If your goal is to unlock a home that offers practicality without sacrificing comfort, keeping it simple is key. Ideal for individuals and small families, a simple house design usually includes only the essentials: one to two bedrooms, living area, kitchen, and bathroom. And is a design that’s considered a versatile options for urban and rural settings alike.
Minimalist homes allow homeowners to add a personal touch to the space through a multitude of interior design choices, from modern aesthetics to cozy rustic styles. Such a house also embraces the open-floor concept to make the most of the space, while creating a welcoming and airy atmosphere. Despite the size of the house, large windows are typically incorporated to let natural light in, giving the interior a more spacious and inviting feel.
The Benefits
Less Home Maintenance
Homeowners have become more intentional with how they spend their time and money. Nowadays, people worry less about pricey decor and fancy furnishings so they could focus on what matters the most. Because minimalist homes have less stuff inside, the less surfaces you have to clean and maintain. Redecorating can be done easily because there are no large or heavy furniture pieces that you have to deal with.
More Space
Less clutter also means less things taking up space inside the house. Aside from being visually appealing, the lack of fixtures free up space, creating the illusion that a space is larger than it really is.
Less Expenses
There’s nothing wrong about sprucing your home. But with practical and affordable designs, the less inclined you are to upgrade, spend on decorations you don’t really need –– and the more money you get to save for a rainy day.
More Time
Keeping things simple at home may also give you more time with the family. Because you spend less time cleaning, decluttering, and moving things around, the more time you can spend enjoying movie nights, doing DIY house plans, and more.
Better Quality of Life
The simple life is invaluable. When you don’t feel constantly pressured to spend for things you don’t really need around the house, your home can become what it was meant to be in the first place –– a cozy place for your family to gather, a place where you and your friends can connect. A simple home becomes priceless, not because of its material worth, but rather, what it enables you to do in life.
Key Features
There is an understated beauty behind a simple house design. Simple is relative, but in most cases, a simple living space is a small, cozy, well-planned space that provides you with the basic necessities with a touch of modern aesthetics. A simple house must also be inspired by affordable designs, and should not be expensive to build and maintain.
Minimalist Approach
A minimalist, simple house design is about emphasizing simplicity to achieve a better design –– clean lines, open spaces, a lack of unnecessary decoration, neutral colors, bare interior walls, and nature-inspired elements. Minimalism also means being simple when it comes to the space, form, materials used, colors, and details. This approach emphasizes natural light and views of the outside, as opposed to having lots of angles, complex curves, and lots of ins and outs.
Open Plan
An open plan design, at its core, is all about creating relationships between different parts of the house. It offers a seamless navigation between key areas such as the living room, dining room, and kitchen. An open-floor is deeply inspired by modern aesthetics that emphasize contemporary flooring, tones, and lighting.
Neutral Tones
Standing out doesn’t always mean making us of bold colors for your walls. Using neutral tones will not only provide your home with a kind of beauty that will never go out of style, it also helps put the spotlight on the different textures and furnishings around your house.
Tips
Remember, a simple house design doesn’t mean purging all your possessions, sensory deprivation by having the bare minimum, or cleaning the house to no end –– simplicity is about designing with intention, and choosing order and calmness for your home. Focusing on only a handful of elements doesn’t mean we are living less. All we’re doing is being more intent on what matters the most in the space we live in.
Reuse old furniture
Instead of buying new furniture pieces, a great way to keep things simple and stay within your budget is to reuse or refurbish furniture. It could be your old bed or your parents’ side table. This gives you versatility, because you can either retain the classic look of the old furniture or do a complete makeover to give the furniture a more contemporary appearance. Before you start adding new decor to a space, consider getting rid of any unwanted furniture or excess ornaments first. This is a great way to get a blank canvas of the space you’re planning to design or redecorate.
Add good lighting
We all know that we need good lighting to get great selfies. So adding the proper low-cost lighting inside your home can definitely liven up the space. What’s so great about this home design hack is that you can always find something that will fit your budget whether it’s pin lights, dining lights, or even simple chandeliers. If you’re looking to follow this year’s trend, you may want to look into making the most of natural lighting. Rather than making use of floor-length curtains or drapes, consider having large, bare-trimmed windows in the living room or in the front of your house. Skylights in the bathrooms or upstairs rooms can also add value to your home, while you get to enjoy views of the sky from the comfort of your home.
Keep it to a minimum
When redesigning the home, it’s easy to make the mistake of overdoing things because you feel excited to see the end product or you’re getting confused as to which furniture piece goes where. Overdecorating, however, not only looks awkward, it can also be unnecessarily expensive. So it’s always best to stick to the basics when it comes to your simple house design.
Keep things moving
Furniture can obviously take up a huge chunk of space inside your home. A cost-effective and efficient solution is to choose modular furniture that you can freely move around the house. The use of modular designs is already popular in the commercial office world, but DIY house plans are finally catching on. This type of design allows you to make sudden changes in layout to better meet the needs of your home. Some examples of modular designs can be seen in sectional sofas, kitchen cabinets, wardrobes, and storage spaces.
You may also want to consider using collapsible or foldable furniture. Doing so is a simple way to add a great deal of space to minimalist homes when they are not being used. These include items such as beds, chairs, dining tables, desks, and even kitchen islands that can be expanded. You can also add wall-mounted furniture such as reading tables that you can neatly fold against the wall when not in use. Make sure these items are “hugging” the walls so you can enjoy more space around the house. This gives small houses and condo units functionality with a touch of contemporary design.
Install multi-purpose decor
An excellent styling solution to choose furniture pieces that can have multiple functions. For example, your dining table can also double as a study table. That daybed in the living room can double as a guest room for unexpected guests drop in.
Use the right colors
The proper color palette makes a great impact on the overall aesthetic appeal of your home. It also creates the illusion of more space regardless of your home’s actual size. Most trends today suggest using white, beige, and other lighter tones to enhance the atmosphere of the space. Muted colors will make your space feel bigger and brighter as opposed to dark colors. Your space will instantly feel more open and inviting, but be cautious in overdoing the white space design. Doing this might make your home feel chilly and inhospitable. To balance it out, throw in a bit of vibrant colors to accentuate your home and make it feel warm.
Designing a home is both exciting and rewarding. But for beginners, it can also feel nerve-wracking. There are so many options to consider, whether you are building a brand new home or redesigning an old one. If it’s your first time designing your dream home, it is highly recommended to look for inspiration or ask for professional advice. Remember, the best home designs are usually done as a joint effort by the homeowner, a friend or family member, and a design professional. Visit phinmaproperties.com to get expert advice on how to design your dream home in a streamlined yet efficient way or to get a deeper understanding on the available properties that PHINMA Properties has built for Filipino families like yours.
