The Pillars of Cozy Minimalism

Oh my gosh my friends! Welcome to another episode on the cozy minimalism podcast. In this episode I’m going to tell you about the pillars of cozy minimalism and if I counted them right, there are 10. If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram all of the things that I’m going to be talking about today are what my posts revolve around, so this will give you a lot of insight into foundation of Cozy Minimalism and how they all fit into the big picture.

 

Pillar 1

Assess Where You Are Right Now.

Are you mostly a stuff shuffler and get frustrated with feeling like you aren’t getting anywhere with your progress? Are you a chronic declutterer and feel like you have decluttered the same stuff and spaces over and over again? Are you a surface minimalist with tidy surfaces and main living areas with dirty little secrets within closets and storage spaces? Have you stepped into being a functional minimalist where you are minimal in every area of your home, including storage and utilitarian spaces? Decide where you are along the path and make focused strides to the next level. Awareness of where you are right now is something that will help you get to the next level.

 

Pillar 2

Focused Action and Realistic Goals

It’s unrealistic to think that your home could get decluttered and minimized in a short period of time. (Good on you if you can though!). Most people that choose this path are able to accomplish the goal in 1-2 years. Clutter is removed in layers, and what you desperately keep on day 1 may be something you can freely let go of on day 120. Also, you avoid burnout by removing clutter in layers. You build momentum with each and every single pass you do within your home. Little by little, a little becomes a lot.  

Underneath all of that clutter, you will find that you have clarity, purpose, passion and drive.




Pillar 3

Balance

In order to make sure your home isn’t too stark and cold or too overwhelming and cluttered, you need to find your happy balance of each extreme. I advise a reset to help you and your loved ones live in a space that is out of your comfort zone. Clear those surfaces off and maintain them for a month that way. Once you have reset, then you can start adding back the cozy items that make your home feel warm and welcoming by using the layers of cozy and basic decorating guidelines.

 

Pillar 4

To Each Their Home

One thing you will hear me say A LOT is “To Each Their Home”. It’s a statement that helps remind us that everyone lives a different life and everyone’s home is unique. Cozy minimalism is not an elitist movement. It is filled with kind and caring people that see the beauty in others homes, even when giving advice.

 

Pillar 5

Intentional Home Styling

This pillar is comprised of three points.

First of all, the thing I heard over and over again from you is that this movement is not a decorating style, it’s a lifestyle. There is a minimalist art style, and design style and that’s where a lot of confusion comes in. The design style is stripped down to the basics and the rooms do look cold, stark and unwelcoming to cozy minimalists. The great joy of following a minimalist lifestyle, is that your home can be decorated in any style you are drawn to with your personal level of “enough”.

Next, you don’t have to go out and buy a bunch of brand new stuff. By using what you already own and love in your home you can style your space as you go through the minimizing process. While going through your clutter, if you find something that you love, I suggest you find a way to incorporate it into your home decor. Whether you take photos of it and put them on the wall or if you use the item in a decor grouping. This is a way to let you creativity shine.

And finally, if your space feels too cold and stark, you can apply the layers of cozy to every room and add some warmth and interest to them without adding clutter. Using basic decorating guidelines you can understand how layout, flow, cohesiveness and color work to impact how your space feels to you.

 

Pillar 6

Habits and Flows

Our goal is to have an easy to maintain home and habits and routines support that. By crafting your own habits and routines, you will be able to effortlessly maintain your new lifestyle and home. My all time favorite habit is the 10 minute tidy at the end of the night to reset all of the main living area surfaces to their prior glory. It becomes a baseline of tidiness for your family. The space visually cues everyone as to what the level of tidiness is set at without YOU having to nag or be bossy… BONUS!

 

Pillar 7

Mindshifts to Minimalism

The thinking that got you here won’t serve you on your new path. With each level along the path, you hit certain milestones and you focus on specific mindshifts in order to change your relationship with stuff and clutter. This is a major reason that you won’t relapse back into the clutter cycle, whereas others would. You get curious about and dive into the root cause of your clutter. When you know better, you do better.

 

Pillar 8

Home in real life

 

The idea of “home” has changed since our grandparents time. Can I get a heck yeah?

 

If you duck and hide when the doorbell rings, there’s a problem.

 

Home Shame is real. We’re shown the highlight reel of other people’s homes on social media and ours just don’t stackup in comparison. We feel like it’s not good enough when we look at somebody else’s home, and we will avoid having friends or family over.

 

Those homes, are beautifully staged and styled yes. But you don’t see the rest of the room, just what’s in the frame.

 

I have many friends that post on instagram and they are the first to admit that their home “off camera” is chaos. I want to help change that. We can still have beautiful, styled and minimal stuff… and that peace and tranquility can be throughout our home.

 

To go along with that, messes DO happen in our homes, but because we have less stuff, we tend to have minimal messes as well. The maintaining of our spaces isn’t a challenge. I regularly post my messes and hotspots to show you all that in our homes, we do life. And with life, there are sometimes messes.

 

Have friends over anyways. Welcome people in anyways. There is so much beauty to be found in your progress, not just the after shots.

 

Pillar 9

Function and Purpose for Every Room

 

A functional home breeds happy people.

If each room has minimal functions and purposes, you will be able to breathe a sigh of relief.

This helps you create pods within those spaces and determine where each items should go when you come across them while decluttering. Imagine, finding an items that is random on your counter and knowing exactly where that item belongs in your home. You gain so much clarity from minimal functions within a room.



Pillar 10

Deeper Than Decorating

On the surface it might seem like we are just decorating your home. But when you go through this transformation within your home, you really transform your life. Your home becomes a safe haven, a place to relax, unwind, and recharge. Your home reflects you and your family, you feel an immediate sense of relief when you walk through the doors and it’s almost like “AH! I’m home!” It doesn’t matter what happens outside of these four walls, everything is going to be alright. Your home serves you, you don’t feel like a slave to it. By minimizing to the right amount of stuff for you, you are performing a deeper form of self-care. If your home serves you, you are better equipped to go out into the rest of the world and kick butt. You feel balanced. You are more in alignment with your authentic self. You gain your personal power and confidence. It’s so much deeper than decorating, it’s crafting a life you want using your physical surroundings to support you. In our current world, your home needs to function and support you. By allowing your home to be a sanctuary that nurtures and supports you and your family, you gain a very important safe haven from the stresses in the world out there. When you and your family have a space like this, you actually enjoy your time spent together. You’re not worried about your to-do list. You don’t have the masses of clutter that are stressing you out and making you snap at each other. You’re not focusing on what a chore it is having to do supper even you’re exhausted. By having a home that supports you, you can savour the time you spend together.