Aspiring for a Minimalist Living Room Design? Here’s what You Need to Know 

There’s the minimalist lifestyle advocated for by lifestyle gurus like Marie Kondo.

And then there’s minimalism in architectural and interior design. Stressing form, focus, and functionality, the minimalist design doesn’t stray far from the core teachings of minimalist advocates.

Many of us easily recognize how to live like a minimalist. Just as many of us would be arguing over what a minimalist living room should look like. If you are planning to design a minimalist living room, this guide will help walk you through some quick tips to get you started.

 

 

Always put function before aesthetic

The art of minimalism lies in the efficient use of living space and clear assignment of purpose to each household item. Everything should work well in harmony. Baubles and trinkets only distract.

Because everything in a minimalist design concept should have a clear function, this makes designing a minimalist living room particularly difficult compared to other parts of an apartment. A kitchen, bedroom, or study room all have a clear purpose.

But living rooms? Things get a lot more ambiguous.

Just remember: everything in space should work together to perform a function. Think about what your living room should do for you, and keep only items that add value to space.

One caveat though: a minimalist living room has personality. It should emphasize something about you. Avoid taking the function-over-aesthetic logic too far as stripping your living room to its bare essentials (as some guides may have suggested) tends to shift the emphasis onto your apartment’s structure instead.

 

 

Out of sight, out of mind

Building on the concept of function over aesthetics is the idea of focus. In a minimalist interior, there should be few distractions. All items should be carefully selected to convey a single message in unison.

For many of us, this may well be the most difficult part of creating a minimalist living room.

We tend to leave clutter around in random spaces: placing things on the dining table, leaving things idle on the couch, having all sorts of snacks in their colorful packaging piled up on the coffee table are all things lots of us are easily guilty of.

What you can do is to use boxes and containers to neatly categorize them and store them away from plain sight. You may think this is placing unnecessary inconvenience, but it helps keep focus in your living space.

 

Minimalism is not painting the town white or beige

But just because focus is important in minimalist home design, it doesn’t mean that you have to stick to just neutral colors like white or beige. Remember that minimalism is supposed to highlight your personality while staying true to form, focus, and functionality.

While monochromatic palettes are highly recommended for any minimalist concept, the key point here is to always have contrast. Without contrast, design elements lose their visibility and the entire layout easily feels bland.

 

Add an accentuating note

Having a strong contrast helps to add emphasis to your design elements, and one easy way to do so is to simply add an item that helps accentuate that contrast.

This can be something as simple as a potted plant, tabletop decoration. These accentuating notes may not serve a function or work in tandem with everything else in the living room, but they can help shout your personality better since they clearly stand out from everything else.

 

Clutter-free spaces 

A minimalist living room naturally requires a minimalist lifestyle. Keeping your living space clutter-free is important for not only keeping in line with the minimalist concept, but also maintaining your living room well after the minimalist concept has been worked into it.

We have already suggested placing things out of sight and out of mind in boxes, and other techniques for effective decluttering include Marie Kondo’s well-known KonMari Method, Oprah Winfrey’s closet hanger experiment, the Minimalist Game by minimalist advocates Ryan Nicodemus and Joshua Fields Milburn and much, much more.

 

Keep your minimalist living room clutter-free with BUTLER

Imagining and designing your minimalist living room is fun and easy, but keeping it in great shape can take a lot of time and energy.

It’s not just keeping your living space clutter-free. If you have chosen particular objects that require specialized and intensive care for your accentuating notes or find that your household items cannot be neatly categorized and stored away, it will take you a lot more trouble to take care of your minimalist living room.

With our full suite of property management services, taking care of your carefully curated minimalist living room is hassle-free. Start with a housekeeping routine, and leave it to our professional housekeepers to tidy up your space and take stock of your utilities too.

We understand that our clients may want to take minimalism outside too. Our property management services also cover landscaping and swimming pool design and maintenance. Need some advice on how to create a minimalist setting outdoors? Our professional landscapers can help transform your garden!

You design your dream minimalist living room. Leave the maintenance to us. Get in touch with BUTLER and arrange a consultation today!