In my previous post, I brought together two ideas: luxury and minimalism. If you’re with me on this path, you’ve started to see junk as junk and stuff as an obstruction to a more luxurious lifestyle. I hope this change in mindset has helped you do away with items that distract you from this goal.
To keep this momentum, I’ve listed some ideas to help you visualize your soon-to-become luxurious space and put this mindset into practice.
Bedroom. A great way to make your home feel more luxurious is simply to make your bed and leave it unencumbered until it’s time for rest. I realize this seems obvious and almost annoying to hear but it’s worth saying (and doing). To make it less time consuming, reevaluate your bed’s accoutrement. Don’t let extra decorative pillows or excessive blankets turn making your bed a real chore. Make sure you actually like what’s on your bed. Nice sheets and blankets are not expensive. I make mine quickly but love tucked in corners so I spend the extra 30 seconds to do that. Figure out what feels most special to you.
I can’t resist adding: if you have a chair or piece of furniture where you leave semi-used clothes to pile up, please stop. While it’s great to minimize washing clothes when they aren’t smelly or dirty, this pile does nothing to produce an inviting space. After you’ve given an item of clothing the night to “air out,” put it away. Perhaps right after you’ve made the bed.
Along these lines, if you can’t fit your clothes neatly into your drawers or closet, it’s probably time to donate some clothes. Also, after you finish doing your laundry, fold it and put it away. You do have time to do this, I can assure you. If you did it right away, it will feel like less of a chore. This is a simple routine that can turn your bedroom into a place of luxury instead of continued chaos.
Finally, only have the most basic furniture in your bedroom. Any additional furniture (bedside tables, additional dressers, end of bed benches, chairs, etc.) invite more stuff into your space and allow for these pile ups to occur more easily. A bedroom is just a place for rest, changing clothes, and relaxing before going to sleep. Keep focused on those functions.
Bathroom. Make it spa-like! If you’ve ever been to a nice spa, you know that it’s luxury is in it’s absence of stuff. It’s clean, sparse, and what it does contain is of high quality. In your bathroom, only keep the things meant to keep you clean and healthy. Ensure there are no expired products (quick and easy to toss) or no-longer-used items (a little harder to let go of but you’re on a roll).
Even though I am not a proponent of the single-use toiletries left out in hotels, I appreciate the look of and specialness these bottles evoke. When you walk in, they are the only things that you see. It’s the emptiness of the bathroom that creates a welcoming space. Try to mimic this by only having the most necessary, used-daily toiletries visible and make sure they look nice too. For example, I keep my hand soap in a vintage green glass ashtray and don’t use any plastic bottles. My extra towels are rolled (quite nicely, if I do say so myself) in a canvas basket on the window ledge for easy access. Be sure to look out for any non-bathroom items and remove them (though a couple of candles never hurt). This will keep the focus on your new spa-like space.
While we cannot always have hotel or spa amenities in our homes, it’s clear that less is more when it comes to luxury. We can use this as guidance and inspiration to bring some luxury back with us.