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How to Decorate like a Minimalist

A how-to for minimalist decorating
BY BLINDSTER | 

Even if you're not completely on board with minimalism as a lifestyle, adopting parts of it into your home decorating philosophy can lead to a living space that's sleek, efficient, and easy to clean. Sounds good, right? However, it can sometimes be difficult to strike a balance between having a home that's minimalist and beautiful, and having a home that's minimalist and bare.

If the idea of significantly reducing the amount of clutter and furniture in your home is appealing to you, trying to maintain your home's beauty and visual appeal with far fewer things to work with can be a welcome challenge—especially if you're fed up with constant dusting, straightening, and organizing.

For tips on decorating your home like a minimalist, check out Blindster's guide below.

Simplify your shelves, tables, and other display spaces

Sparse but meaningful shelves

Even if you don't make any other changes to your home, this one simple step will go a long way towards reducing clutter and pushing your living space more towards the realm of minimalism. Shelves, tables, and other places where photos, artwork and knick-knacks are present, represent opportunities to create eye-catching visual displays. But, having too much on display just creates a cluttered mess with no lines for the eye to follow. Instead of stretching the limits of your display spaces, cut back and place only one or two cherished and bold items on each display area. In addition to creating a more interesting visual, you'll also thank yourself profusely when it's time to clean.

Choose a couple of complementary colors

Kitchen photo via daniellawitte.blogspot.com

If you settle on just a couple of bold colors and maintain that choice throughout a room or even your entire home, it's much easier to project a minimalist feel. Some of the most popular color choices for minimalist decorators include neutral tones with metallic accents. For a strikingly minimalist home, it's hard to beat the clean lines and aesthetic created by white walls, light floors and furniture, and neutral appliances and other accents.

Embrace white space and emptiness

Open space at a desk for peaceful work

For many homeowners, the urge to fill blank spaces on their walls or their floors can be overwhelming. After all, if there's room, something needs to go there, right? But as graphic designers will be quick to point out, white space—or negative space—can be a highly effective way of drawing the eye's attention to the strongest parts of a design. Leaving breathing room on your walls and your floor not only reduces clutter and makes your home seem bigger, but it also goes a long way toward contributing to a minimalist design feel.

Include large furniture and artwork

Minimalist furniture is typically larger

If there's one thing that's common across many minimalist living spaces, it's the preference for one or two large pieces of furniture over several smaller pieces. That means a large sectional couch instead of a small sofa, love seat, and chair combination, all vying for the same space. A bold piece of artwork that dominates a wall, or even an entire room, can be much more impactful than a wall full of pieces. Although going "big" may seem like the opposite of minimalist philosophy, it actually consolidates your available space and reduces the feeling of clutter that can occur when too many small items are placed in one area.

Keep exposed surfaces clear of non-essential items

A minimalist desk shuns clutter

Minimalism depends on clean lines and sleek surfaces, and that's a difficult aesthetic to create when your home is full of small items that could be stored out of sight. Magazines, books, remotes, tablets, kitchen appliances, and clothing can all accumulate quickly and dash your hopes of creating a minimalist home. Finding a place for everything you own is vital for maintaining the sleek lines necessary to have a truly minimalist home—and if you don't have storage for those things, consider donating them or giving them to friends and family.

Choose low-profile window coverings

Blindster Premium Roller Shades create a minimalist look

Despite the "less is better" philosophy of minimalism, it's still important to have blinds or shades on your windows. Having sleek, low-profile, and built-in looking window treatments creates even cleaner lines in your home and gives your windows a more uniform and matte appearance. At Blindster, we offer a wide variety of low-profile window coverings, including our Premium Light Filtering Roller Shades, our Cordless Blackout Single Cellular Shades, and our classic 1" Aluminum Blinds. Take advantage of our cordless lift options and inside mount installation process to further enhance the minimalist design of these shades.

Ready to start shopping for new window treatments?  Blindster.com can help you every step of the way with free color samples and expert advise.  Whatever your decorating style, we have the right blinds, shades and shutters for you!