I love the clean clutter free minimalist look but I have antiques and traditional furniture. After seriously decluttering, I have space and empty drawers, etc. and I'm wondering if I want to take it to a new level. Get rid of some furniture, art and anything extra.
Anyone gone that far? Any regrets? Any advice?
I wouldn't want to go comletely minimalist - I'd like to display key items and have everything else in invisible wall cupboards. I'd also like cosy soft furnishings.
Howeever if you have extra furniture like bookshelves and drawers, I've always found the space left behind more attractive.
I really like the way it looks, but I'm not sure I could live with it everyday.
My home office is very minimalist though. I have a desk, a chair, and a file cabinet, all with clean, simple lines. The only thing on the desk is my laptop and a simple desk lamp. The walls are white with no artwork. It is nice to have a clean space to spread work out when necessary, but I also love the serene feeling that the lack of stuff gives.
I know what you mean, nws2002. I probably couldn't live with minimalist, even though I admire it immensely. (Think Georgia O'Keefe's home.) It would be nice to have a clear, calm space like your home office!
It sounds like minimalism is a standard that we are supposed to attain.
Keep the things you love, use, need, and reflect who you are. Forget the "cluttered," "non-minimalist" definitions. In my mind the only goal is to purge those things that I don't love, use, need, and don't reflect who I am. If I still have more than 100 things that won't fit into my car, oh, well. That wasn't my goal.
I don't see why a traditional decorating style can't be clean and clutter free. Personally, my taste leans more towards a clean-lines modern look, but if you like the look of your antiques and old-style furniture, why not make your goal to simply clear away anything that gets in the way of the visual look that YOU want?
If you have a lot of antiques, consider rotating them, perhaps on a seasonal basis. Displaying a few nice pieces with plenty of room to "breathe" will surely show them off to better advantage than cramming every inch of a cabinet, shelf, or tabletop, and will still reflect your chosen style.
By the way, although I do find minimalist styles inspiring, I think most magazine images take them to extremes that I, at least, would find undesirable to live with. How many real people wear clothing the way runway models do? That's how I see it. ;-) Be inspired by artistic presentations, but adapt them to your own real life.
Thank you all for your thoughts.
Bobbi, I agree, "minimalism" is only a word and setting a 100 item limit is unrealistic and why even set a certain number of things to have in the first place? It is about what we need and love.
Karyn, You hit the nail on the head -"if you like the look of your antiques and old style furniture". I think I don't. After all my de-cluttering, my furniture is more visable. My DH and I have inherited furniture from my parents and both of our grandparents. Nice antiques but not our style. So, I guess the bottom line is to de-clutter the furniture and bring in pieces with cleaner lines.
I love this forum....wonderful advice from my friends!
Sky, if they're nice antiques, you can probably get enough money selling them to pay for your new furniture.
I agree! This forum is a great place.
Sky, thanks for starting this thread. DH and I have been working towards our goal of minimalism but we have no desire to take it to the extreme. However, I think even "extreme minimalism" is probably defined differently by different people. Enjoyed reading everyone's comments. We have "rustic" furniture in one room and I think even there we can keep the extras to a minimum.
Difficult decisions: I can think of a few of my grandmother's pieces that I would have loved to have had; admittedly they had quite austere lines that wouldn't be too far out of place. Antiques -can- co-ordinate well with contemporary style when used the right way. Fine, old, well-made things are, I think, worth keeping. Without being obliged to hold onto a whole roomful; perhaps one or two smaller items that can be made to work, or kept aside for the next generation.
I like things with stories, and I wonder, with something like a nice dresser, if you would be able to write down a little story about the person who owned it, maybe with a copy of the old photo. Someone who loves antiques might enjoy that, especially if they are someone like me with immigrant parents who have no old things, so feel a little disconnected from the past.
I'd like to be minimalist, but more of a functional minimalist not extreme. I would like to try extreme minimalist living, I just don't think its anything I could do for the long term.
I'm hoping for more of a functional minimalist apartment though. me and my boyfriend just got rid of out couch and coffee table and we both really it. We've been doing a lot of uncluttering around out apartment and I'm hoping we can keep it up so there isn't so much stuff in here b/c we have a pretty small place. Also I know we won't be living here forever and I want our next move to be as easy as possible.
I don't have much attachment to things like antiques or family heirlooms though either. I don't know if I will ever get where I want to be, but I'm going to keep trying.
Well, Sky, there it is: If you don't like the furniture, why keep it? It sounds like you at least have nice furniture, just not your style, so you should be able to make some money towards the furniture you do want.
In my case, the unwanted furniture was crappy castoffs from the 70s, given to me in the mid-80s when my son was young and I was finishing college. It finally struck me one day that I *HATED* all of that burnt orange and harvest gold and "avocado" green that no self-respecting real avocado ever resembled. So as finances permitted, I phased it all out. And I have to 'fess up that I'm one of those people who LIKE the Ikea look, which isn't nearly as "minimalist" as some of the extremes I've seen. The homes in Ikea photos still tend to look like people actually live in them. ;-)
By the way, two examples of non-"modern" minimalist decorating styles would be the Shaker look and Japanese-influenced styles. Neither is stark and white and straight out of 2001: A Space Odyssey, but both are definitely uncluttered and minimalist. So when it comes to minimalism, literally, we can think outside the box. :-D
it occurs to me that there is a lack of differentiation in people's idea of minimalism, and minimalist decor.
Minimalism is a lifestyle choice (not one I would ever willingly embrace as it is often defined, but YMMV)
Minimalist decor is just a certain decor style. Often that style is only tenable because there are hordes and hordes of flat-fronted floor-to-ceiling built-ins to store everything, with few horizontal surfaces.
as Karyn wrote, the Japanese and Shaker traditional design can be very warm and cosy and comfortable. I love the Shaker look! to me that borders on perfection.
edited to add: oops! Peter already addressed the semantics issue on another thread. Great reading!
Sky: do you have a place to store for a couple months-the furniture you're thinking of de-cluttering? Maybe a basement or a spare room? That way you could live without it for a couple months and see if you really miss it. I hate to see someone rid themselves of something if they're not absolutely sure they don't want it any longer.
As several people mentioned before, everyone's definition of minimalism is slightly different. In my mind, minimalism is having as little as you can possibly live with. That is not my goal. My goal is to have a neat house with everything I need to live comfortably, but no excess and no unwanted/unused items.
I'm not a fan of antiques either, and like Karyn, I'm actually a fan of IKEA furniture for its clean lines, its flexibility, and its functionality. Plus, I'd rather have furniture that holds up well while I use it, that requires minimal maintainance, and that I wouldn't cry over if I needed to replace it.
It has been 6 months since I started this thread and since then I have decided to keep what I have since I have the space and if I downsize one day, I'll get rid of the excess then.
Minimalism seems limiting to me. I would rather have what I need and some extras for convenience. If I only use something on rare occasions, it's okay, at least I have it. I have gotten rid of the unused, unwanted and unloved stuff so I think I'm good
Thanks for all the suggestions!
I do not see a clear correlation between the desire to unclutter and the desire to go minimalist.
I think you can have a fair number of things but work - constantly - to keep clutter at bay. To me, that means getting rid of (toss, recycle, sell, donate, gift) the non-useful items that most of us allow to accumulate in our homes and offices AND organizing, neatly, the items that we decide to keep, even if the things we decide to keep are "inventory".
I think that if you feel the furniture/artwork isn't adding to your life then it's ok to get rid of.
Right now I have a CD rack that, if I sell off a lot of the CDs, I want to get rid of just to have one less piece of furniture.
Sky, I have shoved a lot of art into cabinets and closets because we have too much for our wall space. My solution to pretty much anything is if it stays too long in the closet, I must not love it that much and it's okay to send it away. :-)
Re: furniture: I agree with your decision - since you have the space and are not feeling an urgent need to swap things out, might as well keep it. One day you may look at that [whatever] and absolutely loathe it, but more likely you'll just think, eh, it's okay for now! But not coming to our next place! (That's me and our La-Z-Boy couch.)
themusiclives: I am tempted to have a wild party so that our martini glasses get broken. That way I won't have to keep the cabinet they are in!
chacha1 - Haha, I love your comment! Maybe my martini glasses can join yours at the party so they can get broken as well. My husband and I have an overabundance of glasses!
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