Minimalism at Home: Living a clutter-free life

Better Living

Vogue, a popular fashion magazine had recently interviewed a celebrity where she gave us a tour of her abode that she fondly calls her "minimal monastery". If anyone of you have seen the interview, you’ll know what I am talking about. Empty walls, bare minimum furniture and vacant rooms and hallways; no doubt her house looks chic and extravagantly organised but does it meet the Indian standards? Well, may be not!

India is a strange country in terms of socio-economic status. There is a section of the Indian population that makes it to the list of the richest people in the world with overflowing wealth, while some are extremely poor barely able to make ends meet. However, today we’ll be talking about the category of people in between, ie., the middle class and the upper middle class that occupies the majority of the Indian population. In cities like Hyderabad, Bangalore, Pune, Delhi, Gurgaon, Mumbai, Chennai, Ahmedabad or Kolkata, people belonging to this category can easily afford a 2 BHK or a 3 BHK. Buying a house sparks a lot of ideas for interior decoration. Paintings, mirrors, furniture, colours, patterns, upholstery you start getting the vibes of an interior designer. But you might not be entirely sure what you want. However, the majority of the millennial generation prefers living a minimalist life but often have no idea how to live clutter-free.

"Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful." – William Morris

Minimalism at home is the recent interior design trend that is emerging making homes more efficient and intuitive. Here are a few tips for minimalism at home and how you can live a clutter-free life.

Minimalist home does not just mean monochrome paints or less furniture and decor items. It goes beyond to something that most of us after a long week at work detest doing, ie., cleaning and tidying spaces and corners of the house. Let’s start working on decluttering our spaces and maintaining minimalism. One room at a time!

Kitchen

How about we start with the most essential and used space of our house, the kitchen. We spend a significant amount of time cooking food and serving the family, so the kitchen is the place we must clean up and throw away all the junk.

• There are often snacks, spices and condiments in the kitchen shelves that have been used just one time and then tucked away in some random box. All food items come with an expiry date, so the first task would be to throw away all those expired food items in the bin and clean out the shelves. Once done with that you’ll feel your kitchen breathing with life.
• If your kitchen does not have enough shelves and cabinets, it’s time to invest in an efficient modular kitchen. Alternatively, you can buy strategic shelves, command hooks, S-hooks or racks to organise your kitchen utensils, crockery and jars.
• Get rid of multiple kitchen tools, or machinery that you haven’t used in a long time. Chances are you might never use them ever.

Decluttering the kitchen will keep it odourless and free from pests.

Living Room

This is the room which we love decorating with furniture, showpieces, colours and bright upholstery. This is where we welcome our guests and have parties. In short, the living room is the centre of attraction of your house. Most of us make the mistake of displaying a lot of photo frames, decorative items, showpieces and knick-knacks.

• Instead, a living room should be decorated on a theme of monochrome colour, or simple and crisp wall patterns, minimalist choice of furniture that doubles us as a storage space as well as for seating purpose.
• Spaces in apartments are pretty small these days, so avoid using bulky furniture.Place light furniture in your room and allow enough natural light to seep in.
• Instead of keeping multiple showpieces and photo frames, concentrate on one single large painting or a statement decor item in the room.

Bedroom

A place where you retire at the end of the day. Declutter the room immediately if you have multiple items lying around. A comfortable bed, a wardrobe, a side table and an armchair are what you would need in this room. Experiment with lighting to give it a minimalist look. Instead of printed upholsteries on your bed, go for solid colours or simple stripes and chevron patterns. Choice of colours, patterns and textures give a crisp and minimalist look to your room.

A few more tips to declutter your overall house

• Throw away old slippers, sandals and footwear
• Donate old books and clothes
• Get rid of expired makeup and dry food items
• Throw away or donate crockeries and utensils that are not in use
• "Less is more" – follow this motto when designing your house
• If you like a decorative piece ask if there is enough space to place it in your house.

The modern pieces of furniture are built that has a minimalist technique and imparts a contemporary look. Design your rooms in such a way that there is no visual chaos but looks crisp and clean

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