Designing A Minimalist Living Room

Posted on: August 14th, 2017

Nothing exudes modern elegance like a well-designed minimalistic décor scheme. Turning less into more without ruining the functionality of your room can be tricky. However, the relaxing sophistication of the resulting space will be worth the effort. If you’re up for the rewarding challenge of creating a minimalist living room, we’ve provided a few décor tips to get you started.

Strip Back the Existing Room

The biggest difficulty with minimalist design is resisting the temptation to add too much. Living rooms often become home to the beloved knick-knacks accumulated over the years—tchotchkes from family vacations, interesting treasures found at antique stores, and so on. A minimalistic style requires stripping everything back and eliminating clutter.

Find new homes for items that don’t contribute to the room’s form or function. Organize and store as much as you can. Necessary objects like TV remotes can be placed in boxes or drawers, where they are still accessible but don’t disrupt the clean feel of your space. When you’re finished, the room may seem bare, but you’ve created a blank canvas upon which to build your new style.

Build Back Up with Clean Lines, Simple Color, and Lots of Space

Smooth, well-defined lines form the backbone of the minimalist style. Look for furniture with crisp, straight edges or strong, fluid curves. Choose a simple color palette. Black and white are classic minimalist tones, but any color scheme can be used. The trick is to stick to only a couple key shades.

A minimalistic room should come across as spacious, but that doesn’t mean you need an enormous living room to make it work. Leaving plenty of visual space around each design element creates an expansive, airy look even when the room’s actual square footage is small. Floating shelves, hanging decorations, and tables made of clear acrylic or glass are excellent choices to achieve this effect.

Infuse a Little Flavor

Now that you’ve got the backdrop, add a couple of accent pieces to keep the room from seeming sterile. A touch of bold color does the trick. For example, bright orange throw pillows would add a splash of vibrancy to a predominantly black and white space while still keeping things simple. An interestingly-shaped piece of artwork or the warm, flickering light of a fireplace are other ways to achieve the same effect.

Good minimalist design requires careful thought and restraint. But with a little effort, you too can turn your living room into a clean, uncluttered space for relaxation and contemplation.