Living Room
30 Minimalist Living Room Tips, Tricks & Ideas
A minimalist style prioritizes simplicity and can help your home feel peaceful and serene. Though a minimalist room has clean lines and a simple palette, it takes careful planning to create this effortlessly sophisticated look. We’ve broken down the main elements of a minimalist living room along with our 30 favorite tips and ideas for helping you achieve the look in your own home.
Minimalist Style
There are many different ways to approach creating your minimalist living room. Start by evaluating what you already own and plan to keep: Do you have a sofa you need to match? Lots of small decor items you need to store? Once you’ve inventoried the pieces you have, you can determine what approach you want to take for a minimalist look.
1. Minimalist Monochrome
A classic approach to a minimalist room is to focus on an all-white color palette. Layer in tones of white and cream with warm woods and touchable textures for a crisp and inviting space.
2. Dare to Go Dark
Though lighter color schemes are definitely more common among minimalist design spaces, you can achieve a bold and unexpected look by veering in the opposite direction on the color wheel. Opt for darker hues for a bit of added drama.
3. Add Pops of Color
Once you’ve landed on a primary color scheme, plan to stick to it for nearly everything in the room. Limit the appearance of accent colors to a few well-defined splashes here and there. We love to showcase pops of color in a side chair or fun piece of wall art.
4. Plan More Storage Than Necessary
Nothing ruins the effect of a minimalist room as quickly as clutter, so it’s important to include as many concealed storage options as possible in your minimalist living room.
5. Rely on Texture and Patterns as Much as Color
A minimalist palette will be much more limited than what you may be used to, but by no means does that mean minimalist rooms are visually boring. Approach different textures, shapes and patterns the way you normally would colors, and use them to keep the room visually interesting.
6. Keep It Sitting Room Only
Most people’s living rooms have televisions, a few game systems, possibly a writing desk or computer, or even a musical instrument. Consider simplifying your space by removing electronics and extras to encourage more stillness to match your minimalist decor.
7. Unite the Room with Accents
It’s harder to create a cohesive look in a room with fewer items since there are fewer ways to weave in repeating colors, patterns or themes. Instead, try choosing a particular metal or wood and matching it throughout, from table legs and upholstery studs to plant pots and wall frames.
Minimalist Furniture Styles
When furnishing a minimalist living room, you want to keep the number of furniture items low and select pieces that make an impact. Unlike rustic or bohemian styles that make it easy to add items one at a time, you’ll want to plan ahead and purchase everything with intention, so you don’t have to struggle to make pieces match.
8. Keep It Neutral
When deciding on a sofa or chairs for your minimalist living room, your first option is to select a neutral shade that will be easy to match and will help make statement pieces pop. Choose a couch with strong, clean lines and decorate with textured throws to keep it from blending too much into the background.
9. Make the Sofa a Central Focus
Alternatively, a bright, bold sofa against a monochromatic backdrop can be a powerful means to bring together a minimalist living room. Sprinkle splashes of the couch color in a few places throughout the room to make the most of the effect.
10. Pick Multifunctional Furniture
Minimalist design requires maximum free space. Furniture that does more than one job, like a daybed, can be an excellent space-saving choice.
11. Make Storage-Minded Selections
Unless you’re a true minimalist with very few possessions, you’re going to need plenty of room to keep smaller items that don’t contribute to the decor. Select items with doors and drawers to keep your clutter out of sight.
12. Show Off Your Empty Space
If you do have very few pieces of clutter in your home, purposefully opting for a coffee table or media console with clean lines and lots of open space can really emphasize the simplicity of the room.
13. Split the Difference
If you like the look of clean, storage-free furniture but can’t quite commit to doing away with drawers altogether, opt instead of a combination of both.
14. Select a Hidden Storage Piece
Another way to include storage without compromising the look and feel of your living room is to find pieces of furniture with unexpected storage areas. A coffee table with a lift-up surface or a storage sofa don’t appear to be storage items until they’re opened.
15. Choose Decorative Furniture Pieces
Not only do statement tables and consoles emphasize the amount of free space in your room, but they also give you an opportunity to tie your decor together. Choose a piece that matches the rest of your decor, either in shape, material, pattern or color.
16. Add Modern Light Fixtures
In most cases, minimalism goes hand-in-hand with a modern design style. Pick light fixtures that are sleek and understated but visually interesting, and make sure you bring in enough pieces to keep the whole room well-lit.
17. Eliminate Nonessentials
One effective way to scale down is to consider what parts of your home don’t need to be permanent. Do you need a full desk setup, or will a c-shape side table and a laptop do? Keeping things small and compact will help your minimalist approach succeed.
18. Find Stylish Hideaways
Minimalism and clutter are not compatible. Use stylish bins and baskets to hide anything you would normally keep on a surface like a coffee table, giving your decorative objects room to shine.
Minimalist Decor
In minimalist rooms, most of the decor is incorporated into the furnishings in the room. Things like rugs, throws, curtains and lights should be curated like artwork—because that’s what they are!
19. Don’t Shy Away from Color
Buying a big, colorful item can be intimidating, but a minimalist living room is a perfect spot for a bright rug. Use it to bring together the rest of your furniture, or select a statement rug to pop against a monochromatic background.
20. Go for Colorful Curtains
Similarly, curtains can be a fun place to add an unexpectedly bold accent, especially if you’ve opted for mostly neutral colors and tones throughout the rest of the room.
21. Pick a Unique Pattern or Texture
A neutral-colored rug with texture differences or patterns can blend seamlessly into a minimalist decor scheme while still making a stylish addition to the room.
22. Make Pillows Pop
If your couch is neutral, consider adding a few throw pillows in one or two of your accent shades to break up the block of color and bring together the elements of the room.
23. Add an Interesting Throw Blanket
Try adding a blanket along with your pillows to round out your sofa’s style. You can stick with accent shades or select an unusual fabric of the same color as the couch to bring depth and texture to your look.
24. Play with Varied Fabrics
As you add pillows, rugs and throws, play with a few different textures to add an additional dimension to your room’s decor. If you selected a monochromatic theme, fabric textures are the best way to make your decor pop without breaking with your color scheme.
25. Add Texture to Neutral Curtains
Curtains are another place where you can add subtle textures in light or neutral colors. Choose a texture or pattern that plays nicely with the fabrics on your furniture and decorative pillows to keep your coordination strong.
26. Pull Focus with Curated Displays
To avoid overwhelming your minimalist room, keep purely decorative items to a handful of pieces that match well and make an impact. Consider highlighting your selections by displaying them on open shelves.
27. Coordinate with Decor Sets
Consider adding a matching set to your decorative collection and displaying pieces of the set at different heights around the room. Coordinating everything down to the last detail will give your room an elegant polish that will enhance its effortless minimalist style.
28. Bring in Plants
Indoor palms or potted plants are the perfect addition to a minimalist living room since they add a pop of color that will almost never clash with any shade you’ve chosen for your furniture. Neutral pots in varied materials can add some extra texture, too!
29. Add Oversized Objects
In a minimalist room, you’re always better off going with a few larger items than with several smaller ones. Fill your shelves and tables with a few large decorative objects or sculptures to finish off your room.
30. Put Your Decor to Work
In the same way that you should look for furniture pieces that have more than one function, finding decorative items that also serve a purpose can help streamline the number of things in your living room.
Designing your living room should reflect your personal style, and we love a minimalist look in this space. From neutrals to furniture with clean lines, this is the ideal way to create a modern look in your home while making more space for the things that matter, like entertaining, lounging with family or even incorporating a homeschool room..
