The subtleties of the design of the living room in the style of minimalism

Minimalism is a fashionable and popular design style for modern apartments. It is simple and concise, and also does not require serious material or time costs for implementation. This article will examine the intricacies of decorating a living room in a minimalist style.

To understand the basic principles of such a style as minimalism, you need to pay attention to its history of origin. The first elements of minimalism began to be traced not in architecture or design, but in fine art. The initiators of this trend were the community of artists of the early twentieth century. The main principles on which this style was based were conciseness, concreteness, energy and clarity.

The new style has won a huge number of fans, which led to its introduction in such areas of human life as architecture, design and construction. The heyday of minimalism in Europe can be called the 60s of the twentieth century. Around this time, the whole of European society, oversaturated with fake and artificial luxury in the architecture of those years, longed for something simplified.

Today, minimalism is understood not as a certain style in the interior, but as a whole worldview that rejects everything fanciful and redundant in favor of an environmentally friendly, simple and functional.

If we consider the features of minimalism on the example of a modern living room, then we can note the following features.

• The furniture is modern, as simple as possible in appearance, but at the same time multifunctional.

• The interior of the hall in the style of minimalism is devoid of extra interior items and accessories that distract attention.

• In this interior there are no bulky vases, large floor lamps and stucco molding. All lighting is organized as succinctly as possible and is designed specifically to illuminate, rather than decorate.

• Minimalism requires a huge amount of both artificial and natural light, and therefore living rooms of this kind are always well-lit. The light is not saturated, but diffused.

• A common tool of minimalism is the zoning of the room with the help of partitions and shelving.

• This design style does not tolerate crooked, broken or irregular lines and shapes. All furniture in minimalism of the correct sizes and shapes, the lines are always straight and clear, with right angles.

• A key feature of minimalism is the restraint of color. There are no and cannot be contrasting colors and bright interior items that will distract attention.

• All household appliances and appliances in the living room of the minimalism style are extremely functional, while at the same time they are as simple as possible.

• In a minimalist living room you will not find things that will lie in close proximity to each other. Each thing and device has its own place where other devices should not be.

Of all the shades and colors, minimalism looks best with white and all its natural shades. Despite such an attachment to light shades, the rule of “three” should always be maintained in the design of a minimalist living room. It implies that 3 colors are chosen for the room, one of which will dominate, and the rest dilute it.

When choosing a shade of white for the living room, you should focus on the location of the living room relative to the sun. For example, for rooms where there is a clear lack of natural light, softer and warmer shades of white should be chosen. This will immediately give the room coziness and hospitality. In the event that your living room is almost all the time under the sun, here you can add colder, metallic or gray shades.

In order to give the living room a more presentable look or to refresh it with bright accents, The following colors and shades can be used:

• white and all its shades: cream, pearl, snow, ivory;

• gray and its shades: ash, steel, basalt;

• beige;

• black and its shades: raven wing, gloss black, ebony color;

• light golden, light wheat.

It should be noted the attachment of this design style to natural and natural materials. Here, materials such as natural stone, brick, metal, wood, even concrete, glass and, in some cases, plastic and particleboard, MDF, can look wonderful. Requirements for materials acceptable in minimalism may vary depending on the country in which this style is applied.

The features of using other colors in minimalism will be described below.

For a minimalist living room, in which emphasis is placed on materials such as stone or natural wood, brown is often used in the overall color scheme. It should be noted that in such living rooms not pure brown color is involved, but its darker shades. In addition, this shade in this case does not dominate the color scheme, but creates a pleasant contrast with the rest of the furniture - most often soft white or cream tones are chosen here.

At the beginning of the 19th century, an active movement began to use exclusively ecological materials and colors in the interior. Minimalism as a direction that adheres in its concept of clarity and natural simplicity, almost immediately picked up this trend. It should be noted that today a minimalist style green living room is not understood fully, but only partially a green room, in which the emphasis is on furniture elements, accessories, carpets, curtains and other interior items. At the same time, the main emphasis here remains on white. In rare cases, in such living rooms one of the walls is completely painted in light green - this technique is called “accent wall” in the design.

Minimalism rarely accepts cheerful and carefree colors in the interior, and therefore there are not so many living rooms with an interior of this color. Usually, it does not use bright shades of yellow colors, but softer or calmer colors: cream, beige and sand. Typically, these colors are used to give the living room a more comfortable and sunny look.

The key feature of the finish in this case is the complete absence of distracting accents and contrasts - everything in this design style seeks calm and conciliation.

To make your living room in the style of minimalism look cozy, solid and fashionable, you should dwell on the following materials for decoration:

• mirror surfaces;
• glass;
• metal surfaces, frames and ornaments;
• natural stone and wood;
• gloss in the elements of the interior.

Most of the responsibility for the appearance of the living room is borne by the walls. As a rule, if you want their design in the style of minimalism, the owners use either decorative plaster or decorative brick. Recently, minimalism is often leaning toward simply painted walls in a neutral color.

It should be understood that such a style as minimalism adheres to restraint in everything, and therefore it is not necessary to decorate the walls of such a living room with an excessive amount of accessories and decor elements.

The floor in a minimalist living room is designed not only to set the room the desired tone, but also to harmonize with its overall color background. Particularly successful here will look options for bulk floors, light tiled surfaces or natural stone. Unlike walls, minor patterns are allowed on the floor, but they should not distract attention and contrast with the furniture.

The best for flooring in such a living room are considered wooden or wood-like materials: natural wood, laminate and parquet. Wood gives the whole room a cozy, peaceful and harmonious appearance. Most often, wood is used in precisely white shades, however, soft brown tones can be used to create a pleasant contrast between the rest of the furniture.

As for floor accessories, their minimalism is not very honored. If you still want to decorate your room with a beautiful dark carpet, you can choose monophonic options for pile covering without patterns and patterns or a regular carpet.

Minimalism refers to those design styles in which stretch glossy or matte ceilings look the best. As for the color palette, only light and white shades are mainly used here. Depending on what the landlord wants to focus on, they can be either snow-white or cream.

When looking at a living room in the style of minimalism, it might seem that the owner did not cost anything to equip its ceiling plane, which is fundamentally untrue. This style requires simple and concise, but expensive materials.

A minimalist living room requires high-quality and constant lighting, whether it be natural sunlight or artificial. If your living room is located on the north side of the house, it makes sense to arrange it in warmer sunny colors. This style is one of the few where almost all curtains will look unsuccessful. In rare cases, blinds or Roman blinds may be involved in such an interior.

Despite the fact that minimalism needs a lot of light, this does not mean that it accepts large lamps with bright and saturated light. It’s just the opposite - small but numerous spotlights will look best here.

The following light sources will look best in a minimalist living room:

• lighting along walls and cornices;
• lamps in the plinth around the perimeter of the floor;
• small and moving light sources;
• minimalistic floor lamps and tube-type lamps;
• zone LED and neon lighting of furniture (mirrors, chest of drawers, desktop).

Classic examples of minimalist furniture are models made of natural wood or with a glossy surface. It also looks good options for stylish glass furniture, as well as metal structures. In rare cases, minimalism successfully looks like plastic furniture or varnished chipboard.

The most important moment in the selection of furniture in the living room of this type is the observance of clear geometric shapes. However, despite the fact that minimalism is striving for conciseness and simplicity in everything, coziness is not alien to him. So, for example, upholstered furniture will look great here, but with clear boundaries - to the detriment of the so-called bag-beds and floor mattresses.

One of the tasks of minimalism is to provide maximum functionality even in limited conditions. So, for furniture in a minimalist style, hidden or built-in openings, drawers or shelves are characteristic where household trifles, clothes or books can be stored. Transformer furniture will look perfect here, which at the same time can combine several functions (for example, beds and storage for clothes).

Fortunately, in order to properly design a living room in a minimalist style, you will not need much effort. This is exactly the version of the design style that does not require frills in the interior to look concise, solid and comfortable.

In spite of this, minimal elements of decor in such a living room are still acceptable. For example, small flower pots with bright green plants or cacti refresh your living room. Small decorative pebbles or shells, smooth and simple vases, coasters will give it more natural comfort and warmth.

If you touch on textiles in minimalism, then here it is as simple as possible. Most often, smooth fabric or leather textures are used here.Volumetric furniture that is too soft or covered with stucco and gilding will not look advantageous here.

• Living room in white colors.

• Contrast living room.

• Living room in warm and deep colors.

About the secrets of the minimalism style, see the video below.