I was forced into minimalism when my son who has ADHD couldn’t handle our maximalist home!
I reluctantly started getting rid of more and more things, to help my son feel calm, but giving up a colorful, cozy environment in my 200-year-old farmhouse was not an option! I now love having less stuff. It saves me endless time and calms my ADHD kids, but it doesn’t mean I have to give up the colorful things I love or quit being me!
Why is it that Minimalism is so closefully associated with white walls and the absence of color?
My husband has always been a minimalist at heart. He asked me to simplify the kid’s clothes, the stuff in the entryway, and the storage room years before I was ready to even consider minimalism!
I always came up with some excuse for why we needed things that were cluttering up our space.
Around this time I bought an expensive coffee table book for a friend’s birthday.
It was full of pictures of homes designed with minimalist architecture. Before I gave it to her, I decided to look through it. I was hoping to get some inspiration to get rid of stuff.
The book was full of enormous homes with barely any furniture and mostly white walls! There was not a thing in sight that looked personal to the people living in the space!
This was such a turn off I threw the book in the trash and bought my friend a new present!
That book probably set me back three years on my minimalist journey! The pictures in the book did not reflect the lifestyle I wanted to lead!
I have since learned that there is a world of difference between minimalist architecture and living with less stuff!
Minimalism and color
It’s sad that Minimalism is thought of as colorless and impersonal. Most of the pictures that advertise minimalism on social media are taken in white monochrome rooms!
It would probably be easier for people to take steps towards having less if they didn’t have a preconceived idea that they needed to live in a white sterile environment and keep a tab on how many items they own!
My house has significantly less stuff in it than it did 3 years ago.
I find it refreshing that my brain doesn’t have so many items to register when I want to sit on the sofa and relax, but my living room still has my favorite things in it and it’s not colorless.
While sitting on my couch I notice many colorful things:
- a yellow throw blanket
- yellow pillows
- a light turquoise cupboard underneath the TV
- a green plant
- a navy blue sofa
- Pillows made of upcycled jeans in different shades of blue
- a tall dresser in dark turquoise, white, and wood
- an antique kitchen cabinet in two shades of light green
- a wooden chest with remnants of black paint doubles as a coffee table
- a black chair with a white leaf pattern stands in the corner
- turquoise wallpaper with white flamingos covers the doors of a corner storage unit
- A dark brown antique desk stands near a window
- peeking out from the kitchen is a turquoise kitchen chair and a step stool with red legs.
Downstairs I have an elaborate patterned red rug that covers most of the floor in the kids’ play area.
I also have a huge picture in mainly red tones, an elaborate wooden cupboard with carved lion heads, and two metal chairs upholstered in red from the 60s and ’60s.
I may have weird taste, but for me embracing minimalism means rescuing my favorite things from a pile of clutter! It means embracing my favorite things and letting them have a promenade place in my home so they can be seen and enjoyed.
Family minimalism needs color
I have a family and Minimalism has to work for my husband and my three kids as well as myself. Families who want to live with less are going to do it differently from a bachelor who only needs to consider himself.
Most kids like color, and often kids have colorful toys and clothes! Kids often go through phases where they like one color or another.
It’s not a bad idea to have white or light classic colored walls in kids’ rooms and change the bedspread, curtains, pillows, toys, and art to suit the age and gender of the child.
Having white walls in my daughter’s room would have saved me lots of time and money. As her tastes changed over the last 10 years we wallpapered and repainted her room several times.
Of course, white walls need a touch-up paint job now and then, but if you save a bit of paint or keep the paint number for your hardware store to mix, you don’t have to paint the entire room.
It’s much easier to remove or add colorful items than to clear all the stuff out for a remodel job.
When you think about minimalistic white walls as a blank canvas where colorful pieces of furniture or huge paintings come to life, white paint suddenly gives you endless flexibility!
“White is a truly versatile color,” says Kelly Hoppen when interviewed for Elle Decor.
I am not suggesting that all of us who want to live with less should have white walls, but have you ever wondered why art museums have white walls and minimal furniture? It’s because it’s all about the art, and they don’t want you distracted from the main event!
What many minimalists may never have considered is that their white-on-white decorating schemes are perfect for displaying large colorful pieces of art!
You get the same effect with an accent wall when a loud color or pattern is surrendered by white walls. The white (or other neutral colors) help draw your eye to the room’s focal point.
own; they were part of my grandma’s extensive collection.
Don’t discard things based on color
Marie Kondo reminds us in her book Sparks Joy we are not deciding what to discard we are deciding what to keep.
Her idea of keeping things that spark joy spoke to me because it gave me the liberty to keep anything that I really liked even if it didn’t fit into the typical minimalist aesthetic.
Before you start throwing out things, think about what kind of home you want to live in.
If it’s a monochromatic white home then great, but if you want to live in a home inspired by country charm then that’s exactly the kind of home you should create.
You will not be happy living in a white box if you only chose that design because you wanted to be a minimalist.
Get rid of excess clutter and let your favorite things (No matter how colorful) shine!
Homes are personal, and the color should reflect YOU!
Your home is unique and the colors that you find visually pleasing may be colors I would never choose to have in my house.
The idea that in order to embrace minimalism we must embrace an all-white minimal aesthetic is just as ridiculous as expecting everyone who becomes a vegetarian to only eat beans!
There should be as many different minimalist aesthetics as there are minimalists.
Do me a favor and take a picture of your colorful minimalist home and post it on social media! It would be great to see something other than white on white when you do a search for minimalist interiors!
If you believe Minimalism can be colorful take some pictures and help change the stereotype!
Colorful Minimalism can be Vintage or Retro!
My decluttered home shows my love of Retro and Vintage.
I never stopped to think that for most people the words Retro Minimalism or Vintage Minimalism do not go together. I think they should.
If any of you begin your minimalist journey because it’s a more sustainable way of life why wouldn’t you want to incorporate second-hand items into your interior decorating?
White items are usually rather hard to find at second-hand stores or consignment shops.
This is probably due to the fact that white clothes and sheets often get stained and even white porclin can get ugly gray scratches on it if the glaze isn’t of high quality.
White chairs or couches at thrift shops often turn me off because they are extremely dirty!
Even if you can get the cover off to wash it the upholstery is often so far gone that the previous owners probably didn’t think they could clean it successfully!
If you want to have the typical white minimalist aesthetic you will probably need to purchase most of your white decor new. This is not good for the environment or your pocketbook!
If you love the idea of owning less so you can live a more sustainable life these are some compelling arguments for not having a white monochrome home.
How to add color to your minimalist home
If you have a white home and like the light, calming minimalist aesthetic that’s great! I am not here to talk you out of something that you love and feel comfortable in, but if you need help adding color read my tips below.
You will find tips for adding splashes of color and tips for how to add massive amounts of color if you scroll down to the correct heading.
I redecorated my daughter’s bedroom in white monochrome because she insisted she wanted a white room.
The monochrome design helps her feel calmer and it provides a neutral backdrop for her toys and other colorful things she gets out throughout the day, but white monochrome is not for everyone!
Splashes of color for basically white homes
- Art. If you have a basically white home and only want splashes of color then I suggest you buy or create a piece of colorful art. You can always change the picture whenever you get tired of it.
- Fruit. Another simple way to add color is to have a fruit bowl out full of apples, oranges or other colorful fruit.
- Painting a piece of furniture that you already own can make it pop against a white backdrop.
- Buying a colorful vase or bowl that you can display flowers in is another simple way to add a pop of color without much effort. If you pick colorful flowers it will stand out even more.
- Add color with temporary art projects that you can keep until you tire of them. Sometimes I display my kids’ art or make fluffy balls out of colored napkins and hang them from the ceiling!
- Change it up with textiles! Buy colorful bedspreads or throw pillows to add a pop of color.
I often get tired of blankets, sheets, and pillows and need a change. If you can find a friend to trade textiles with you can both have some new throw pillows or curtains without breaking the bank.
- Buy a colorful rug.
Adding lots of color to an entire home
- Wallpaper is a great way to add color. I am especially fond of vintage wallpaper prints. I use them as accent walls for two reasons.
- Often you can’t find many rolls of the same pattern.
- Several members of my family have ADHD and Dyslexia and they can’t handle living in a sea of pattern.
If you fall in love with a new wallpaper pattern and want to go nuts and wallpaper an entire room in a crazy pattern go for it! You are the only person who knows what kind of interior will make you feel at home.
Minimalism has to do with the reduction of excess items not what is on your walls!
- Buy a bucket of paint and go crazy with color! Paint walls, furniture, the floor, and ceiling if you like!
- Art is great for any home. If you have loud wallpaper and want to hang a picture I suggest getting it matted and framed first.
If you create some white space with matting around your picture/painting it will allow you to see it better when hung on a colorful wall.
Leave 10 or 15 inches of matting (or more if you like) around your piece of art. This will draw your eye to the artwork.
- Add color with textiles! Bedding, throw blankets, accent pillows, you name it = you can buy it in a plethora of colors! Textiles are an easy way to change things up without doing DIY.
- Buy an ornate area rug. You can often find large rugs at second hand stores.
When I buy second-hand rugs, I usually put them outside when it’s below freezing and kill the germs with cold.
You can wash them by hand if you have a table you can scrub them on outside. Use a little bit of washing detergent in lots of warm water and scrub with a brush.
- Colorful flower arrangements can piff up any room.
- New floors.
If you have some money to invest in your project consider having someone lay new flooring in some of your most-used rooms.
These days there are all kinds of fun colorful floor options. You can go all one color or pick several and mix and match. More and more flooring companies are designing options for patterned floors, so the sky’s the limit!
Conclusion
Choose to live with color or the absence of color based on your personal preferences not because you’re conforming to a preset minimalist aesthetic.
At the very end of this post there are more pictures of our colorful home.
If you enjoyed this post check my other posts on Minimalism!
Don’t make the same 10 minimizing mistakes I did!
Decluttering kids toys and other monsters in their rooms.
For more info and book tips check our page Our Favourite Resources
Copyright Annie Eklöv
