How to Have a Minimal Home That Isn’t Boring

If you picture a minimalist home and imagine a cold and uninviting space, you just haven’t seen minimalism done right. A home with minimal decor offers simplicity, a soothing environment, and a number of surprising health benefits. By carefully choosing each element to work as part of a whole, the result is a home that puts function and wellness at the forefront.

Just because you have less, doesn’t mean your home can’t be stunning. With meaningful and intentional design DETAILS, you can create a home that’s beautiful, inviting, and timeless. Here are my top six tips to create a minimalist home that is functional, elegant, and anything but boring.  

Balance Function with Beauty

Minimalism follows the belief that everything in your home should be both beautiful and functional. If an item does not serve a purpose or add beauty, why allow it to take up precious space in your home?

When you have less décor to draw attention, each piece of furniture can have a significant impact on the look and feel of the room. Choosing essential elements that are well-made and have beautiful shape, colour and texture will result in a space that exudes elegant simplicity.

Give A Neutral Colour Palette Depth

A neutral colour palette helps provide a calm aesthetic. It also allows you to add colour with furnishings and textiles that are less costly to replace when it’s time for a change.

To keep a neutral colour palette from looking dull, it’s important to add tonal variations. Instead of trying to match one shade exactly, add darker and lighter versions of the same colour to give the room depth and create visual interest.

Choose Accents That Speak to You

“Elegance isn’t about getting noticed, it’s about being remembered” – Georgio Armani

To create a home you love, avoid fads and trendy items, and decorate with pieces that mean something. You probably already have the perfect items in your home tucked away where nobody sees them. Do you love music? Show it off! Allow your favourite instrument to be the focal point of your living room. Adding an elegant light fixture over a focal point, is an excellent way to highlight more of your personality.

Use family heirlooms and travel souvenirs to adorn your shelves instead of trinkets that don’t tell your story. These things will always spark emotion to create an experience you feel connected to.

Texture Brings A Room to Life

The secret to making a minimal space sing is to add as much texture as possible. Natural materials such as wood, sisal, cane, and stone add depth and variety to a room when paired with sleek surfaces such as glass and metal. Layer in chunky knits, shag carpets, plush pillows, and cotton, linen, suede, and velvet textiles to add sensory appeal. When you limit other distractions it’s these details that help bring a room to life.

Use Lighting to Add Interest

Most people don’t realize the huge impact lighting has on not only the look of our homes, but our overall wellbeing. Increasing the amount of natural light indoors can help improve mood, energy levels, and sleep patterns.  To bring more light into your home, try removing heavy curtains and replacing them with sheer versions that let light in.

To keep a room from looking flat, we need a variety of light sources at different levels. A combination of overhead lights, wall sconces, and floor and table lamps will create ambiance and give you ample lighting for any activity. 

Photo: Victor Zastolskiy

Create a Connection to Nature

Studies show that people who spend time in nature are more likely to report good health and psychological well-being than those who don’t. But as a society, we rarely spend enough time outdoors to enjoy these benefits. Creating a connection with nature in our indoor spaces can counter-balance this and improve our well-being.

Replace unhealthy synthetic materials with natural options such as cotton, linen, wood, and stone. Not only will it add beauty to your home, these changes can also improve indoor air quality. When possible, highlight a good view to create a connection to nature and add a focal point without visual clutter. Remove excess items and use plants as decor to create a calm atmosphere and feel surrounded by nature.

Going minimal and simple does not mean your home will look boring and uninviting. With meaningful and thoughtful design details, you can have a home that’s beautiful, relaxing and elegant. A home with less clutter will result in less stress, less wasted time, and more of what you love.

Check out my post on ‘Create More Wow with Less’ for more tips on how to get from boring to elegant.  If you need more help nailing down those finer design details, let’s connect!