Home Tree Atlas

Stress Free: Minimalist Living Room Ideas

Minimalist Living Room Ideas

I believe you have to be careful when it comes to minimalist living room ideas and interior design. It can be hit or miss. You can easily end up with a bare living room that feels empty, and that’s not the goal. It needs to be a relaxing and clutter free space. It still needs to have style. You can have a rustic living room (seen in pictures (2) and (3)) or go with an industrial style and still keep in minimalist. For me it really boils down to A) being clutter free and B) color management.

Kept Clutter Free

You don’t have to be well organised and make sure every piece has it’s place to create a minimalist living room. Just hide it all away. Out of sight. For me that would be the first goal – shove all the clutter into a draw, get back to it later. Right now just focus on the things you can see in the living.

Coffee Tables

If you really want a minimalist living room then look to have very little on the coffee table. If that is not an option then have something like a wicker tray or good looking bowls to group items together, this helps create a cleaner look (check out my post here for pictures Creative Coffee Table Decor Ideas.

You can find minimalist coffee table designs that have draws underneath. This is good because you can store away items and keep them out of sight. The same can be done with ottomans – there are ones that open up to storage space.

Behind The Curtain

If you have open cabinets, look to close these off with doors or hang up a curtain. Curtains can also be used to divide up the living room. Say you want a home office or home gym, a curtain can be hung up and used to hide away the space when it is not in use.

Make It Count

If you have a hard time keeping your space clutter free, try buying an expensive piece for your living room, like a coffee table or elegant table decor piece. This way you’ll want to make sure everything around it is clean and clutter free so that one piece is able to shine.

Minimalist Furniture Style

If you look at the photos in the mood board, there is nothing really decorative about the furniture pieces. They are upholstered pieces with a very modern sleek design. Note how the colors of the couches are neutral – the color of the couch has a big impact on the look of the room.

Color Management

Apart from keeping your living room clutter free, the other key for a minimalist style is color management. All of the living rooms seen above have few to no color in them – they only use neutral toned pieces. But this doesn’t mean you can’t have a colourful room. Take a look at some of my color based living room posts like red or purple. But the same rule applies there. If you want a red colored living room, you need to take away other colors in the room. Because these pieces will stand out and kill the style you are going for. You need to pay attention to the colors in the room and remove pieces that are not inline with the design scheme you are going for.

Taking Inspiration 

A good style to take inspiration from would be Scandinavian – just look at the living rooms in pictures (4) and (5). A lot of their design is heavy in white, while the wooden pieces they use add warmth and color to the space. Adding some plants will also bring in color (6).

Decor Pieces

Even in a minimalist living room you can still have decor pieces – it is recommended. And because you will only have 1-3 pieces, each piece will really stand out and showcase your style. Since you are only using a few pieces, make each piece meaningful and well thought out. Another way to decorate is through textures (like wicker, your pillows, wood grains (coffee table, bowls), and plants). Here are some ideas:

  • A minimalist art piece (like black and white).
  • Plants add warmth and color to the room, and the choice of the planter can add style to the room.
  • An accent wall can be a decor and focal piece. This is when you have one wall in the room that is different than the rest. Say you have all the walls painted in white, one wall can have a concrete texture, or a subtle linen paint effect on it (Textured Wall Painting Ideas: From Faux Wood to Linen Effects).
  • One thing to take away from the pictures in the mood board is that pillows play a big role in a minimalist style living room. All living rooms need pillows. Make them blend in with the room by choosing the colors that fit your color scheme and have a simple (non-colorful) texture that adds to the decor of the space (7) .
  • Lighting is also another thing that is needed in every living room and can help in stylising the room. Check out the industrial looking wall lamp in picture (8). Choose simple looking fixtures that have a touch of style to them. 1/2/3/4/5/6/7/8

Here are some more living room posts for more ideas:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
January 4, 2014 in Living Room

2 Responses to Stress Free: Minimalist Living Room Ideas