Minimalist Styling
When it comes to minimalism, resources abound. In recent years, minimalism has been the craze. And as a luxury interior design + professional organizing firm, we’ve talked about how + why we know Perfect Minimalism Is An Illusion.
That said, at our core, we’re believers that Home Is Everything You Need + Nothing More.™ So, it might be difficult to find anything more true to us than minimalist styling.
Let’s dive in + take a look at what minimalist styling is, what it is not + some of the profound benefits it can have on your home :)
You ready, friend? Let’s do this…
What is Styling
First, styling involves pulling together the finishing touches to a home. While not limited to, we refer to the styling phase of our projects as the soft goods or furnishings that we’ve selected for our clients.
Thus, styling is introducing things like decorative accents, vases, greenery, candles, pillows, blankets + whatever else might complete the look + feel that brings the room to life in a personable way.
How Is Minimalist Styling Different
Around these parts, we refer to styling as the jewelry to your outfit cuz’ a room, much like an outfit, is incomplete without it!
Remember, our fundamental belief is that home is everything you need + nothing more™ so minimalist styling isn’t simply adding “things” or “stuff” to the space without any conscientious thought.
What we’re actually after when it comes to styling your home + how we define minimalist styling here at Elegant Simplicity is functional necessity.
And there’s two ways to look at functional necessities:
What you need for the space to be functional for living
What the space needs to look or feel personable + complete
Anything else is clutter.
Now, your “needs” vs. someone else’s can vary widely which in turn can make what one perceives as minimalist a bit subjective.
However, in general, minimalist styling adds personality to a space without over indulgence.
Benefits Of Minimalist Styling
Clarity In Values
On the blog, we’ve talked a lot about how clutter affects our home, our life, and our mind but minimalism provides clarity in what we want in our lives + in our home.
Minimalist styling helps establish clear values in what we find important. That clarity in our values helps give us peace of mind. Peace of mind that we not only have what we want but that we don’t need anything else.
Less Clutter
With clarity in what we value, minimalist styling ultimately means less stuff. And less stuff, in turn, means more space. Now, the goal of home isn’t to have more space necessarily — it’s to have everything you need + nothing more.™
However, when a room or home has a lot going on from a styling perspective + there are things seemingly everywhere, our minds are excessively stimulated. There’s no breathing room for our mind to calm.
But, when we have less stuff and more breathing space, we’ve effectively made room for the things we truly want.
Meaningful Belongings
One aspect that often gets overlooked when discussing minimalist styling is that the things that are prevalent — “what you need” all actually have meaning to you.
And what we mean by that is as an interior designer, when your belongings have meaning — they tell a story.
Your story.
Your family's story.
Or maybe someone’s story that you want to remind people about and share with your guests.
Home should be designed around an emotion. The things you showcase should help convey what’s meaningful to you.
Styling with a minimalist approach is simply one way of ensuring people see + feel what’s important to you.
Cleaning Isn’t Difficult + Upkeep Is Easy
Minimalist styling makes cleaning a heck of a lot easier. Now, that’s likely not you having to dust the shelves or wipe the table tops but upkeep is also easier. And upkeep is things like fluffing the pillows or folding the blankets.
Minimalist styling means things can be touched up quickly making the home you live in more enjoyable — everyday.
Tips For Minimalist Styling
We know that home can be overwhelming. And that’s because often home is a culmination of all the things we have. Notice we didn’t say often home is a culmination of all the things we care about.
That’s really important to us — because at Elegant Simplicity, organizing is the foundation of home because it’s helping us determine what’s really important to us + keeping a keen eye on creating a home around the things we care about, not merely all the stuff we’ve accumulated over the years.
Here’s a couple of the considerations we utilize for styling our clients homes :)
Assess
No matter what you’re doing in your home — it always should begin with an assessment.
How are you currently using this space?
How do you hope to use this space?
Why is this important?
Why right now?
What are your goals?
When you begin asking yourself these kinds of questions — you’re beginning to lay a foundation for yourself that’s clear + it will help guide you along the way.
Even when it comes to something like styling, understanding what your goals actually are + why it’s important to you can provide you so much clarity along the way.
And our clients LOVE this aspect of design because the design selections (a.k.a. the styling feels very personable).
Determine What You Need
We could say, declutter but when it comes to minimalist styling — even if it’s a blank slate — determining what you “need” is integral to truly finishing a room.
Remember, need is functional necessity. How we need a space to function (even in styling) + how we want a space in your home to feel.
Maybe we want a seating area to feel warm, comfortable + inviting? Then we might consider what kind of soft goods can help create this type of space? And we don’t mean merely: pillows + blankets. Of course, those things will absolutely help.
But digging a little deeper… what type of pillows + blankets exude a warm, comfortable + inviting space? What type of textures, what type of colors + what type of patterns might help create this feeling?
Consistent Color Palette
One of the staples for our design team when it comes to minimalist styling is to make the color palette consistent.
Now, that doesn’t mean not to use color. What it means is to introduce color in unexpected ways but minimize the range of colors being used.
If we’re using earth tones, we like to stay inside the colors that are staples of earth tones.
If we’re using soft or muted tones, we like to embrace those soft + muted tones even in the styling selections.
It’s this subtle but constant repetition that creates cohesion at home.
Maximize Texture + Pattern
Minimalist styling maximizes texture + pattern. Even if the color is neutralized — texture + pattern create such a wide range of design elements to introduce.
There’s rough or coarse textures, smooth or shiny textures, big pattern + small pattern.
Maximizing the textures + patterns in styling selections but maintaining a consistent color palette (mentioned above) makes such a huge difference in how complete a room truly feels.
Breathe Life Into The Space
The benefits of biophillic design in our homes is well discussed by us on the blog. And along with it comes the presence of decorative plants (faux or real) as an integral design aspect to helping create a lived in feel to the homes we design.
Well, there you have it...everything you need to know about minimalist styling.
Designing a home that you’ll not only live in but a home that’s built around your routines + habits is the ultimate love investment!
An investment in time. An investment in energy. And certainly a financial investment. But don’t forget friend, that creating home isn’t about reaching a final destination nor is it something you just stumble upon.
Our homes should represent us. They should embody the things we value + what we believe. Which are likely going to change over time (because life happens, boo!)
In other words, what you really want isn’t cheap styling accessories that merely look nice or a quick + easy design solution but rather a home you love, value + has everything you need.
Which is why, in order to create a home that feels like the most comfortable part of your day, an interior designer + professional organizer at Elegant Simplicity has to consider every aspect of how you live –– does it make sense for you, your family AND the place you call home?
Because it truly matters.
Sound exhausting or overwhelming? Fortunately (or should I say, lucky for you) with a lifetime of knowledge that we’ve accumulated from first-hand experiences –– we do the hard work.
Now don’t be shy, if you’re planning your next project, let’s chat. You can request a one-on-one FREE 30-minute Clarity Call with us :)
Psst… if you loved this, then you absolutely have to check out our FREE Video Course: 4 Days To A More Beautiful + Functional Home