Concise and simple, minimalist interior design style in the interior of the apartment, home, or office brings a harmony of space and light. This is an elegant, modern, lightweight, and aesthetically perfect style.
Contents:
- What is minimalism?
- The features of the style
- A brief history of the style
- Minimalist aesthetic principles
- Where minimalism is appropriate?
- Minimalist furniture
- Why choosing minimalism?
Apartment in a minimalist style is filled with air, the feeling of freedom and elegance of simple forms. Minimalistic interior design in the real modern apartment of big cities we can meet rather in Western Europe, which gravitates to the economy, inner conciseness, and spacious completeness of this style.
Order a design project of your apartment, home, or office in a minimalist style means choosing refined simplicity and elegance: in big cities all over the world, we can meet people who are not indifferent to the beauty of this laconic style.
What is Minimalism?
The minimalist interior is:
- The absence of decorative elements and impractical furniture;
- Restrained colors: the basis of style is white and gray/black/brown colors. Accents of natural hues and a palette of finishing materials (metal, treated wood, brick) are allowed;
- Strict wall, floor, and ceiling finishing: floor and ceiling should be smooth (usually light), the walls can be painted, covered with decorative plaster, less often used plain wallpaper or wall panels (the main color is white);
- Space, freedom, plenty of light: large windows, several sources of artificial lighting;
- Multi-functional furniture;
- Built-in appliances;
- Walls can be decorated with paintings, perceived as an art object: nothing should detract from their contemplation. Their beauty emphasizes by the simplicity of the frame and competent lighting.
Design in the style of minimalism implies smooth surfaces, geometric shapes, straight clean lines, and nothing more: only functional pieces of furniture, single color decoration, only the play of light instead of the fancy decorations.
The minimalist interior is a complexly thought-out simplicity, rigor, and ease, elegance without pretentiousness and practicality without congestion. Photos of minimalistic interior look like illustrations of the cutting-edge art magazine, devoted to secrets of creating truly beautiful spaces.
Style Features
Textile
- Curtains in a minimalist style are plain white, less often – rolled (also white or light). Often the windows are left free in order to fill up the room with light as far as possible. It is good to replace bright plastic curtains with blinds.
- A carpet can become the decoration of the living room or bedroom in a minimalist style: one or two colors, usually a rectangular shape, universal colors (gray, beige, white, black and white, etc.).
- The smooth surface dining table does not need tablecloths.
- Cushions can be in bright shades of green, orange, brown, but more often they are the same color as the upholstery sofa and chairs (white or gray).
If you need a thoughtful and modern house design – minimalist style is a perfect solution. Minimalism in the interior of the apartment combines strict aesthetics of simplicity and practicality, sophistication with conciseness, progressiveness with a calm atmosphere.
The History of the Emergence of Style
Minimalism was developed in the second half of the XX century., appeared as the reaction designers to an abundance of contemporary trends. Fundamentals of minimalism taken from Japanese culture. The interior of traditional Japanese homes – Minka – is not like the decoration of European homes. The basis of the Japanese home is shed and timber supports latticed walls (shoji), pasted with rice paper, and tatami (mat). The only thing that attracts attention is a scroll with a painting or a poem, which is located in the niche; and a flower (or floral arrangement – “ikebana”) underneath.
Japanese minimalism in the interior is the space of emptiness, the formation of a special area of contemplation, and detachment.
European minimalism is less radical. Simplicity here is coupled with functionality.
Main Principles of Minimalist Aesthetic
The general principles of minimalist aesthetics were set at the beginning of the twentieth century: constructivist experiments with “pure” volumes and became the first experiments in schematization and geometrization of form and its complete liberation from superimposed elements. In painting and object design, a new, minimalist language was developed by Russian Suprematists and members of the Dutch movement De Stijl (1913-1931), led by Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian. In opposition to the natural visual series, these artists declared the fundamental principles of geometry and tried to bring their abstractions to local color and ductile forms. In the palette of expressive means, they selected only the line, the outlines of the simplest figures, primary colors, light, and bright, but not vain contrasts.
Photo credit: shedbuilt
A generation of functionalists – architects Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and their followers – introduced the principle of “Less is more” into the aesthetics of minimalism and established the primacy of function over form … But since these people, in addition to problems of aesthetic order, were also driven by social problems, the question of the cheapness of projects has always been at the forefront for them. This last component and at the same time the desire to build powerful but visually light and simple volumes demanded complex engineering developments. Thus, Mies van der Rohe, one after another, builds in the USA the most emasculated rectangular parallelepipeds of reinforced concrete frame structures, on which, like skeletons, he pulls “skin” from a grid of windows. In the solution of interior spaces, this led to the popularization of large windows, blank walls, urban coatings, and such finds, for example, building radiators into the floor (today this technique is known as underfloor heating and is already used to increase comfort). Buckminster Fuller was also looking for a minimalistic balance of “less is better”, who gave the culture of the twentieth century the idea of modular domes.
Photo by contentarchitecture
Meanwhile, in the late 50s – early 60s in American painting, in contrast to the active gesticulation of abstract expressionism, minimal art was born, an artistic direction that rethought the contemporary urban culture by arranging meager structures and brightly textured materials. Artists work with metal plates (Carl André), neon pipes (Dan Flavin), steel beams (Donald Judd). So, by the beginning of postmodernism, a multitude of ideas accumulated in the common cultural storeroom, from the totality of which the concept of European minimalism will subsequently grow. The detonator of the global explosion of minimalism – the beginning of the functioning of the style as an independent system – will be the traditional Japanese architecture and culture of home improvement, revealed to the world through the open door of the finally demobilized Land of the Rising Sun.
Photo source: dipengada
So, minimalism in the interior in its European version is a plastic drawing in white and white, it is a materialization of Suprematist and “minimal-artistic” canvases, it is an urban aesthetics, overgrown with warm contrasting textures, and this is a functional and philosophical Japanese stinginess for decor and details.
Where does Minimalism Appropriate?
To order the design of the apartment or the house in a minimalist style can brave people who are not afraid to abandon the usual understanding of comfort, which is oriented to personality itself and the ability to see the true beauty of ordinary things.
Minimalist design can be implemented in the penthouse. The emphasized simplicity of this style is perfect for rooms with large windows located at high altitudes, creating a unique atmosphere of freedom, freshness, and spaciousness.
Minimalism Interior Design Style in the Dwelling Rooms:
- The minimalist style in the living room involves the use of modern materials to create a perfectly smooth light background and an atmosphere of calm and deliberate simplicity. Minimalism in the interior of the living room is simple but high quality and comfortable furniture with rigid armrests, a small coffee table made of glass or plastic, built-in appliances, smart lighting, and understated colors. Such living is cozy and beautiful in its own way.
- The kitchen in the style of minimalism involves the use of the bar or island layout instead of the classic table. The minimalistic kitchen interior is rigor and symmetry combined with cleanliness and smooth slick glassy surfaces. This kitchen please neat people.
- The bedroom in a minimalist style is designed to sleep: comfortable low bed, no distractions, bright decor elements, restrained colors. In addition to the bed, there are closets and a bedside table may be also present.
- The minimalist style in the living room involves the use of modern materials to create a perfectly smooth light background and an atmosphere of calm and deliberate simplicity. Minimalism in the interior of the living room is simple but high quality and comfortable furniture with rigid armrests, a small coffee table made of glass or plastic, built-in appliances, smart lighting, and understated colors. Such living is cozy and beautiful in its own way.
- Room in a minimalist style is an area of freedom, light, lightness, and harmony of space.
Minimalist Furniture
Minimalist furniture consists predominantly of a high sofa, chair, bed of classic shapes, and strong design. The color design of furniture corresponds to the decor of the background (wall). The main quality of furniture in this style is simplicity and versatility: transforming sofa and bed, foldout chair, folding table, built-in wardrobes, etc. There are no shelves in the minimalist interior. All things must be kept in a cabinet or in boxes under the sofa/bed.
Prints and designs on upholstery are not acceptable. But it can be on the wall.
The minimalist living room is devoid of wardrobes. The central place is occupied by a sofa with usually low, soft, with rectangular wide armrests. The upholstery of the sofa is light or contrasting with the main background. The sofa may have pillows, but in plain covers without a pattern or embroidery.
A pair of armchairs complement the sofa. Armchairs are also low or on high thin chrome legs. These armchairs are more reminiscent of lightweight chairs. The coffee table is made of glass and metal, usually aluminum. High cabinets are absent altogether. It is permissible to place a low long pedestal along with one of the walls. The rest of the furniture is open shelves, long, regular geometric shapes. Shelves can be painted in the wall color, merge with it, or be contrasting.
The minimalist bedroom is functional and comfortable. A low bed, often featuring a podium and mattress, a couple of shelves, and built-in storage. Cabinet doors should not protrude, thus becoming a single part of the wall. There are no fittings in minimalism either. Cabinet doors and drawers open by pressing. The working table is realized with an empty spacious shelf and a light laconic chair.
A minimalist kitchen is difficult to implement. A spacious, bright room should be equipped with built-in furniture. All supporting details are hidden from view. The kitchen-island fits well in spirit with minimalism. The dining area is highlighted with light and wall colors. The table and chairs are light, transparent, with chrome legs.
It is not recommended to decorate the nursery in minimalism. A dry and laconic room does not correspond to a curious and disobedient disposition. The design of the nursery can be minimized by using two colors, but bright, not boring, and a small set of functional furniture
Why Minimalism?
Complex and simple at the same time interior design, Minimalism embodies the laconic verge of beauty comprehension: without pathos, frills, and luxuries. Minimalism design is a style, elegance, and practicality: bright pictures clearly demonstrate the special charm of this style.
Order interior design in minimalist style means choosing quality and sophistication, functionality and simplicity, harmony, and freedom.
Do you need a special, unique interior at home? You should consider minimalism:
- Austerity and special beauty;
- Light, air, space, symmetry, and order;
- The rigor of design and high-quality finishing materials, furniture, and equipment.
