Minimalist Home Interior: Designing a Space that Promotes Living with Less

Now that it’s summer, you may have forgotten about your New Year’s resolutions to keep your home organized and embrace a more minimalist home interior. As you take a look around your home, you may even start to notice miscellaneous papers strewn across the counters, or knick-knacks you can’t remember buying cluttering up your shelves. With a new season about to begin, there’s no better time than now to clear the clutter and start fresh. 

You can create a minimalist home interior by making simple changes to your living space or opting for an interior design renovation. Whether you’re living in a condo in Vancouver, CA, or a two-story home in Dallas, TX, you can make your home stylish yet subtle. These 9 tips will help you begin designing a more minimalist home interior, helping you learn how to live better with less. 

1) Keep clutter to a minimum

One of the main reasons you might be looking for minimalist home décor is due to the clutter your home has accumulated over the years. If you’re looking for a way to begin – start small. That may be spending five minutes a day decluttering your space, organizing room-by-room, or simply clearing off any surface clutter. No matter how you begin organizing your home, you have options to make decluttering doable.

2) Make sure you have enough storage

An easy way to keep the clutter at bay is having enough storage to stow away your things properly. Lack of storage space can prevent you from achieving your goal of a minimalist home and lifestyle. However, that doesn’t mean you should start buying more things than you need. Having optimal storage will allow you to store what you need in its proper place without clutter overflowing into your living spaces. Consider streamlined built-in storage cabinets to keep your items organized and stylishly out of sight. 

3) Choose light colors to brighten up your space

The first step in creating a minimalist home interior is to choose light colors as your base. Think whites, beiges, light grays, or any neutral color variation that you like best. But don’t be afraid to add some splashes of black to your space. Having these contrasting colors will help create dimension in your living area. Whether it’s a black throw blanket over an off-white couch or dark grey pillows on an ecru bedspread, you can keep your color palette bright while also incorporating darker shades. 

4) Use pops of color as accents

Just because a minimalist home interior highlights a neutral color palette doesn’t mean you have to turn away from color. Choosing the right pops of color in your home can bring personality and add brightness to your space. Consider warm colors like mustard yellow or rust orange pillows on a crisp white chair or the right piece of artwork against light-colored walls, like a sunset painting or abstract drawing. Home trends may come and go, but incorporating the right touches of color into a minimalist home design can create a timeless space.

5) Streamlined and functional furniture is key to a minimalist home interior

Whether you have a popular home style or something more unique, designing a minimalist home interior takes time and thought. If you’re considering updating your furniture, go for a streamlined look. Choose furniture with sleek lines, like backless barstools in a kitchen or a chic glass coffee table. You want to have a space that includes functional pieces and complements your home’s interior, no matter the style.

6) Use a variety of textures to create dimension

To create contrast and interest in your space, it’s important to use a variety of textures, such as mixing a chunky wool blanket on a brushed velvet couch with linen curtains to frame your windows. This way, you can stick to a sleek color palette without making your home appear one-note. If you’re having trouble visualizing or designing your space, contact an interior designer to help design the perfect minimalist home interior.

7) Decorate your space with intention and meaning

One of the reasons you may be looking to design a minimalist home is because of all the knick-knacks cluttering up your space. When decorating your space, it’s important to choose pieces with intention – ones that mean something to you. Having a curated collection of decorative items will add style to your space without taking away from the rest of your décor. Be sure not to over-decorate. Choose the right artwork for your walls and space out your ceramics or candles on the shelves. 

8) Add greenery and brightness to your space with plants 

While it may seem counterintuitive to have bright greenery in your home when sticking to a neutral color palette, incorporating plants into your home can help tie your space together. Houseplants add an element of natural beauty and can breathe new life into your home while staying also minimal. Use a fiddle-leaf fig next to a window with lots of sunlight or add a pothos in your bedroom where there’s low light. The options to use indoor plants and flowers as part of your minimalist home interior design are endless. Plus, plants have many benefits like increasing productivity and improving indoor air quality.

9) Use natural light to warm up your home

When you’re looking for the right place in your home for your new houseplants, make sure to lift your window shades. Sunlight can add warmth to your neutral furnishings and can go a long way to make your house feel like a home. Embrace what natural light your windows let in to keep your space feeling airy and bright. Even if you live in a city where there isn’t much sunlight, like Portland, OR, use breezy, sheer curtains to highlight your windows or place a mirror to help spread natural light around your space.

This post first appeared on Redfin.com. To see the original, click here.