Minimalism is a way of life. It is also a form of design. It has grown in popularity and is almost a religion for some people. Minimalism has reached deep into the design world. When I think of minimalism design, I think of a very modern look. The style of minimalism is like furniture from IKEA. Think of living rooms and bedrooms with very simple color pallets and ordinary geometry. Nothing ornate.

Minimal Design Using IKEA Furniture.

But minimalism means different things to different people. It probably became most popular and well known from the two guys who have been writing books on it for a few years, Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. They call themselves The Minimalists and they have taken simple, clean, and sharp design to a whole new level.

The Minimalists Book

When they talk about minimalism, they aren’t necisarriliy talking about a form of design. They are speaking about a way of life where people remove as much of the clutter as possible and live on only the essentials. As they describe on their website, minimalism is practiced differently by everyone. For some people it means living in a tiny house. For others this means living without a car. It can also mean living with fewer than 100 items and traveling the world and not having any physical residence. As you can see it really is a way of life. How committed you are determines how religious you are.

A beautiful tiny house

I don’t think the design trend of minimal furniture and minimal interior design can really be attributed to Joshua and Ryan, The Minimalists. The trend seems to be more of a modern design simplifying the objects and products around us. Possibly a better name for it would be Modern Minimalism.

I post a lot of furniture and design photos to Instagram. Here are a few pictures from my instagram page using what I call Modern Minimalism design.

Even though I like the way minimal design looks, I don’t think I am ready to move into a tiny house tomorrow.