Create A Minimalist Home And Take Back Control

minimalist house

NAVIGATION

The way you decorate your home matters; it’s an extension of yourself. When you walk into a room, you’re met with colors, trinkets, furniture, art, and décor that speaks volumes about the person who lives there. Your home gives you a feeling, and you want it to be a good one!

A minimalist’s house, in particular, is meant to deeply reflect the person who lives there and increase positive feelings in their life. And who doesn’t want that?

ryans tiny house

Hi, I’m Ryan

I wanted my house to reflect what I truly value, which led me to move into a tiny house about a decade ago. Today, my home and everything in it is intentionally designed to mirror who I am.

ryan mitchell simple living expert

What Is A Minimalist Home?

What is a minimalist home

When you think of a minimalist home, what comes to mind? A stark house with bare white walls? While this look has its aesthetic pros, a minimalist home does not necessarily have to mimic a particular look or vibe.

A minimalist household is simply any home that has been intentionally designed to support the lifestyle of its owner. Turning your house into a minimalist home means evaluating your clutter, furniture, color scheme, and décor to identify if the feelings they bring you are the ones you want. It’s about creating a holistic space.

what makes a minimalistic house

A Minimalist House Is Clutter Free

A Minimalist House Is Clutter Free

Decluttering is one of the first things people think of when it comes to creating a minimalist house, and it’s often one of the first steps you should take when trying to make your house a minimalist one.

A messy home leads to higher levels of cortisol, harming your emotional health, and puts a strain on family life at home. This doesn’t sound like a peaceful, holistic home to me.

I’ve found that getting rid of clutter reduces my stress and gives me freedom to focus on things I care about. The beginning of creating a minimalist home that fosters a peaceful environment is to get rid of your stuff.

30 day declutter challenge

Minimalist Homes Give Each Room A Purpose

Minimalist Homes Give Each Room A Purpose

The art of minimalism and essentialism is about eliminating the excess and only leaving room for the things that add value to your life. You can apply this same mindset to every room of your household by evaluating the purpose that each serves.

minimalist designed rooms have a purposeI’m pretty ruthless in my tiny house; I don’t keep much around. I’m a practical guy, so I’ve designed my home to match that. Each room has just about enough space to live comfortably and have access to all of the essentials — bathroom, kitchen storage, and the like.

I don’t feel the need to add flashy décor or unnecessary furniture to my house, because that isn’t me. I’m perfectly content to live a simple life, and my house matches my personality in that way. That doesn’t mean that someone who fills their space with ornate artwork or vibrant colored beanbag chairs is inherently less of a minimalist, as long as those things have purpose in their home.

Analyze the purpose you want each room to serve — that purpose could be practical as “I shower here” or as abstract as “I want this room to foster an inviting feeling.”

Ask yourself

  • How do I want to feel in this room?
  • How do I want others to feel?
  • What adjectives describe this room?
  • What activities will take place here?
  • What is the purpose of this room?
  • What items will aid that purpose?
  • What do I like about this room?
  • If I could change one thing it would be?
  • Does the furniture match the purpose?
the purpose of stuff

Minimalist Homes Support Your Hobbies And Passions

Minimalist Homes Support Your Hobbies And Passions

In a minimalist house, not only does each room of your home have a purpose, your stuff has a purpose as well. There are many methods out there in the minimalist world for decluttering your belongings and nailing down the things of value.

To simplify this, the stuff you keep around should support your hobbies, passions, and who you want to become. For me, that looks like a huge bookshelf in my tiny house where I keep all the books I’ve read and hope to read in the future. My books are a staple in my minimalist household, as they’re my most favorite hobby.

Fill your home with things you love. Keep the guitar you always play, add photos of your friends to your wall, or add a desk to support your love of writing. Whoever you want to be, let your belongings echo that.

tiny house book reviews
minimalism book reviews
homesteading book reviews

A Minimalist House Reflects Your Personality And Style

A Minimalist House Reflects Your Personality And Style

Minimalist homes do not have to be void of style and personality. In order to truly create a holistic space that mirrors you, it’s important to match the color, décor, and general vibe to who you are.

Timeless Furniture For Your Minimalist HomeThis comes down to all elements of style: color scheme, the placement of things, posters and wall art, photographs of family and friends, and more. As mentioned before, it’s a pretty common misconception that a room has to be plain to be considered minimalist.

I’m a huge proponent that any room that has been stripped to its most true elements and is not excessive or overbearing is a minimalist space. Fill your room with color, art, or handwritten quotes that uplift or inspire you. Just don’t let your décor be absent of purpose, and make sure it mirrors who you are at your core.

A Minimalist Home Is Cozy And Warm

A Minimalist Home Is Cozy And Warm

Minimalists can sometimes get a bad rap for creating spaces that are barren or bleak, but I don’t see minimalism like that at all. I am a firm believer that our lives should be comfortable, so much so that I wear the same outfit every day just because its comfortable for me!

Pursuing comfort in big and small ways has greatly improved my quality of life. Minimalist houses can easily be made into cozy, warm, intimate havens. Each room of your house has the potential to foster warmth and comfort if you’re intentional with how you fill it.

Make your house cozy

  • Add soft blankets
  • Add cozy throw pillows
  • Light candles
  • Use essential oils
  • Add house plants
  • Opt for brighter wall tones
  • Play with low lighting
  • Curate an outdoor hangout
  • Hang photos on the walls
  • Set out a favorite book
the basics of hygge

Five Tips For Creating A Minimalist House

Tips For Creating A Minimalist House

I took this opportunity to chat with my friend Mia Danielle about everything that goes into creating a minimalist space. What’s awesome about Mia is that she really understands that there is more to creating a minimalist house than how much stuff you get rid of.

Here are five solid tips for to help you curate a home that isn’t just minimal, but that holistically serves you in all areas of your life:

Purchase Timeless Furniture For Your Minimalist Home

Purchase Timeless Furniture For Your Minimalist Home

Ostentatious pieces aren’t the move in a minimalist house, as they quickly become unusable. Trends come and go, and flashier items will go out of style more quickly. One way to make the most out of what’s in your home is to target timeless pieces of furniture and décor.

classic timeless furnitureLike I said before, this doesn’t mean your home needs to be bland or plain. There are many timeless pieces that have color, flair, and character. It simply means that when making a purchase, think through the longevity of the piece more so than its immediate use.

Imagine the life of the new couch you are getting for the living room: A cream or beige couch may outlive fads longer than a green couch would. When furnishing your space, consider the way each piece can be used if you move, if styles change, or if you change. Invest in pieces that can change with you.

Journal About Each Room In Your Minimalist Home

Journal About Each Room In Your Minimalist Home

Writing down your thoughts can be helpful when curating your space. Spend a few minutes in each room, grab a clean piece of paper, and write down how the room makes you feel.

Do the dark walls in your living room make you feel claustrophobic? Do the hard chairs in the kitchen feel uninviting? Do the stacks of papers in your office bring you stress?

Identify your culprits. Then, take some time to read back what you wrote and begin coming up with ways to alter that feeling. Start with small changes, then let your ideas grow from there.

bullet journal challenge

Use Heat Mapping In Your Minimalist House

Use Heat Mapping In Your Minimalist House

Heat mapping is a fairly easy trick for creating a minimalist home. The way it works is that every time you use an item, say a product in your bathroom or a kitchen appliance, you set that item aside from the rest of your things. Eventually, your most used items will all be set aside, making unused items easy to identify.

In this way, you begin to clearly see the distinction between what is essential in your life verses the things you never touch. This is a valuable way to begin to control clutter in your minimalist home and fill your space primarily with the things you need.

mia danielle

“With heat mapping, I’ll have all of my bathroom products in one group, then as I use something, I move it to the side. I do that for about a month. At the end of the month, I see the things I haven’t grabbed and throw them away.”

– Mia Danielle, Podcast Host

Listen To Your Gut When Creating A Minimalist House

Listen To Your Gut When Creating A Minimalist House

Listening to your inner voice for guidance is key when creating a minimalist home. If your goal is to foster a space that makes you feel good, then you want to stay in tune with yourself and gauge when you feel good or when you feel bad.

After you’ve decorated in the ways you see fit, walk into each room of your home and observe how you feel. If you feel a sense of emptiness or overcrowding, or if the room isn’t giving you the positive feeling you were hoping for, listen to your gut about making a change.

mia danielle

“Whenever you feel at peace in your space, when you feel happy, and you get that moment when you look around the room and just smile, that’s when you know you’re at the right place for you.”

– Mia Danielle, Podcast Host

Add Personal Touches To Your Minimalist Home

Add Personal Touches To Your Minimalist Home

A minimalist house is not complete without personal flair. Integrate items that represent who you are into your minimalist look. You can decorate with memorabilia and embed small touches of sentimentality into an aesthetic base of simplicity.

This might look like

  • Creating a photo gallery
  • Adding art to your wall
  • Displaying family heirlooms
  • Framing letters or cards
  • Hanging maps where you’ve lived
  • Displaying sheet music you like
  • Decorating with travel mementos
  • Framing family recipes
  • Display kids artwork
adding personal touch to minimalist home

The Best Way To Make Your Home Minimalist: Use Your Five Senses

Best Way To Make Your Home Minimalist

One of the best ways to create a fully minimalist, holistic home is to incorporate all five of your senses into your space.

This means thinking about your home as more than where you put your furniture and as a holistic experience that brings all of your senses to life. Let’s break down each of your five senses and learn how they can be used in a minimalist home.

What Does A Minimalist House Look Like?

What Does A Minimalist House Look Like

Naturally, visual aesthetic is the first things people think about for a minimalist space. As mentioned before, a minimalist house does not necessarily have to abide by particular colors and tones, but these elements do often help with the mood of the room. There’s a reason the experts repeatedly do what they do.

Visual elements of a minimalist house

  • Accent with warm or cool tones
  • Use consistent materials
  • Negative spaces contrast tones
  • Buy large furniture, not small
  • Use concealed storage
  • Leave trinkets off of tables
  • Add house plants
  • Opt for multipurpose furniture
  • Lead with white tones
  • Incorporate splashes of color
minimalist homes look cozy

What Does A Minimalist House Feel Like?

What Does A Minimalist House Feel Like

Consider how you want your home to feel — what textures and tactile elements can help you curate a household that is pleasing to your sense of touch? Add things to your minimalist house that evoke a cozy, homey, restful feeling.

Tactile elements of a minimalist house

minimalist homes feel inviting

What Does A Minimalist House Smell Like?

What Does A Minimalist House Smell Like

Science says that our memory and sense of satisfaction is directly linked to our sense of smell. Fragrance is powerful, and filling your home with rich, ambrosial scents can make it feel like a far more peaceful space.

Aromatic elements of a minimalist house

  • Light candles
  • Diffuse essential oils
  • Use a wax warmer
  • Roast coffee beans
  • Hang dried herbs
  • Boil cinnamon sticks
  • Boil lemon rinds
  • Use cleaning products
  • Absorb odors with baking soda
  • Clear trash regularly
  • Utilize activated charcoal
minimalist homes smell nice

What Does A Minimalist House Sound Like?

What Does A Minimalist House Sound Like

You can also use sound to curate a peaceful, minimalist household. Music, relaxing noises, and reducing excess chaotic noise can help you to create a fully holistic house.

Euphonic elements of a minimalist house

  • Open windows to hear sounds
  • Spin your favorite vinyl record
  • Display musical instruments
  • Use a sound machine
  • Encourage conversation
  • Make time for silence
  • Eliminate background noise
  • Invest in quality insulation
  • Reduce echos with rugs & pillows
  • Grease squeaky hinges
displaying musical instruments in minimalist home

What Does A Minimalist House Taste Like?

What Does A Minimalist House Taste Like

Taste might seem like a wild one to address when talking about your house, but it can actually play a big role. There are many small food details that you may not think about that can make your house feel more like home.

Flavorful elements of a minimalist house

  • Keep quality food in the fridge
  • Set candy or mints on coffee tables
  • Brew fresh coffee in the morning
  • Healthy snacks
  • Bowl of fruit
  • Afternoon tea
  • Carafe of water
  • Meal prep for simple meals
  • Cook healthy dinners
aroma of fresh brewed coffee in minimalist house

Your Turn!

  • How do you hope to feel in your minimalist house?
  • What will you change to curate that feeling in your home?
2 Comments
  1. not many books or games of things to play with or cook with there, where are they stored? Any art supply /musical instruments? I see a few screens …hmmm,,, #earthlobbyist

    • The whole story is really good, plants, music, seems like there is room outside as well, as a food maker there are few simple meals, We save time and money using a washer dryer, where I live it’s $15/10lb min ($750/year/min) for drop off and pick up wash/fold service. Could skip the dryer but not the washer 🙂

      I missed this part of the story in my previous comment 🙁
      EUPHONIC ELEMENTS OF A MINIMALIST HOUSE
      Spin your favorite vinyl record
      >>>>Display musical instruments

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