Asian-Inspired Minimalist Home Tour – Lori

It is my pleasure to introduce you to Lori, who has kindly offered to share some images of her beautiful home with us:

My family and I live in a medium size apartment in Asia.  I’m sorry I don’t know the exact size.  We have four bedrooms and two bathrooms.
I grew up in a family that moved every 5 years so that was good incentive to not be a pack rat.  Since my husband and I married 31 years ago we have lived in 17 different homes. Some of them have been much smaller than our current apartment and some of them much bigger.  At the present we have five children in the home with us. We have had many more than that at times as we foster abandoned children.
I enjoy the challenge of keeping a home orderly and minimalistic.  Over the years the difficulty has been what clothes and supplies to keep on hand since we never knew who our next little sojourner might be, what size clothes they would need or what health problem they might face.
My husband and kids enjoy not being weighed down by stuff and the kids will declutter without me prompting them. The boys even opted to get rid off their beds and sleep on the floor.
I suppose my biggest rival has been what my sister and I call our ‘splurge-purge’ tendency.  I see some item that I think will be lovely or convenient… like a piece of Tupperware or beautiful fabric bits.  Convinced it is just what I need I buy it only to get tired of the extra clutter it brings later down the road.  And off it goes to the giveaway pile.
I am deeply grateful for meeting up with people who only have the clothes on their back, if that.  It helps define what I really need.  My desire is to live in light of eternity. This world is not my home. As John Piper says, ” Life is hard, God is good. Glory is coming.” Obviously I am still learning but I pray my house and heart attachments would not be a hindrance to loving God and loving others.

Everyone’s way of embracing minimalism is different and that is very important to remember. When you are thinking about becoming minimalist, the whole point of it is to keep true to your authentic self. What is important to you, the things you enjoy and the life you want to live. I’m excited to share some real life examples of what minimalism looks like in different homes around the world.