You Add the Color

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colorful home


Comfortable Minimalism is not confined to one particular design.  I hope I've made it clear that your rooms don't need to be ultra-modern stark white boxes with chrome, glass, and abstract art in order to be comfortably minimalist.


And you don't need to buy anything to make your home fit some minimalist ideal.  If your beige overstuffed sectional is still usable, and especially if you and your family love to cuddle up or spread out on it, keep it and enjoy!


As you become more minimalist, maybe you'll no longer clutter that sectional with a dozen throw pillows, and you'll keep your large coffee table from becoming permanently covered with homework, magazines, remotes, and tchotchkes.  Then it can be ready for a board game or a movie night pizza.


Similarly, if you adore your carefully curated gallery wall, especially if it regularly inspires conversations or reminiscences, keep it and enjoy!  There's no need to undo your heartfelt creation simply because it's not one extra-large piece of art. 


Stay true to yourself and your home.  If your house is a cozy Cape Cod, you probably don't want to go with a lot of metal industrial elements, and if you live in an urban loft, you probably don't want to add Queen Anne furniture and Wedgwood pottery.  Don't create a weird, inauthentic blend.


Your décor may use a lot of white or neutral colors.  You may limit patterns and knickknacks.  But your home will still be full of color.  Your colors come from a vase of fresh flowers on your mantel, or a bowl of mouthwatering garden produce on your table.  Color comes from the books you cherish and your creative projects.


Your comfortable minimalist home will never be boring.  


It's filled with you and the people you love.  It's filled with music, laughter, and stories of your life.  It may not hold a ton of things, but what is there is used and enjoyed.


You don't need thousands of possessions to have a vibrant and fulfilling life.  YOU add the color – you and your relationships, experiences, and accomplishments.


So beyond what you need in order to bathe, dress, cook, eat, create, connect, and sleep, add a little comfort and beauty to your home, and then focus on living a good life.



P.S.  I hope you'll enjoy my new book, Comfortable Minimalism: Create a Home with Plenty of Style and a Lot Less Stuff, available now on Amazon (paid link).  Download a free sample today!



Photo by Stephanie Harvey on Unsplash

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