Whether you’re moving into a new apartment, recently separated from your loved one and looking to start fresh, or just finished reading “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up” by Marie Kondo — designing your home with a minimalist attitude is one of the best things you can do for your life. Studies have shown that having less clutter reduces stress. In addition, being intentional about the items you do have, make you appreciate them more and more gratitude equals more happiness! Turning to a minimalist design also frees up your time and puts money back into your pocket. Oftentimes, our possessions take up a lot of our time — we’re constantly distracted by them. Freeing up our possessions frees up our mind and time to focus on one task at a time. It also puts more money into our pocket because we’re no longer spending money on things we don’t need. If you’re ready to begin a stress-free life of less clutter, here are a few tips to designing a minimalist room.

Gather and Release

The first step in designing a minimalist room is to get rid of all your junk or unnecessary items. Pull everything down off the walls and out of the closets and go through them all. If something doesn’t still speak to you, set it aside. You may also want to have several trash bags designated for different functions, such as garbage, donations, and sell. While it may be hard to let go of some of these items, keep in mind that change is an inevitable part of life and letting go will help make more room for the new. Set aside some goals for yourself, such as only one box full of sentimental items or only 4 pairs of pants, etc. You’ll be surprised at how much was weighing you down!

Bed-frame

Choosing a minimalist bed-frame for a minimalist bedroom is key. The bed is the main attractions in a bedroom and should provide a sense of warmth and comfort. A great way to keep the bed minimalist is just by laying a box spring and mattress down on the floor. If you’d like to create a little room under the bed, there are plenty of minimalist wooden bed frames out there. You could even get creative and use wooden pallets — many wood shops have an ample amount of these that they are just looking to give away.

Warmth

Where people often go wrong with minimalism is, they forget that space should be warm and inviting, not a cold, barren space. Just because you’ve gotten rid of a bunch of your things, doesn’t mean that your room can’t still represent the vibrancy of your life. But, instead of having 4 different types of blankets strewn about the room, for example, just choose your favorite one that is simple and elegant. Instead of having a million picture frames on the wall, maybe just pick 1-3 that speak to you.

Use of Neutrals

Neutral colors are a huge part of the minimalist design. These colors are often soft in their tone – creamy whites, light greys, delicate beiges, soft greens. Having too many clashing patterns or vibrant colors in a room can become distracting and stress-inducing. Of course, you don’t want your room to feel like an all-white prison cell, so make sure to add a little bit of color where you can – keyword, “little.”

Natural Light

Natural light is a huge part of making any room shine. With little furniture, the light becomes essential to brighten up the room. Natural light also makes a room feel open, warm, and all-natural.

Decorating

When decorating your new minimalist room, choose your decorations wisely. If you have a lot of art pieces lying around, choose only one or a couple that will add warmth and vibrancy to the room. You might want to accent the room with only one piece of decoration, such as a flag, a large plant, or one framed piece of art. Perhaps you have a lot of photos — you may want to consider consolidating them into a photo album or only hanging a few.

When designing a minimalist room, the devil is in the details. It’s not all about getting rid of everything, it’s about simplifying and being intentional. If you’re looking for that one piece to accent your new minimalist room, you may want to consider purchasing a decorative flag from Flags Importer.