How to decorate in the minimalist style and decorating tips
First of all, we have to define what is known by minimalist style. And is that the minimalism (minimism)It is an artistic trend and current that refers to a maxim from the aspect of the interior design, which is none other than that of decorate with as few items as possible and basic with the aim of gaining functionality, sobriety and space.
The ornamentation (furniture, paintings … etc) is in the visual background and the architectural elements are the protagonists of the minimalist decor.
This trend is based precisely on that concept. In the fact of taking advantage of all the space of the room and, for this, it cannot be saturated with an excess of elements such as tables, furniture or chairs. There is only room for what is considered strictly necessary and basic.
This movement has its origin in the United States in the 60s. However, its great boom would come later, in the 70s when it began to merge with what is known as pop art and arrived in Europe at the hands of the main artists of the moment.
Although in the minimalist house architecture article we already saw some examples, now we have to see tips and decorating ideas to improve the style.
The minimalist style and its ideas
Within this style it can be said that there are three fundamental pillars on which everything will be based. That is to say… How to decorate in the minimalist style?
- On the one hand we have the fact of reducing to the maximum everything that has to do with artistic elements. With this, reference is made by examples to the pictures and to those elements that hang on the walls. It is a dematerialization!
- The decorative elements that are located on a piece of furniture should be reduced to a minimum since they overload as a whole and that feeling of spaciousness so necessary in this case is not achieved.
- The environment that is built must be useful, usable, simple, precision in the finishes - details and with essential and rectilinear geometry. It can be said that the room that you want to decorate should be to live it and not to install furniture.
Target; less furniture and objects, and those that we have, that are useful
But at the same time, it is not only about "interior design or pure decoration", it is also a philosophy of understanding life at home as opposed to other styles of decoration that are practiced in the interior design of homes.
From the TED conferences, with Graham Hill, he shows us that living with fewer objects, may still have some benefits and among them, increase happiness.
Tips for minimalist decoration
1.- Before starting to decorate, a common practice of architecture professionals is to first do a self-knowledge review, asking themselves three key points:
- For what purpose and purpose is the space that I am going to decorate used and what activities are going to be carried out.
- How are we going to enjoy that space, what usual activities are we going to practice.
- How many people will participate in that space. If we will be the whole family, if it is a room only to sleep, if it is a work area… .etc.
Before you start design the interior of the house with minimalism. It is very convenient to make a small sketch or scheme of the rooms (If possible with measurements) and go looking and adding what we really need, first the main thing and its arrangement (Example; type of floor, bathroom furniture or the dining room sofa ), and later the less essential elements.
2.- There is a bad belief that everything we normally buy is cheaper than what is made to measure. In reality, it is not always this way, so before you go shopping minimalist furniture or objects like crazy, ask and a lot, possibly we save a few euros, whatever the final option we take.
3.- In the event that it is intended decorate a house, a good idea would be to start from the living room and work your way up to the rest of the rooms (See article for tips on how to decorate dining rooms). Keep in mind that the living room is the place where you spend the most time and, therefore, it is the one where you need to pay the most attention.
4.- In any room it is necessary to try by all means to eliminate those elements that only serve as ornamentation. Space is vital and must be gained in every corner of it. Sobriety, order and highlighting the architectural details are the key tips for a good interior design in the less is more trend.
5.- In minimalist kitchens Modern must prioritize and merge aesthetics with functionality. Spacious, clean object spaces, with light colors, preferably white and its shades in furniture and cabinets, and without ornamentation. We also recommend the following articles:
- Types of kitchens and best furniture layouts
- Modern kitchen design
A good advice for kitchens, in the case of stools or chairs in the kitchen it is better to use raw materials in front of sight, such as wood or steel and if possible. without backs. They are actually tips that optimize the space by increasing functionality and the purpose, which is to cook.
6.- If we are looking for a minimalist bathroomThe ideal is to have smooth walls without tiling or tiles so that we will avoid distorting the perfection of the facing, if we cannot, we must use large tiles that reduce the joints.
In the case of the floor, avoid using coverings that have joints to have a feeling of continuity in the same style as the walls, although if wood is used - parquet is perfect for the feeling of warmth in bathrooms.
In the minimalist styles Light colors predominate in furniture and materials, they must be noble, wood, steel or even glass if we talk about the smallest objects such as soap or towel racks and always furniture with straight lines.
The decoration lines; light and monochrome colors, use noble materials and straight lines to have a minimalist furniture
Colors
7.- As for the colors, the minimalist style uses monochrome colors in home interior designs, that is, tones that do not differ much from each other.
Otherwise, you can make the mistake of creating a space with many contrasts and therefore very strident, which also would not do anything other than give the feeling of being in a very small space and outside the style of the color in the minimalist trend.
Where can you see color palettes that combine well?… Well, Adobe has a website especially for that where a thousand and one colors are also combined, from HERE. You can create palettes, explore the most voted ones or save them in your account.
8.- To decorate small rooms With colors you have to take a point into account, if the ceilings are low they should be painted in light colors, preferably white, so we will give a feeling of spaciousness in the room.
9.- Stop for decorate large rooms With high ceilings we must give a more coherent visual to the space, so as a trick we will paint the ceiling with two shades darker than the walls. A visual effect that perfectly favors the stay! and how well we explain in the article on tricks to paint walls is a good solution.
10.- How technology is providing us with tools to improve our technical solutions in the color that we can use in the living room, kitchen, bathroom or other rooms in the house. We recommend an Itunes Apple APP called ColorSnap.
Photograph a space and get the colors that appear in the image, it's that simple! You will be able to find the colors that you like the most if you have seen a space that you really like.
Minimalist furniture
10.- Regarding the furniture in minimalist decor It should be encouraged to provide furniture with a design of straight lines, with basic plans and without ornamentation, and with perfectionist and detailed finishes based on simplicity but utility at the same time.
furniture with a design of straight lines, with basic plans and without ornamentation with perfectionist finishes
The materials of the minimalist furniture; It is recommended that they be made of steel or wood (noble materials) since they convey a really interesting feeling of sobriety. Their surfaces must be smooth and with straight and geometric lines, as has been commented, is that the sensation of space is the predominant one.
Leonardo da Vinci already said that … "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication". And it must be recognized that there are pieces of furniture that, following the line and after 80 years of their arrival, have not lost an iota of topicality. A perfect example is the Barcelona Chair by the architect Mies van der Rohe.
12.- Low-rise furniture should be used preferably with shades that can be raw or light. A tip is to use rectangular furniture if the room is small, the perspective of length and breadth, if the room is long, we must use rather square furniture in this way we will reduce the feeling of depth.
13.- A touch of glass in the room can come in handy since it provides that subtlety of transparency and can be taken with a common thread that connects all the elements of the rooms.
Textile and fabrics
14.- We must emphasize the fabrics used to upholster a sofa or cushions, a set of chairs or the one used in curtains. In this case the Fabrics must have colors of the same style as the rest of the set to cause a minimalism on the whole. The feeling of tranquility and relaxation must be enhanced, so patterns should also be avoided. Actually, if you can do without curtains, all the better!
We have a long article on home textiles with lots of ideas.
15.- As a final note, it must be said that today there are many specialized stores where you can find items of this style. They are not particularly expensive items, so if we add this fact to having hardly any furniture, it could be said without fear of being wrong that we are dealing with a really economical, modern and avant-garde style at the same time.
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