The Essentials That Belong In Every Minimalist Home

featured this week on MindBodyGreen by Emma Loewe

We’re putting out a “5 Days to Minimalism” series to help you clear clutter from your life really, really quickly. Day 5 is all about adopting a minimalist mindset throughout your home.

Sit back and envision a room that's flooded with natural light and simply curated with a few statement furniture pieces and accessories sprinkled here and there. Can you feel your heart rate slow down a few notches?

Kitchen

How to clear it out

Here, architect and feng shui expert Anjie Cho shares her top tips for crafting a clean kitchen:

1. Clear off all surfaces. The more things that are on the counter and visible, the more cluttered your kitchen will look and feel. If possible, put things away behind cabinet doors. If you have glass doors, you can paint the backside of the glass or add a frosted film, so you don't see the additional busyness inside the cabinets. I like to give myself a limit of one to three things that I love and use on a daily basis on the counter and one item on the stove.

...read full article

8 Tips to Feng Shui Your Kitchen

featured this month on ThriveMarket by Annalise Mantz

Watch enough home decorating shows and you’ll start to think interior design is all about subway tile backsplashes, reclaimed wood, and floating kitchen islands. Sure, flashy furniture is nice—but that’s not what makes a house a home.

That’s where feng shui (pronounced fung shway) comes in. This ancient Chinese art isn’t just another design trend—its primary focus is balancing the energy flow of a room through the placement of objects. Practitioners believe everything has chi, or energy, and rearranging furniture, decorations, and appliances can affect everything from your career to love life.

CLEAN OUT THE FRIDGE

Since the kitchen is all about nourishment, sustainable architect and feng shui expert Anjie Cho recommends taking a good hard look at your refrigerator. Throw away any expired or spoiled food. Keeping food past its prime can reflect negatively on your health by sharing the space where you cook and eat. Plus, it’s just gross.

...read full article