I am a huge fan of keeping clutter at bay in my life and home. I recently have a lot of stuff in my life and am looking for a stylish way to decorate my home's interior such as Scandinavian-inspired minimalism or midcentury modern that won't invite the dust collectors to return. What are some furniture and accessory guidelines that lend themselves to the spareness I'm seeking?
"Everybody is simplifying right now," says Larry West, the principal owner of L. West Jr. Designs of Little Rock and Dallas. "I can't begin to tell you how long it's been where I've done a project where decluttering wasn't the primary goal."
West says while design styles such as Scandinavian-inspired minimalism and midcentury modern can lend themselves to functional and streamlined interiors, many other styles featuring light colors and clean, streamlined forms in architecture, furnishings and accessories can also evoke a similar elegant but minimal feel by following some basic guidelines:
• Finite furnishings
"Keep seating in a room minimal," he advises. "If you usually entertain four or five people, just have that many chairs; don't have a ton of chairs floating around everywhere just to fill in the space." So keep things straight, organized and placed correctly.
• Bookshelves, he says, have fallen out of favor as a design element. "One of the biggest things people are getting rid of are bookshelves," West says. "If you have bookshelves, then put books in them but putting accessories, lamps, or plants in bookshelves is a thing of the past."
• Less is more
"I would not use a lot of accessories," he advises. "Make sure that every item in your house is something of importance, either a piece of art that sits on the table or hangs on the wall. Don't go out and buy a bunch of stuff to sit around."
He also recommends limiting sofa pillows to a single pair.
The same paring down goes for bedding treatments.
"A bed 10 or 12 years ago used to have 14,000 pillows on it," West exaggerates. "But that has also
gone away. Now we have an upholstered headboard with maybe two to four pillows and that's it."
Also be discriminating about the placement of accessories.
"I don't like filler things like artificial plants that are used to fill open spaces," he says. "I do like real plants inside a home as long as they are the appropriate size but I like to keep those things at minimal."
• Uncluttered color
Limit the interior paint colors throughout the house to one, maybe two shades, West suggests . This will help preserve a neat and tidy appearance.
"Having different wall colors throughout the house will make the interior look enclosed or cluttered," he says.
• Lighting
"These days we don't want to have a big, chunky ceiling fan with a light kit," he says. "Instead we now have a low-profile, simplistic fan that becomes less visible by painting it the same color as the ceiling." He also suggests recessed (can) lighting as a minimalist design approach.
• Windows
"Choosing something simple and straightforward such as a wood shutter or accordion-top pull-down shade or blind will let the windows speak for themselves," West says. "If you have something not pretty outside then we would consider a simple drape." The days of cornice boards and lots of fringe as window treatment are passe, he says.
"Now we just use a simple, nice bar with simple tailored drapes for window treatments."
Do you have a decorating or remodeling question? Send your question to Linda S. Haymes, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, P.O. Box 2221, Little Rock, Ark. 72203 or email:
lhaymes@arkansasonline.com
HomeStyle on 09/17/2016