Minimalist style is all about intentionality, simplicity, and harmony. A living room is meant to be a place to gather and unwind, so it's an ideal location to implement the design style. Minimalism embraces quality over quantity and lends itself well to a light and bright aesthetic, modern furniture and decor, and an open floor plan. Instead of busy patterns and bright colors, minimalist spaces look to a neutral palette, clean lines, and simple silhouettes to set a restful tone.
Incorporating a minimalist design style is an easy way to take a step back from the noise and chaos of day-to-day life, so you can relax in a space that feels intentional and calming. And if you're picturing an all-white space with sparse furniture, think again. Just as you wouldn't want a maximalist-style room to read as messy or cluttered, you don't want a minimalist living room to come across as impersonal or sterile. Don't be afraid to embrace color, texture, and natural elements in your space, as long as they don't overwhelm the room.
To help you update your living space, we're sharing our best minimalist living room ideas. Stick to the essentials and add in a few carefully chosen details to capture your design style without added clutter.
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Gray Minimalist Living Room
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A light and bright aesthetic lends itself well to a minimalist living room. Pair a white slipcovered sofa with a faded vintage-style area rug and a natural wood coffee table for a calm and elegant look. Instead of a busy gallery wall, opt for a triptych of modern art prints and elevate them with a chic picture light.
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Lean on Natural Textures
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With limited decor and a neutral color palette, it's easy for minimalist living room designs to appear boring. An easy way to prevent this is to embrace natural textures wherever possible. Here, wood, leather, and jute accents lend texture to a neutral rug and linen sofa for an inviting, earthy feel.
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Minimalist Living Room with Color
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A neutral color scheme is one of the key characteristics of minimalist design, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick with all grays and browns. Instead of going bold with dramatic brights, add a soft pop of color that doesn’t feel overwhelming or distracting. Here, a soft pink armchair brightens a living room corner, bringing in a splash of personality while maintaining a cool, contemporary, and streamlined space.
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Add Style and Function
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Cozy up your living room in a minimalist way with a floating wood bench by the fireplace. It adds both style and function, since you can use the space underneath to store firewood and accessorize the top with patterned throw pillows. Accentuate the comfy little nook with a wall paneling detail—such as this white shiplap—and draw the eyes up with a decorative wall sconce.
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Minimalist Living Room Floor Plan
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Plenty of natural light flooding in through oversized windows helps create a sense of openness and a connection with the outdoors that’s synonymous with minimalist style. Instead of heavy drapes, keep the windows open when possible or use simple window treatments so as not to block the views and the light.
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Painted Brick Walls
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Update exposed brick walls with a fresh coat of crisp white paint for a clean and uniform backdrop. Continue the modern aesthetic with black window frames that contrast the white walls and whose linear grid pattern juxtaposes the more irregular brick arrangement. Layer the monochrome space with plenty of textured neutrals to warm it up and bring in a tall floor plan to liven up the room.
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Minimalist Living Room Plants
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Liven up a minimalist space without breaking up its monochromatic color scheme by bringing in live potted greenery. Fill an empty corner with a tall cactus plant that has a sculptural quality and style a coffee table with stacks of books and a potted fern whose freeform shape adds height and an organic element. And if you don’t exactly have a green thumb, don’t worry—there are plenty of low-maintenance plants that anyone can keep alive.
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Invest in Practical Pieces
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One of the tenets of minimalist design is that all furniture used in the space should be functional. The brown leather Eames-style chair in this modern living room appears both sophisticated and cozy. Because the walls, curtain, and art are all fairly subdued, the chair and bright area rug anchor the seating area.
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Neutral Minimalist Living Room
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Minimalist design is all about quality over quantity, which gives you the opportunity to carefully consider the pieces you want to incorporate into your living room and invest in quality items and materials that will stand the test of time. When it comes to deciding what to splurge on, think large pieces such as the sofa, a statement light fixture that has the power to transform the whole space, and built-in elements such as a stunning fireplace surround.
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Floating Furniture
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Instead of pushing all the large pieces of furniture against the walls, create an open layout by floating furniture in the center of the room. Keep the room’s focal point, doors, and windows in mind when deciding on the layout and use a large area rug to anchor furniture and bring the arrangement together.
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Use Clean Lines and Basic Shapes
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Pair angular furniture (such as this Better Homes & Gardens Mid Century Solid Wood Reclining Accent Chair, $197, Walmart) with simple, classic shapes to create a minimalist look without sacrificing function. Here, a large round mirror and circular coffee table soften the lines in this neutral living space, while cozy textiles offer inviting texture. When decorating a sparse room, opt for luxe textures and fabrics, such as blankets and rugs, to add comfort and personality that typically comes from artwork or decor.
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Bring In Curved Furniture
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Juxtapose linear wall paneling with curved furniture that exudes an understated elegance. Curved pieces add softness, they keep the room open since they’re less bulky than square furniture, and they work well in corners since you can comfortably nestle them in.
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Add Storage to Hide Clutter
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A living room needs to be a functional gathering place, no matter which decorating style you choose. If you have a lot of clutter, like electronic gadgets or kids toys, look for storage solutions that will keep everything accessible, but out of sight. Here, simple furniture pieces and white built-ins keep the room looking sparse while providing ample storage space for all your family movie night essentials.
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Layer Materials and Textures
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Create visual interest in a minimalist living room by thoughtfully layering contrasting materials and textures. Take inspiration from this neutral space, and pair a dark upholstered sectional with warm cognac leather chairs, bringing the two together with an oversized textured area rug. Add contrasting patterns through throw pillows and blankets, and introduce a woven element in the form of woven wicker baskets that double as practical storage.
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Hang a Statement Mirror
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To make a minimalist living room look large and airy, hang a statement mirror above the fireplace. If the fireplace isn't an option, dress up an otherwise blank wall. In this minimalist room, the lack of a traditional mantel makes the large octagonal mirror pop. Crisp shiplap adds understated farmhouse style that works well as a backdrop, while a vibrant patterned rug keeps the room from falling flat.
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Scandinavian Style
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With it's soft color palette, natural touches, and textures, this minimalist living room exudes Scandi style. The slanted wall and round table add visual interest, while the large branches provide color that can easily be swapped as the seasons change. A large sofa and simple accent chair provide plenty of seating without adding clutter to the space.
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Embrace Natural Light
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If you're lucky enough to have large windows in your living room, embrace natural light as a decor element. It instantly creates a bright, airy atmosphere that makes your space appear larger and more open. In this space, high ceilings and large, curtain-free windows allow colorful furniture to pop without overwhelming the minimalist living room.
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Keep It Simple
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Simplicity is at the core of minimalist interiors. Edit the living room and remove any unnecessary pieces that don’t serve a key functional or decorative purpose. Remove or hide cords that clutter the floor, streamline decorative accents, and keep surfaces clean to maintain a calm atmosphere.
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Mount the TV on the Wall
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A clean and streamlined aesthetic is at the heart of minimalist design, so to keep surfaces as clean and clutter-free as possible, mount your TV on the wall and hide all the cables. If you’re not mounting the TV above a mantel, use a media piece, console table, or low-sitting cabinet to visually anchor it, then hang artwork around it to integrate it with the surrounding space.
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Hang a Gallery Wall
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A gallery wall is a great way to add a personal touch to your living room, especially if the pieces have been collected over time and hold treasured memories. When assembling a gallery wall, consider three factors: artwork type, frame style, and size of the piece. Incorporate at least three types of artwork such as photographs, paintings, and drawings, vary the sizes of the pieces to create depth and dimension, and use up to three different frame colors or materials for visual interest.
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Minimalist Living Room Curtains
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In this minimalist living room, the window treatments make a stunning design statement thanks to their bold pattern and floor-to-ceiling size. The curtain panels’ height visually extends the ceiling and makes the room look more spacious and the solid colored sofa tones down the busy curtain print for a beautifully balanced space.
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Statement Light Fixture
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A sculptural chandelier makes a dramatic statement in this minimalist living room and draws the eyes up to visually increase the ceiling height. Its modern design complements the concrete fireplace, streamlined natural wood ceiling beams and floors, chic furniture, and bright white walls.
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Minimalist Living Room Materials
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You’ll typically see lots of solid surfaces in a minimalist space, so to keep it interesting, bring in contrast through a variety of materials. In this gorgeous space, a lush velvet sofa and boucle armchairs add softness, while a luxurious black marble coffee table with brass legs brings in a cool element and wood beams on the ceiling warm up the room.
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Maintain Visual Symmetry
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A symmetrical room design is pleasing to the eye as it feels balanced and harmonious. Symmetrical doesn’t necessarily mean matching—in this chic minimalist living room, two oatmeal-colored sofas create a mirror image, but the rest of the symmetry is achieved in more fluid ways. Flanking the stone fireplace, two oversized mirrors on the right side visually balance a window on the left, and a tall floor lamp by one of the sofas matches the height of a table lamp propped up on a side table by the second sofa. It’s a more sophisticated way to approach symmetry and one that achieves a more high-end look.
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Start with Texture
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This living room has a lot of texture, but the neutral color palette creates an airy feel. Aside from the couch, every piece of furniture has an open base with minimal weight, which fits the minimalist aesthetic. The thin legs of the coffee table, ottomans, and accent chairs create more visual floor space, giving the illusion that the space is larger than it really is.
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Mix Design Styles
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Don’t be afraid of mixing different design styles in your living room. Minimalism is all about a few well selected pieces that work together despite their contrasting styles. Here, a traditional chesterfield sofa is paired with a modern barrel armchair and a contemporary style coffee table for an eclectic mix that’s unified through a neutral color scheme.
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Opt for Neutral Colors
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Various shades of white and cream give this minimalist living room a tranquil feel. The stark white brick fireplace complements off-white walls and a cream-colored rug, adding subtle dimension without introducing new colors. The neutral foundation allows a statement coffee table to take center stage and imbue the living area with personality.
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Embrace an Accent Color
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Minimalism doesn't have to be void of color. While many minimalist living rooms feature neutral wall colors, it's entirely possible to embrace a brighter shade—like this cheerful tangerine—while maintaining a streamlined look. The clean lines of the wall molding give the space dimension, while the monochromatic accent wall provides an uncluttered foundation for intentional decor pieces.
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Create a Focal Point
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When designing your living room, center a seating arrangement around a focal point. It gives the eye a clear place to land as soon as you walk in and prevents a cluttered layout. Here, a white fireplace with a herringbone tile detail serves as an elegant focal point for a sofa and chairs, while a low-sitting coffee table allows for a full view of the focal point.
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Streamline Your Color Palette
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This monochromatic living room busts the myth that minimalist spaces have to be all white. To add color without clutter, opt for a single color with subtle variations on the hue. Here, green wall paint creates a serene backdrop for the green sofa and velvet armchairs. Small accents of warm yellow and gold make the space feel warm and inviting without taking over.
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Use Brown as an Accent Color
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The color brown has been trending in the design world lately, and works well as an accent in minimalist rooms. It’s warm, neutral, pairs well with creams and whites, and when used in a dark hue it creates depth and dimension in an ultra-luxurious way. Evenly distribute pops of brown throughout the living room in the form of wood furniture, upholstery, window treatments, and decorative accents.
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