How to Create a Minimalistic Living Space
When it comes to the word minimalism, a lot of things can come to mind. To some, it is perceived as a specific high-brow aesthetic which can only be achieved with black and white colour pallets and a single chair in the middle of the room. To others, it is a question of functionality with an appreciation for style. Minimalism, from what I’ve gathered over the last ten years, is more synthesized with simplicity than some may think. Yes, it is good to have fewer items on display but to me, it goes a little deeper than that. It’s asking if something is adding value to your life and moving on from the things that don’t. Now am I perfect at this all the time? Absolutely not, (Surprise, I am a human person) but I do my best to ask myself thoughtful questions before I bring something into my home. Find out some of my best suggestions for helping you create a minimalistic living space that will hopefully add some value to your life along the way.
What is your motivation?
Before we get into the actual steps it’s important to frame your plans to help you stay motivated when you’re halfway through. Perhaps you want to simplify your space because you’re tired of cleaning so many things, or it will help relieve a sense of overwhelm and emotional stress. Or maybe it will just look nice and aligns more with your home Pinterest board. Whatever the reason, make sure to write it down and place it in the room you are working in, on a sticky note, so when you hit a roadblock you know exactly why you’re taking on this project.
Go room by room
Starting to minimize your home is not a quick task, and for some, it can take days. Living in a one-bedroom apartment can sometimes have its advantages, but even if you’re in a larger space you can still set yourself up for success. Pick a room in your home that you could perceive being an easier lift, like a guest bedroom or an office, we’ll leave more complicated rooms like kitchens and garages for when you’ve had some practice.
Acknowledge what you have
Now that you’ve chosen the room you’d like to start in, pick a corner of the room and start walking through each item individually, both on display and in your storage. You may notice there are some things you’ve been meaning to get rid of already. Just remember, that the goal is to have fewer things clogging up your life and taking up space, so be thoughtful as you work your way around the room. Here are a few questions you can ask yourself as you start to go through the space:
Is it adding value? Whether it be a visible value or aesthetic value, it’s useful, whatever the word value means to you.
Does it earn its space? For those of us with no extra space to spare, this question can be crucial. Whether you use the item every day, once a week, or once a year, it needs to earn its keep.
Does it align with your dream space? You likely have a vision in your mind of how light you want your room to feel, so do your best not to get bogged down by the contents of the area, keeping your dream space top of mind.
Careful of excuses
When embarking on going through each item in your home it is easy to fall into what I like to call the “Easy Excuses”. Much like going through your closet, you may want to start moving things to other rooms so the space you’re in looks more stylized but that doesn’t mean you have minimized, it means you moved something to another space to deal with later. Another pitfall I run into is “Oh I’ll use it later!”. Let’s be honest, if you haven’t read that book since university and you did not graduate recently (ie within the last 2 years) chances are you’re not going to read that book, and that’s ok, let someone else enjoy it instead.
Styling what you have
Once you have gone through all the items in the space, it’s time for the fun part, styling! Depending on the aesthetic of your home, you may have some idea of what you’d like to display. An easy way to help things feel more minimal is to style a surface like you normally would, and when you feel like it’s done, take away three things. I use this trick all the time in my work as our natural inclination is to fill up space, but minimalistic style isn’t about the number of items but the quality of what is there.
Appreciate the details
Once you have styled the surfaces in your room, it’s time to move on to the next one! But before you leave the room give yourself a moment to admire your work. One of the key things I’ve learned about minimalistic style is that once you take away the clutter you start to see the beautiful things you have for what they are. Thoughtful items that took energy and time to create, which you can truly see with less in the way. Minimalism isn’t for everyone but when you put in the energy to curate your space a little more intentionally, nothing can beat that feeling of calm.
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