Now a go-to for home inspiration on everything from Pinterest to Instagram, minimalism is perhaps the most lasting home trend of the moment and has been transforming interior spaces for at least five years now.
Unfortunately, while this is a style built on seemingly effortless ease, minimalism can take a fair amount of time and effort to get right, particularly when you first embark on this approach. Hence, there are countless homeowners out there who have either chased the minimalist dream for five years without success or who daren’t even consider this option for fear that they’ll never get it right.
If you fall into one of these categories, then rest assured that you aren’t alone. In fact, countless homeowners find that even their best efforts don’t live up to this streamlined interior. In part, this is because many of our ideas about how minimalism should be come from carefully curated Instagram posts that don’t necessarily reveal the realities.
However, all hope is not lost, and we’re going to prove it by considering, once and for all, what’s stopping your home from feeling like the minimalist haven you wish it would become.
A failure to perfect storage
At this point, we’re all aware of the Marie Kondo-style minimalism that’s all about decluttering. The trouble is that even MoKo recommends keeping the things that bring us joy because, regardless of your circumstances, there’s always going to be some belongings that you simply can’t part with. After all, minimalism is only about getting rid of unnecessary things. This still leaves us with plenty of essential clothes, fundamentals like cleaning equipment, and the rare few ornaments that have sentimental meaning or that we just can’t bear to see go.
There’s nothing wrong with this. Realizing that not everything has to go can even help to make minimalism more accessible. However, minimalism done well is also dependent on organization skills that ensure all of those lifestyle remnants have a set, typically out-of-sight place to live.
This relies on some often intense minimalist-style storage solutions that can help to make the rooms that are otherwise cluttered with these remnants look fresh and well-finished. Labeled storage units, carefully rolled clothes storage, and kitchen cupboards that are meticulously planned are certainly all behind the final impact of a minimalist home. And, until you get on top of these, there’s no chance for your property to compete with those Instagram images in your mind.
An urge to fill every blank space
In times gone by, interior design was about filling blank spaces with storage units, shelving, or just ornaments that save your rooms from feeling too stark. Minimalism is the complete opposite of this and instead centers around blank spaces that provide a spacious, stripped-back feeling. This means fewer ornaments, focusing only on a few core pieces of furniture, and generally making sure that there’s plenty of room to provide a sense of calm between everything you own.
If you’re still stuck in the mind space that every gap needs to be filled in each room, then it’s no surprise you’re struggling to make minimalism work. After all, even if you get other elements right, overloading your rooms with unnecessary additions, even if they each have their place, is going to result in a strange decor mishmash that doesn’t even come close to working.
Instead, it’s essential to return to that inspiration that’s driving you, and take note of how blank spaces are used, instead of filled. While it might take some practice, you can then begin introducing your empty gaps, and getting used to their presence to ensure a truly minimalist space at last.
A cleaning schedule that requires attention
The unfortunate reality is that, as effective as blank spaces can be for a minimalist home, they can also open you up to a whole lot more scrutiny where cleaning is concerned. After all, with your room stripped back like this, you can no longer afford to let dust build up in your corners or to overlook your skirting boards for a generally messy home. In fact, with everything on display, you need to be a whole lot more prolific with intensive cleaning that gets everything in sight up to standard.
Failing to do this, or making the mistake of sticking too stringently to your old cleaning routine, can quickly compromise on the efforts you’ve made, creating a messy vibe even without furniture, and getting guests looking at your rooms in all of the wrong ways. Instead, embrace space, and truly think about how you can keep those gaps dust, and dirt-free with a more rigorous, or simply more regular, cleaning schedule that’s finally fit for a minimalist home.
A lack of light
Minimalist home inspiration typically tends to center around bright, light rooms that create an almost spa-like feeling in the home. You certainly don’t see dingy spaces with limited lighting that leave you squinting to see those sharp minimalist finishes.
This is because, just as clearing clutter is essential for creating that much-needed spacious minimalist vibe, the use of light plays an equally crucial role in helping rooms to feel clearer, and more complete from a minimalist standpoint.
Natural light is especially crucial for minimalism done right and is something that you should focus on either creating or enhancing where you can. Focusing on your windows can be especially useful here, with slim-framed window replacements like those offered by Windows Oceanside helping to significantly enhance the flow of light through even small-set windows. Further to this, using techniques including well-placed mirrors (another common minimalism hack), and well-placed, light furniture can all add a brighter feeling. Even the use of gentle artificial lights, including soft-glow light bulbs and fairy lights, can work well with your minimalist decor, helping to brighten any room and bring your minimalist efforts out of the dark at long last.
A failure to implement a strong base color
While color doesn’t always seem like a pressing factor for minimalism, it’s also essential to note that this trend tends to be firmly rooted in the color choices you make. Specifically, strong and typically neutral base colors should be used as a basis on which every other decor and color choice here rests.
Failure to get this base tone focus right can quickly see your rooms looking cluttered no matter how much you’ve stripped things back, and can also result in a complete failure to achieve the pops of colors (typically natural additions like the greens of plants) that can complete a minimalist space.
Hence, if all of the other tips mentioned here don’t make a difference, it’s always worth considering your base color and how you’re utilizing it. Top options here especially include neutral tones like whites and grays, which you can then build on by color matching your furniture, and textured additions like cushions as rugs. This also provides you with a fantastic platform from which to find well-chosen, matching pops of color that are guaranteed to make a huge difference.
Conclusion
Minimalism might look like the most effortless home decor choice of the moment, but trust us when we say that there’s nothing easy about getting this stripped-back style right. In fact, if you’re coming to minimalism fresh from almost any other trend, you have some major overhauls to make before you can achieve a satisfyingly minimalist space. Avoid each of these mistakes with the tips we’ve provided, and you should find it a whole lot easier to do precisely that.