We all know the benefits of a minimalist décor and almost every home improvement site you read about it seems is currently pushing the idea very heavily. Minimalist interiors are fashionable and modern, they’re easy to look after and keep clean, they’re efficient and they’re inexpensive. Meanwhile it’s easy to move home when you have less in it to move, and the items you do have suddenly take on more importance and drawing more eyes.

But there’s one problem – and that’s that you probably like your stuff, and suddenly having to get rid of it all can feel a bit painful and heartless. Here then I’m going to talk you into deciding to take the plunge and make the split, and at the same time show you how you can lessen the pain of separation….

Ornaments: Here’s step one – take everything on your surfaces that is either a: candle holder, placemat, vase, photo frame, tissue box, fruit bowl or non-essential lamp and put it in a box on your wardrobe overnight. Now spend some time in your room and see how it feels – nice and clean feeling isn’t it? Knowing this, you should now put back just a few – two decoration per half a surface maximum – and make sure to cut down your things by at least half.

Collections: The urge to collect is something that leads to a lot of clutter but it can be overcome. First of all note that if you thin out your collections and display just the pride of your collections that you will immediately make that one item seem that much more important and special. If you have a collection of blue and white china then for instance this can just look cluttered and dusty on a shelf whereas just one single nice blue and white bowl that you’re incredibly proud of can make a real statement and stand out. Likewise rather than having a collection of hundreds of DVDs you don’t really care that much about, how about having just a select few that create a picture of who you are and the kind of things you enjoy?

Boxes: You may think that having boxes full of junk on your wardrobes or in the loft won’t affect your décor – but you’d be wrong. Even though you can’t see this stuff, just having it there is enough to prevent you putting other things away, while having boxes on wardrobes and under beds means there’s less clear space in your visual field which we still register as clutter. If you have a box of old things that you haven’t been in for the last year then you should simply take it down, remove anything valuable or sentimental and throw it out. The point here is that if you haven’t used it in that long, you probably won’t use it again anytime soon either. And if you do find you suddenly need whatever it is? Then you can probably buy a new one.

Stop Buying: Of course to limit your clutter you also need to stop adding to it. One easy way to do this is with a ‘one in, one out’ rule, which simply means that for every new item you buy and display, you have to remove one old one to make space. This forces you to think more carefully about purchases and means you can’t amass too much.

Hi, I am Anne Warren and I write home improvement articles. I am passionate about home decor and share my experiences through guest posting. I choose Central Heating Boilers to get all info on central heating types, providers of home heating solutions.