Minimalist furniture: How to make it serve you.

How to choose furniture that serves your family? It is not only about aesthetics, but minimalist furniture is also about practicality.

If chosen carefully, your furniture in your home will not only look clean, but also be easy to work around when cleaning and moving. Below are a 5 tips to look out for when choosing the right furniture for you.

“All these things eventually turn on us; we become slaves to our belongings, forced to spend time and energy caring for them.”
Fumio Sasaki, Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism

1. Do you need it?

This may seem a strange way to start, but take a step back and think if you need it and why. Perhaps you already own something that can serve a similar purpose? I remember an interesting perspective about furniture by Fumio Susuke which mentions something similar to the idea that furniture takes up space in your home and ends up owning more of your home then you do. Each square meter is theirs and not yours, so choosing your furniture carefully is really important.

I have had a bookcase that has served as a shelf in the bathroom, then a shelf for toys in a nursery, and then became a document shelf in an office. If you have noticed for some time that you really need this piece of furniture and nothing else can serve it’s purpose then take time looking with these next steps in mind.

2. Shape and Material

Often, minimalist furniture has a clean shape that is soft on the eye. When thinking about furniture, consider whether the shape is simple and timeless. You want to keep it for as long as you can. With that, you need to consider the material. If you have children or pets, or live in a damp environment, you need to ensure that you can maintain the quality of the item. Fabric may not last a very long time, so if your product has fabric – think whether you can easily replace it or not.

Also, as shown in this image, try to find furniture with high legs or flush to the floor to help keep cleaning easy. This was the biggest upgrade to my minimalist and simple living as I can now vacuum my floor completely within 10 minutes. My vacuum can fit nicely under my minimalist furniture and I do not need to move them anymore. If anything, this is the most time saving tip I have.

“Possessions can make us happy only for brief periods. Unnecessary material objects suck up our time, our energy, and our freedom.”
Fumio Sasaki, Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism

3. Timeless colour

With the colour in mind, it is important to keep it muted and not loud. Colours have a direct impact on our brain and it is recommended to stick to one, if you need colour. One way to do this is to choose neutral coloured walls and minimalist furniture, and add accents to it that can be removed.

For instance, my bed is a beautiful solid oak wooden bed with white bed sheets and a green throw on top. If you know you are someone who likes to regularly change things around, then this is a good idea as you can just change the colour of the throw which will make a dramatic difference to the mood of the room. This can be the same for a sofa. You can add colour with cushions, which can be easily changed for a new mood or theme. Such simple changes can have a dramatic effect.

4. Multiple Uses

Check the object to see if it can be used in multiple different ways. I remember the amazement my husband showed when we used a thin wooden table with shelves and drawers in a kitchen, then for storage in a cupboard, then as a nappy changing station, and now for sewing. This table can still be used for more, such as a buffet table or bathroom cabinet. Infact, I have seen the same table in a Youtube video be used to home plants and herbs. It has little wheels on one side to be easily moved around. Our sofa can be easily moved around and transform into a bed for guests. Think about if you can see that your item may be useful for other purposes in the future. If not, make sure it is timeless so that you can sell it on easily or pass it on.

“As time went by, our world became plentiful, and objects began to be used for another purpose: to enable us to affirm our own worth.”
Fumio Sasaki, Goodbye, Things: On Minimalist Living

5. Plants

This is more of an extra minimalist furniture that serves you well. I once read that whether the plant is real or not, it boosts the overall atmosphere of the room and therefore your mood. Not only your mood, but if the plant it real, it may help purify the air and even prevent mould.

Think about your favourite café, does it have plants (real or fake?) or think about a time when you went to a clean looking lobby at a hotel. Most of the time I am drawn to the plants in a room, so for me this minimalist furniture is necessary as it brings me joy.

I have a wonderful Chinese Evergreen that is flourishing in our living room. It brings colour to the room and a sense of harmony. Of course, this plant needs watering and caring for, but it is minimal in the sense that it is in a self watering plant pot that I just need to top up from time to time. Every now and again, I dust its leaves which I find therapeutic.

“It’s tough to come up with an exact definition of a minimalist as there are bound to be elements that we’ll end up missing, but my definition of a minimalist is a person who knows what is truly essential for him- or herself, who reduces the number of possessions that they have for the sake of things that are really important to them. There”
Fumio Sasaki, Goodbye, Things: The New Japanese Minimalism