Adj
Someone who uses (finds pleasure in) simple elements with little embellishment.
Clean silhouette. Brevity of line. Stripped palette. If this is your storage match, those seven words fill you with joy. And clutter is the enemy.
You live a colourful life, but the pristine calm of a white palette is where you feel at home.
For you, less is more.
Minimalistic features four Lugano base cabinets with drop-down doors. The cabinets are designed by Morten Georgsen, and come in four colour options. But for this storage match, it could only be the understated elegance of matt white.
There’s a fine (and uncluttered) line between creating a minimalistic home and having a bare and unwelcoming space. That said, if the atmosphere in our room appeals to you, then the effort will be worthwhile. It’s all about balance – of colour and material – and how you distinguish between necessity and excess.
Back to basics
If you’re like us, you probably have more items on display than this look permits. Choose shades of white and remove or conceal anything that doesn’t fit.
Start with nothing
This look is extreme, and requires drastic measures. Clear all surfaces, including walls and floors, leaving only essential furniture, and slowly reintroduce your selected pieces. Starting from this end of the scale will push your minimalism threshold further than you would imagine. It will also make the process faster and (hopefully) less painful.
Texture not colour
The belief that a monotoned theme produces cold spaces is persuasive but not always true. Use texture as an accent, and arrange so that light and shadow add character and detail to your space.
5 tips for painless decluttering
Explore websites and magazines. Look for a room image that exhibits your ideal level of minimalism. Be realistic: an all-white room with two pieces of furniture, might appeal to the design lover in you, but would it fit your lifestyle? Once you’ve found the right room, print it off and hang on the fridge, take a screenshot – that’s your destination. Start the journey by revaluating your items, asking what is essential, what can be concealed and what must go.
This is tried and tested but not for the faint of heart. Take four large boxes. Label one ‘RUBBISH’, the next, DONATE, the next, KEEP and the last, RELOCATE. Then go through the room, assigning everything to a box. Try to remove emotion, judging the items objectively. Once sorted, resist the urge to shuffle and take immediate action.
A gentler and more sustainable approach is to split your decluttering project into bitesize portions. Choose a few kitchen cupboards, or the coffee table perhaps. Attack that area and sort possessions into the four-box categories. Once an area is complete, maintain it and then, when you have time, move on to an adjoining area. The idea is that your no-clutter zone gradually expands, eventually covering the entire home. This method also gives you time to adjust to the change in lifestyle and look.
This tip will help you decrease your clutter – and your karmic debt. Simply give away one possession every day, for a year. Easier said than done we imagine.
With families, hobbies and, let’s face it, a normal life, it can be hard to achieve hardcore minimalism. One work-around is to invest in furniture with cleverly integrated storage. Store books, bedding and out-of-season clothing in an under-bed compartment. Put magazines and your ever-growing family of remote controls in your sofa’s armrest.
