Minimalist Design Guide – 8 Ways to Infuse Minimalism Into Your Home

Clean Lines

Minimalist rooms feature straight legs on furniture, gentle curves, and not a lot of extra pattern or details. Fabrics are typically solids or tone-on-tone, and the curvy legs and scrolls of more traditional furniture are a ‘hard’ no. 

Neutral Colors 

This neutral yet stylish space is a great example of the monochromatic element of minimalism. 

To expand on this, you could add darker and lighter variations of the same color and/or add in a couple of touches of your favorite color on smaller accessories. 

Beiges, greys, and warm whites are a great start. Don’t pick anything startling that jumps out at you. 

Quality Over Quantity

To not have a lot of furnishings means the ones that you do have, have to be good. In the case of a living room where everything is primarily straight lines, the black chair really catch your eye since it’s such an interesting shape.

Add Texture 

What you don’t do with color, you can do with texture. A cable knit throw, a pillow or throw with tassels at the corners, a fringe on the ends of the area rug, or a furry blanket all add texture to a minimalist space. This is where you can add some personality back in with layers.  

The throw shown here adds a softness that’s lacking in the wood frame of the chair and slate floor and is a great way to balance the minimalism of the hard surfaces with something to warm it up. Texture can come in a variety of finish options from roughed up wood to pitted mercury glass accessories in addition to textile options. 

Functionality 

When you don’t have a lot of furnishings, it helps to have some of them do double duty. 

A statement sideboard with storage, a cocktail table with a lower shelf, a foyer table with a small drawer. Not to add clutter back in, but so there are still places to put things that you use everyday (remotes, keys) that don’t require a wall hook or a tray or an additional piece of furniture. 

If minimalism doesn’t come naturally to you, then a place to put stuff is a must. Cabinets, closed storage of some type, bins/decorative boxes are your friend but keep them on the simpler side.

Natural Elements 

While houseplants have become one of many people’s new pandemic hobby, they do add a lot to a neutral, pared down backdrop. They’re colorful, they introduce organic and geometric shapes, they cheer people up and they’re something to interact with (or am I the only person who looks forward to ‘interacting’ with my plants?). 

Using a combination of natural elements like rope, limed oak and greenery help make a neutral backdrop more interesting, and they usually work well with each other since they tie together like a subtle theme incorporated into your design.

Eye-Catching Lighting

While every style of design requires lighting, it becomes especially important in the absence of a lot of other furnishings. By using sculptural, interesting lighting pieces around your room in different heights and types, you fill in some of the blank spaces that you might feel occur when you have fewer things around. 

Lighting is another way to add in a new shape or finish and can tie things together by using similar shapes for the shades or the same finish on more than one light fixture.