How To Declutter Decor: Minimalist Decorations

When you’re decluttering your house, decor can be a real stumper.

You might not be after that Traditional Gray Empty Minimalist look–that really fell out of style. So you probably want something on the wall, but should it be one single piece?

Should it be personal, like a photo of your family?

Should it be minimalist geometric art?

Or should you do an attractive gallery wall with matching frames?

Symmetry? Asymmetry?

WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE WALLS?

When I was growing up, my mom sold Home Interiors, and the entire business model was to simplify the process for people: You could buy an entire grouping of a picture, shelf, greenery and ceramic statue. Everything fit together perfectly.

It is a great model, and by the time I got my own home, I was able to decorate quite well. The only problem was, I didn’t dust… so after a couple years, the house just started to look dingy.

At that point in my life, I didn’t know how to dust every week. (Seriously! When would someone do that? How would they remember when they did it last? Why would they even want to??)

When I first embraced minimalism, I got rid of a lot of my decorations. Letting go of all the cutesy knickknacks meant I didn’t have to think about dusting. At that point in time, I needed to be able to solely focus on decluttering and moving things out of my house.

Now that I’ve figured out how to clean the house regularly and actually enjoy doing it I’ve added a lot more to my walls.

Accept where you are in your minimalist journey.

If you need to strip your walls to create a sense of calm, that’s fine! Strip ’em!

If you need to leave them full of decorations and pictures because it makes your house feel homey and engaging, leave ’em!

Wherever you are, you should decorate your house exactly how you’d like to, wherever that may be on the minimalism spectrum.

You may intend to downsize decor further down the line, but there’s no rush to get rid of stuff so quickly that it hurts your feelings too bad.

But if you’re amped up to declutter, here’s how to do it.

How To Declutter Home Decor

1. Take it one room at a time.

Do not take ANY decluttering steps in another room until you are done with the first room.

2. Stack it.

Take all decorations from around that room and bring them to the middle of the floor. Pictures, shelves, lamps, knickknacks, all of it.

3. Pick one up.

Go piece by piece to notice how you feel about each. Do you enjoy looking at it? Is your mood lifted? Does it spark joy, as KonMari would ask?

Or do you feel a bit of a weight in your chest? Maybe even a little anxious? Are you sick of looking at it? Is it a gift you’re keeping out of obligation?

Sort them into two piles.

4. Experiment.

Set aside all of your immediate “no”s so you don’t have to worry about them. And look at what’s left. Pick out your very favorite piece first, hang it up or set it where you want it.

Step back and evaluate how it looks. Does it need anything paired with it? Is it nice to look at on its own?

Work your way through each piece, picking up your next favorite one to add back to the room. Each time you add something, step back and mull over it.

Does the room have enough decor now?

Each room has a sweet spot where the decor feels perfect. It’s enough–you feel pleased with it.

STOP when you see that sweet spot in the room.

5. Shuffle.

Remove the remaining decor from the room. If it’s stuff you love, you don’t have to get rid of it, but you do need it out of that space.

You should go through that pile once more to see if you’ve changed your mind about anything. If so, remove those pieces to the donation pile.

With what’s left, you might put it away somewhere for a “shopping pile” as you decorate other rooms. Often, pieces we love can weigh down the room they’re in, but would be perfect somewhere else.

Decorating Tips For Minimalists

Here are a few things to keep in mind as you style your home.

Uneven groupings are the most visually appealing.

“Even numbers create symmetry, but odd numbers create interest.

An odd number of details is more effective at capturing your gaze. Odd numbers force your eyes to move around the grouping–and by extension, the room.

That forced movement is the heart of visual interest. It’s for that reason that a set of three is more appealing and memorable than something paired off in two’s.” – Why Are Odd Numbers So Visually Appealing?

Not all walls need something on them.

If you enjoy having a blank wall, then have a blank wall. This is your home, make sure that you enjoy it. Here are a few pros in the Blank Wall column.

1. Decor is distracting.

“A new study looked at whether such classrooms encourage, or actually distract from, learning.

The study, one of the first to examine how the look of these walls affects young students, found that when kindergartners were taught in a highly decorated classroom, they were more distracted, their gazes more likely to wander off task, and their test scores lower than when they were taught in a room that was comparatively spartan.” – The New York Times

2. It might take some getting used to.

After identifying and eliminating a design element to create some negative or white space, sit with it.

Don’t give it just a few minutes — the immediate result will be like first seeing someone without glasses when you’ve only known them as a glasses wearer.

Sit with newly negated space for a few days or a week.

3. Your home should be peaceful.

We can all agree on one thing: your home should be comfortable, right?

But how do you define and recognize a comfortable space? Is it just about how plush your sofa is?

Not just! It’s also about how comfortable you feel when you are moving around or through the room.

So no matter how fluffy your cushions are, your room should also feel comfortable when you’re not sitting down. And this is where negative space comes in.

Do the exercise and sit on your sofa for a minute but close your eyes. Does it feel nice? Probably!

Now open your eyes. Do you feel as relaxed? Well, chances are, if you have lots of things on the walls and lots of decorative pieces on the furniture, it won’t feel quite as peaceful.

By giving your brain lots of things to look at, you get it to work which goes against any feeling of relaxation!

Grouping pieces.

When you cluster something together, like photos on a wall, the group of them will be viewed as one unit. This could be good, if you have pieces that go well as a unit, but if you have lovely art you’d like to appreciate fully, give it its own space.

If you do want to group pieces, select ones that look nice together. You may also do something to further group them together, like a square painted on the wall.

via How To Style Small Minimalist Spaces

Frame spacing.

Keep the spaces between pictures 2″ to 4″ apart.

Spacing should be consistent vertically and horizontally, throughout the grouping. The larger the art, the wider the space can be.

If you have too much space between pictures, your composition will look disjointed.

The artwork will feel like it is floating away from one another.

Visualize the final product.

If you are still having trouble visualizing how everything is going to relate to the items around it, don’t be afraid to try the “newspaper method!”

Cut out pieces of newspaper the same size as your items and tape them to the walls until you get a pleasing arrangement!

Don’t be afraid to incorporate dimensional items like shelves and brackets in your wall grouping, again, this adds dimensional interest.

Also, great groupings incorporate different sizes, shapes, and frames. After all, variety is the spice of life!

Hang artwork at eye level, museum style.

“Hanging artwork too high negatively affects the rooms’ proportions and creates an uncomfortable feeling in the room [and it might make you feel short].” – How to Hang Artwork, Pictures, and Wall Decor at the Perfect Height Everytime

If the room is mostly used for standing (like an entryway) then hang pictures with the middle of it being around 57″ off the ground (average of eye level.) If the room is used mostly for sitting (like a dining room) hang the pictures lower so you can see them clearly when you sit.

Sometimes it looks warm and inviting to have full walls of stuff. I don’t recommend doing this in EVERY room, but if it suits your fancy, you might try it out!

A quick note on how to declutter candles.

I find decluttering candles–similarly to decluttering books–is difficult for people because it feels wasteful. It’s a useful item! That you might use, someday, theoretically…maybe…

But having SO many candles that just collect dust and take up space is a bummer. I remember my grandmother’s friend asking her: “What are you interested in for your birthday?” She looked around my grandmother’s kitchen and said, “You seem to like candles–“

“NO!” my grandmother literally yelled.

She didn’t like candles! Someone just saw that someone else had given her one, so they gave her another. She never even burned them.

She also had quite an extensive collection of wind chimes lining her patio for the same reason. People looked around her house for inspiration of what she might like. But she didn’t like any of it! She just kept it, because she didn’t know what else to do.

Anyway, I’m here to give you permission: You can let the candle go.

If you have a huge collection and don’t know how to pare down, here’s a checklist you can use:

• Do I like how it looks?
• Do I like how to smells?
• Does it have enough space, or is it making the area feel cluttered?
• Do I enjoy having it here?
• Will I burn it, or be happy dusting it forever?

If you said no to more than one of the questions above, ditch the candle.

Have fun!

Embrace your own style. Do you like bright colors? Have bright decorations! Do you prefer rusty re-purposed oddities? Have them hanging on your wall.

Don’t let your decorating style be influenced by the “should” thoughts.

“I should have a framed picture of my family.”

“I should hang the print that Aunt Lou gave me.”

“I should have landscapes and flowers.”

You should do exactly what you want to do. Make your home, yours. 

How To Style Small Minimalist Spaces | Decor Ideas for Tiny Rooms