutter your home:

• Get rid of duplicate items.
• Donate clothes you never wear.
• Remove items that don’t add functional value.
• Don’t keep things that bring you no real joy.
• Empty a room and put things back one by one.

Decluttering is challenging, and it can be an ongoing process. There will be things you are attached to, like family photos. Keep the best and make a memory book with the others.

Make Good Use of Textures to Compensate

Accent tones and colour-blocked walls will get boring if they aren’t accentuated somehow. A great way of keeping to your colour schemes without deviating is by making good use of textures. Different textures will keep the same hues while at the same time breaking up the monotony of a standardized decorative system. Textures will also make any room aesthetically pleasing. You can also use textures in your colour blasts, but you need to be careful. Bright colours with sharp textures will detract from the flow and clean lines you are trying to create.

Help Your Minimalist Look with Clever Storage

Of course, you will always have stuff that gets in the way. The kids’ toys, bills and letters, and mobile phone chargers are great examples. These are things you need but don’t necessarily want to lie around. It’s stuff like this that will ultimately destroy the point you are trying to make with minimalism. Fortunately, you can install clever storage ideas for things when you aren’t using them. For example, get a sofa with a hollow chest underneath for the kids’ toys. Or put up bookshelves and cabinets with closing doors for a cleaner look.

Use Artificial and Natural Light Properly

Daylight sunlight is excellent for accentuating a minimalist style. White will make your room feel much bigger and cleaner if you allow it to come through as much as possible. Use blinds you can pull up all the way to let more of the sunlight in. And if you can, maybe remove walls that block natural light. Artificial light is a bit trickier to get right. It’s tempting to make an ambience with warm and soft lighting, but this can destroy a minimalist look. Instead, try to find a good balance of dimmer white lights in well-placed positions around the room. 

Summary

Quite the opposite of what its name suggests, minimalism is complex to get right. But you can begin by literally using clean lines with tiled floors, using colour sparingly and installing storage.