Your 10-Step Guide to a Minimalist Home Interior
Your 10-Step Guide to a Minimalist Home Interior
Guides
11th October, 2022
Have you ever swooned over photos and videos of minimalist interiors and wanted to achieve something similar in your home, but you weren’t quite sure where to begin? Here are 10 steps to get you started. I should say, I’m not talking about homes for people who subscribe to and practice minimalism, the lifestyle movement of simplifying your life. Still, it probably wouldn’t hurt your interior if you were a minimalist in some regard, rather it’s about the minimalist design of the interior.
1. Take it one room at a time
This little guide isn’t about building a new home or doing a complete renovation to achieve that crispy aesthetic; instead, it’s about working with the bones you currently have. With that in mind, you want to take things slow and maybe focus on one room at a time. Perhaps start with the bedroom, or the living area, and make your way around your home until you’ve simplified everything. You should have a ‘vision’ or goal for the whole house, such as what tones, colours and textures you want to use, to keep a bit of cohesion throughout.
2. Identify the essential
The next step is working out what is essential to each room, which will be highly personable depending on what the function of that room is and what you deem necessary for you, but you need to be highly critical and honest with yourself. For example, some key furniture pieces will be essential for particular rooms, like a bed in a bedroom; believe it or not, but ask yourself if that 12-person dining table set is actually essential, or maybe you can get by with 8. Also, consider things like lighting, floor coverings, storage needed, etc.
3. Consider your Furniture selection
Since I touched on it just before, let’s talk furniture. The furniture you bring into your home should reflect your values and what you deem important. You should also consider the size and layout of the room and determine how many furniture pieces are needed in said room. Minimalist interiors favour light and airy furniture with simple forms and clean lines. Oh, and by airy, I mean pieces that aren’t heavy in appearance, not inflatable furniture. I personally tend to favour lighter and earthy tones, but it comes down to your taste and the look you’re after.
4. Think about Room colours
Once you’ve worked out the furniture direction, the next step is to consider colour. While typically minimalist interiors are seen as stark white rooms, that isn’t necessarily a rule. I would stick to subdued earthy colours and avoid the vibrant reds, yellows, blues and greens. Hot pink is acceptable, though. Minimalism is about intentionality, and when it comes to design, the function is critical, so I personally don’t see much benefit or use in a ‘feature wall’; to me, that adds visual clutter to the room.
5. Clear your surfaces
What’s currently hanging on your wall, sitting on your floor, and placed upon your shelf or the kitchen benchtop? Remove it all, put it in a corner somewhere, but take everything off your surfaces. You’d be surprised how much ‘clutter’ can exist, so it’s best to start from scratch. Now before you quit the video in a fit of rage and claim that all minimalist interiors are devoid of personality, let’s discuss that in the next step.
6. Put things back, but be intentional
Now it’s time to put things back but be far more intentional. Consider one or two statement art pieces on the walls, some beautiful books and plants on the shelves, with perhaps two or three of your most treasured souvenirs from your travels. Focus on the items you love; try not to put everything back, as minimalist interiors is about reducing the visual clutter to allow our eyes and brains to rest.
7. Time to Declutter
As I alluded to at the beginning, you don’t need to be a minimalist who only owns 50 things and sits on the floor because a couch is too cluttered. However, a minimalist interior can be a rather calming environment, free from visual distractions; however, can you truly relax knowing that your cupboards are full of stuff you haven’t looked at in years, just weighing you down? It wouldn’t hurt to do some decluttering, and one way I do it is through two simple questions, does that item have a practical or valuable purpose in my life? Do I genuinely love it? If the answer is no to both, I look to remove it. I’ll link some great decluttering videos in the description. We recently decluttered the home office/second room in our apartment and felt lighter walking in after the clutter was removed.
8. Organise Your Storage
What do you do about the cleaning products, TV remotes, essential documents, books you can’t throw away and hay for your bunnies? You will need storage of some sort. Bookcases and open shelving should only be reserved for display, so avoid stacking your work binders on the shelf. Instead, opt for cupboards, sideboards, or any storage with doors, to hide everything away. Luckily you’ve decluttered, so hopefully, these cupboards aren’t causing you stress. One tip is to have a place for everything; where does your toaster go? Where are your spare lightbulbs? Where do you keep your batteries?
9. Time to decorate
Mies van der Rohe won’t be pleased with this step, as usually decorative elements are forbidden in minimalist design, as the design should be the beauty. However, our homes should reflect who we are, our loves, and our interests, and a way to communicate this is through the decor. Look at rugs, cushions, sculptures, vases, pot plants, etc that really speak to you; don’t go overboard though; remember, less is more.
10. Enjoy your space, but be prepared
The last step is to enjoy the space you created for yourself and take those Pinterest-worthy photos to show off. However, be prepared to accept the fact that your room, home or apartment won’t look like that 24/7, but don’t get disheartened, nor do any of the homes you see on Pinterest, Instagram or even my YouTube channel. Hopefully, through the previous steps, your home won’t be as painful or difficult to clean, so it should be easier to return the room to a state of Instagram-ready.
It’s worth remembering that your vision of a minimalist interior might be different from Pinterest, Instagram, or even mine, and that’s perfectly okay. It should be reflective of you, such as if you have kids and your mum living with you, your needs for the interior will differ from that of a single university student living in a share house. But, hopefully, these 10 steps will help you curate and create a more calming and relaxing interior that inspires you to live your life more intentionally and simple.
Videography and words by Anthony Richardson.
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