Minimalism Design

To continue my discussion of minimalism, I wanted to share how we incorporated it into the design of our home.

The minimalism definition is “a style or technique that is characterized by extreme spareness and simplicity”. I don’t feel I take it to the extreme, but simplicity has always been key in our lifestyle.

This less is more approach has infused itself into most of our home in one way or another, especially during our construction phases.

{before photos for perspective}

Our mudroom bath has a small closet, which we use for storing paper towels, toilet paper, hand soap, hand towels and light bulbs. We found that we didn’t really need additional storage in the mudroom, so we replaced the oversized stainless steel sink and vanity with a pedestal sink to create a little more space, without moving walls.

There was also a traditional vanity in the foyer bath, which made the space feel smaller than it really is. We replaced it with a Parisian style sink and keep a few rolls of extra toilet paper tucked in the corner and when the hand towel needs to be refreshed, we pull it from the mudroom bath closet.

Minimalism isn’t just about having less, but having what you truly need. I had the honor of taking over Real Simple on Instagram Sunday {pinch me!}, sharing some of my favorite organization ideas that we’ve implemented into our home. While the overall response has been so incredible, there were several comments about our home being unrealistic. My favorite? “She must not have kids.” Uh yes, 3. 3 kids, a husband and a dog all working against me.

To be honest, I joke, that’s not true. With a little guidance and systems in place, we keep it a fairly stress free place. The essence of minimalism.

These baths are the perfect example of that. Of course I could have more stuff, but why have more than what we need? Having space in our home allows a little more space in my mind. This doesn’t just come from stuff, but what we store it in as well.

As I mentioned in my post about easing into a minimalist lifestyle, when we purchased our home, we had a large foyer. It’s the size of Isla’s bedroom, if not larger. While it’s a walkway through our home, it was a highly underutilized space that felt awkward with a coat closet creating a small doorway to the living room and kitchen.

I really wanted to eliminate the coat closet, but feared we wouldn’t have a place for coats, the vacuum, cleaning tools, and to be honest, junk…like the junk that it filled up with the week we moved into our home. We had to consider the loss of it and weigh how it would benefit our home. 3 years later I don’t miss it at all! In fact, I found it was a waste of space.

If we had it, that junk would still live there today. When guests come, we put their coats in the wardrobe in the nearby family room or in my office. Perfect? No, but for a few months out of the year and the few times we entertain a large number of guests at once, it’s absolutely no concern.

Cleaning tools? We found they were actually better kept just outside the mudroom door in the garage. Easily accessible without stepping foot onto the cold concrete with a little reach and keeps the dust where it belongs – outside.

The vacuum? Well, I hide that behind my office door. No one would ever be the wiser. As for our coats, we store them on hooks in the mudroom and rotate them each season with the cedar closet in the basement.

You can also see the amount of space gained by removing the small, awkward mudroom closet, which didn’t hold a lot, but consumed much of the space to move around in, put coats on, etc.

Sometimes you have to think out of the box, rather than create more boxes that you don’t use. As we continue designing our home working on Ani’s closet, perfecting the laundry room and renovating the master bath, we’ll continue to embrace minimalism in effort of creating more space and function and I’ll share along the way. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

You can find more ideas to make a room feel larger here!