With all the clutter in our daily lives, most days we just want everything around us to be neat and minimal. Do you agree?
We can all I agree, I believe, that there is a very small guarantee of a clutter-free home in a house with more than two kids. There is a toy in every corner of the house. There is something you will inevitably step on especially on the staircase. Experience has taught us that the more you increase the number of storage spaces, the more clutter you will accumulate.
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Simplicity is the key.
The idea is to have a minimalist interior design for the house. Open-plan layout, with just key pieces for the living room, kitchen and dining area, starting with entrance doors up to closets and laundry room. The front door will be painted a striking color: red or blue. The dining area will have a large table with simple wooden chairs. Or it can be a kitchen with kitchen island counter seating. Perhaps a booth seating? The latter is great for small kids. Minimal kitchen cabinets but a pantry will compensate for the shortage in storage area. A living room or family room will have couches, a simple wooden center table, and a floor lamp. There is a laundry room directly after the mudroom. The bedrooms will have a bed, built-in cabinets. The bathrooms will have a shower stall, a toilet, built-in cabinets, too.
With the commercialization of almost every aspect of our lives, we tend to overspend on things we actually do not need. And this applies to our homes. We have too many of any single item especially dinnerware. I do believe majority of us is guilty of this, with the automatic reasoning that we are buying extra for guests.
If our goal is to have a clear mind inside our homes, even with kids, we need to downgrade. Again, simplicity. If we turn to minimalism, a clutter-free home will always be on the forefront of our minds. Our tendency to buy more, store more, will be gone, if not minimized. I would like to think that even kids will have less clutter because of the awareness of a neat home.
Transitioning from a traditional house to a minimalist will not be easy. Imagine the number of items you will have to get rid of when organizing your stuff. Do a garage sale. Give away to charity but only those items which are in good condition and will be of use to the recipients. It will be hard to part with some items but if you are really keen on a clutter-free home, sacrifices have to be made.
Again, simplicity is the key. It will have to start from a decision and everything else will follow. Of course, getting every family member on board the idea is a priority step. If one is not on board, there will be clashes along the way.
Your home is your haven. It needs to be a place where you can breathe and be at peace.