A Complete Guide to Creating a Minimalist Apartment

Creating a simple, minimalist apartment is designed to produce a lifestyle of less clutter and more space.

A home of less equals less cleaning, less organizing, and less stress. You can have more freedom to simply indulge in your surroundings and take the time to relax. Your home should be your safe haven, a place for you to go to when you want to escape this noisy world.

Are you wondering just how you can make your apartment more minimalist? Read on to find out how to get started.

What is a Minimalist Apartment

The key to a minimalist apartment is removing any unnecessary “stuff” and keeping hold of the essentials.

A minimalist apartment is completely clear of clutter. It has only the essential pieces of furniture. Surfaces are clear of ornaments or knick-knacks.

Overall, the concept of quality over quantity should be at the forefront of your mind when planning your minimalist apartment.

But what’s so great about maintaining a minimalist home?

Well, firstly, it’s much easier to keep clean. Having less clutter on the floor and surfaces makes sweeping the floors and dusting the furniture a total breeze.

Secondly, having too much clutter can be incredibly distracting, making it difficult for you to relax in your home.

So in summary, a minimalist makeover for your apartment is bound to make your home much more appealing overall.

How can I create a Minimalist Apartment?

Take a good look around your home – which of the items you have in your living space actually serve a purpose? All? Some? None?

If you want to make changes to your apartment and make your living space more minimalist, we’d definitely advise that you tackle just one room at a time.

Sure, it might feel like it’s taking forever, but in most cases, trying to re-vamp any more than one room at a time will be overwhelming, which might see you losing motivation.

The best thing to do is set to work on your most-used living space first. That way, you’ll have a constant reminder of just how great minimalist living can be – which should spur you on to get cracking on the other rooms pronto.

Feeling overwhelmed? Not sure where to begin?

Start with the larger items first. Say you’re in the living room….

Look at your furniture – whether that’s sofas, coffee tables, armchairs or bookshelves. Which of these items are essential to your everyday life?

Which of the sofas or chairs do you or your visitors regularly sit on? How often do you read those books on the bookshelf? If you live alone, do you really need so much furniture?

This is where you’ll need to be totally ruthless. Divide everything in the room into categories – ‘keep’, ‘sell’ and ‘donate to charity’.

Then look carefully at your ‘keep’ pile. How often do you use it? If it’s not every day, where could it be stored to keep it out of sight?

Once you’ve decided what to lose and what to keep, go for a small number of simple furniture items. all in neutral colors.

I love this Storage Dresser, which you can put in just about any room of your apartment.

Make sure there is nothing stored or stacked on the floor. If you still need something to be stored in a particular room, try clever storage ideas to keep it out of sight. (You’ll find more on this below, under Minimalist Apartment furniture).

The same applies to your surfaces. If you’ve got a collection of ornaments on the bookshelves or a pile of magazines on the coffee table, consider choosing just one or two favorites if you don’t want to remove every single one.

Choose to keep items in a color that compliments the neutral tones of the walls and furniture, to give your room a little pop of color.

Choose just one or two pieces of artwork or photographs for the walls. If you want a minimalist home, don’t clutter up your walls with hundreds of small photos or random paintings.

Find a place for everything – keep things out of sight. Just don’t forget where you put them…

Consider the layout of the room. What’s the best arrangement for the items you’ve decided to keep? Move things around until you’re happy. Try a few different options, you never know what will work unless you try.

Once you’ve done all of this, it’s time to move onto the next room.

It’s a good idea to go back to the first room a few days later, to look at it with fresh eyes and make sure there is nothing else you want to change.

Repeat until you’ve been through every room in the apartment. Then what? It’s time to reward yourself. So take a seat, chill out and enjoy your calm and peaceful living space.

Creating a Minimalist Apartment On a Budget

Strapped for cash but still want a minimalist home? Good news, it’s totally do-able!

First of all, go through your home with a fine tooth comb and decide which items you don’t need anymore. Then list them on an auction website or local classifieds to make some easy cash.

Your profits can be invested in new pieces that will better compliment your new look home. Consider shopping at budget retailers or thrift stores to make the most of your money.

When it comes to decorating, why not call in a few favors from friends?

You’ll have tons of fun painting and decorating the place, plus you can have a cheap and cheerful pizza party at the end, to celebrate all your hard work. Everyone’s winning!

Minimalist Apartment Furniture

The fundamental principles of minimalist apartment furniture are sharp lines and asymmetry. Look out for streamlined pieces in neutral colors, coupled with high-shine surfaces and chrome fixtures and fittings.

When shopping for new furniture, choose multi-purpose items with handy hidden storage features – these are a great place to keep the things you don’t need every day out of sight.

For example, you could consider a multipurpose sofa which turns into a bed – the perfect place for friends or relatives to crash out when they stay over.

If you have kids, how about an ottoman sofa or stool – ideal for hiding toys, books, and games.

You can also find multipurpose coffee tables with a lifting table – these allow you to store magazines, games consoles, or board games out of sight. Or, if you spend time working on a laptop, you could even use this as a computer stand.

Minimalist Apartment ideas

Once you’ve focused on the bigger things like decorating and furniture, you’ll want to start thinking about the smaller items that can add character to your home’s new minimalist style. There are tons of minimalist apartment ideas, so here are a few to get you started.

• Take a look at your sinks. Making a small change to the faucets (taps) is a simple and relatively thrifty way to give your sink a new look. Look for a modern, daring design to add a bit of interest to your kitchen or bathroom.

• Consider hiding kitchen appliances in cupboards instead of allowing them to clutter up your work surfaces. Things like toasters and coffee machines can easily be stored in a place that’s accessible. Especially if they’re things you don’t use every day

• Did you know that having a bedroom that makes you feel happy and relaxed is linked with better sleep? Yup, it’s true.

  Make sure you spend lots of time thinking about this room and make it as simple as possible to create the peaceful environment you need for resting in.

• Beds are another great way to maximize storage space – choose an option with drawer storage underneath or even an ottoman bed.

Minimalist Apartment Checklist

• Choose your color palette – neutral colors including whites, creams and grays are all good options to complement your minimalist apartment.

• Consider the size of your home before making any changes. And make sure you measure, measure, and re-measure before ordering any large furniture items.

  Trust us, the last thing you want is for your new sofa not to fit in your home.

• Consider the purpose of the room before you re-vamp it. For example, your living room should be comfortable, cozy, and welcoming – after all, this is a place you’re going to spend a lot of your free time in.

  The same applies to your bedroom. Rooms like the kitchen and bathroom tend to be more practical, so you’ll want to think about clever storage ideas and places to hide all the essentials.

• Invest in multipurpose furniture items to maximize the available storage space in your home. These will give you a great place to hide things you need but don’t want to have out on display.

• Choose statement pieces to add interest to each room – why not opt for one large painting or wall covering instead of multiple photographs or pictures. Even better, you could consider getting a canvas made of a photograph you took yourself – perhaps a family photo or a landscape from a recent vacation.

  Doing this will ensure there is a little personal meaning behind the artwork in your home.

• Don’t forget to think carefully about lighting. Lamps and pendants are a great way of adding style and interest to your space, just make sure they’re not too large for the room.

Are you ready to start planning your minimalist apartment?

Have you seen an item or furniture that would be ideal for minimalist living? We’d love to know about it! Share the details in the comments.

Have you recently given your apartment a minimalist makeover? What tips would you offer to others doing the same? Let us know!