Tips for Embracing Minimalist Decor

By Alyssa Laffitte on February 9, 2020

This article is brought to you by CORT Furniture Rental. We take the hassle out of furnishing your new place so you can do more important things like read this article. Learn more about why furniture rental is the best way to get a great looking apartment.

As college students, we often do not have big living spaces. Many students have chosen a minimalist lifestyle to avoid overcluttering their small space. College life is stressful enough. Why add to the stress by maintaining clutter? In this post, we will discuss how to embrace minimalist décor to simplify your home and your life.

Image via Isorepublic.com

Declutter your space

The best place to start your new minimalist lifestyle is decluttering. Go through each room in your house and decide what items you can part with. Here a few tips when deciding which items to part with:

  • Clothes you have not worn in the last year
  • Duplicates of any item. I promise you only need one!
  • Anything torn, chipped, or broken

Once you have decided which items you can part with, decide what you will do with them. Of course, throw away the items that are torn, chipped, broken, or expired. But don’t throw away the items that are still usable. Instead, donate, recycle, or sell them. This way, they will go to someone who will actually use them. Once you have decluttered your space, you can focus more on the items you do have, which is the first step of minimalism.

Use what you already have

One big advantage of decluttering is that you can take an inventory of the items you are keeping. You will have an inventory of the items you do have. When you know what you already have, you will be less inclined to buy a duplicate (because you know you already have it!), and you will be more likely to use it. You should also try to freshen up the items you already have. For example, get your couch steam cleaned or re-paint your wooden table. This will make it look brand new!

Also, I would recommend not buying new products until you have already finished the ones you have or the one you have breaks. This is another great way to prevent yourself from keeping duplicates. For example, if you want to try out a new brand of body lotion, don’t buy it until after you have finished the bottle you already have.

Be intentional with what you buy

The key is to shopping as a minimalist is to shop intentionally, rather than impulsively. Shopping intentionally means you buy only what you need. For example, only buy to replace items you have run out of or have broken. Don’t buy an item if you already have something similar at home. For example, don’t buy another side table for your bedroom if the one you have is good enough. The best way to shop intentionally is to make a list before you leave the house and only buy the items on the list. Shopping intentionally is a good habit to form as a minimalist.

Buy classic pieces that go with many things

We all know that trends come and go. But as a minimalist, you do not want to keep buying items to keep up with the trends. Instead, buy classic pieces that can potentially match with many other items. These items will never go out of style, and you will not need to worry about them clashing with any potential new pieces of furniture. To start with this, I would recommend choosing neutral colors for the majority of your items with a few pops of color here are there. Buying these pieces will help you have a pretty house while maintaining your minimalist lifestyle.

Digitize your media collection

One way to embrace minimalist décor is to keep fewer items underneath your entertainment center. If you have less physical DVDs, Blu-Rays, and CDs to keep, you can use a more minimal entertainment center. You can still keep all your media while being minimal, the trick is to digitize your media collection! For example, use the digital copy feature of your movies and store them in the cloud. Upload music from your CDs to your computer and your phone. You could also subscribe to entertainment services such as Netflix, Spotify, Amazon, Hulu, or Disney+ so you can have access to tons of movies and music without needing to physically store them somewhere. If you do this, you will not need to keep all the discs, and you can use a more minimal entertainment center.

Buy multi-use items

Another way to shop intentionally is to pay close attention to the quality of the items you buy. Sure, you may be buying an item only to replace something you ran out of, but is it wasteful or low quality? Shop around for items that have multiple uses (for example, a storage ottoman that can double as an extra seat for visitors, or a couch that can double as a sofabed). You will own less stuff while still taking care of the Earth!

One way to maintain your minimalist lifestyle while keeping a pretty house is to rent your furniture. This way, you can be sustainable while freshening up your décor every once in a while. CORT furniture rental is the perfect place to rent out your minimalist furniture for the year. You can rent out exactly what you need to fit your home and your lifestyle.

Looking for an easy way to furnish your off-campus apartment? Renting furniture from CORT saves you time and money. See how easy it is to get great looking furniture without breaking the bank.

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