exciting news!

becoming minimalist has moved.  please visit us at our new address: http://www.becomingminimalist.com/

also, don’t forget to update your bookmarks as all new posts will be entered on the new site.  we hope you’ll like the new look even more as we don’t change any of our content or stated goals.

minimalist art

my wife and i have always enjoyed the simplicity and beauty of minimalist art.  today i found an artist named alan salabert who has a large archive on his website.  if you enjoy minimalist art or would like to understand it better, check out his archives.  here’s a link to his site: alan salabert.

minimalista

if i could start all over and money wasn’t an issue, i’d buy my furniture from minimalista.

but because money is an issue, i put my junk drawer up for sale on ebay.

operation: minimalist office complete

before:

after:

what i did:

• removed every book that i have not/will not use
• removed wall hangings (notes/record albums/college degrees)
• removed all paper clutter from desktop (stored in my top drawer)
• removed all office equipment from desktop (stapler/tape)
• removed noncurrent clutter from bulletin board
• removed misc clutter from bookshelves (souvenirs/sports memorabilia)
• painted

results:

• able to focus / less distraction (my mind matches my activity)
• a vision for the future (no longer tied to the past)
• more energy (clutter is so mentally draining)
• endless possibilities…

operation: minimalist office day 3

today i picked a paint color, prepped my office, and applied the primer. tomorrow, i’ll apply the new color to the walls.

picking a paint color for my office was harder than i thought – it’s never easy for me (i don’t “visualize” real well) but this was particularly tough. on one hand, i am committed to a minimalist theme prefering a color that is not distracting, yet expansive. on the other hand, i’ve got to live with the furniture that i’ve got (bulky oak, nothing like this: milk desk). and choosing a color that is too cool and sterile doesn’t necessarily create an inviting environment (which i need to offset my personality).

after changing my mind on the way to sherwin williams, i finally decided on a color called “respite” that is a mid-tone true blue. it’s not too cold. not too warm. not too boring (my wife talked me out of grey). and it seems really close to the color of the sky on a sunny day. i’m looking forward to putting it on my walls tomorrow afternoon and posting pictures on monday when the furniture is returned.

i hope you’ll check it out.

operation: minimalist office day 1 results

today was everything that i hoped it would be.  i get everything accomplished in my office that i was hoping – and sat down at 4:45pm with 15 minutes to spare.  here are my accomplishments:

• removed every book from my bookshelf that i haven’t used since i moved
• moved one large bookshelf out of my office and left two empty shelves on another
• removed everything off my physical desktop leaving only a computer, phone, lamp, and family photo
• digitally scanned over 150 pages of paper files and shredded the files
• removed a mid-size box full of sports and travel souvenirs from my bookshelves
• took everything off of my bulletin board except for my son’s drawing and a poster of michael scott.
• removed 8 things from my walls (college degrees, keith green record albums, calendar, misc.)

my last remaining step is to paint the walls a different color which will complete the transformation.  i am scheduled to complete the painting this weekend and should get some photos up as soon as i finish.  check back here to see the finished minimalist office.

ps – as my assistant was leaving today, she commented, “your office looks very minimal.”  (i was very excited because i haven’t even told her about our new lifestlye!

no desktop icons

perhaps it’s a bit quirky, but recently i turned off all of the icons on my dektop.  and i love it!

for those that aren’t aware, you can turn off your pc’s desktop icons by right-clicking the desktop > clicking “arrange icons by” > and un-checking “show desktop icons”.  before i did that, i moved some of my regularly used program shortcuts to the quicklaunch taskbar just to make sure they were quick to load (auto-hiding the taskbar takes care of the evidence).

minimalist design

i noticed an article today about designing minimalist that i bookmarked right here at home-decorating-reviews.com.  his information on color, texture, and accessories will be helpful when we redesign some of our roooms.

ehow – how to decorate in a minimalist style

i just noticed that ehow.com has full room-by room listings of “how to decorate in a minimalist style” from living rooms and home office to selecting accessories.  i didn’t notice too many pictures which would have been helpful.  and i did notice that ratings for most of them were in 3-3.5 star range but i do think the thoughts will be helpful for something as we continue to become minimalist.

help #1 – photos of relatives

my wife and i ran into our first question/problem as we were minimalizing the magnets on our fridge.  what do we do with pictures of relatives?

on one hand, we love the idea of our kids seeing their family and learning their names.  and we love our families.  on the other hand, there are so many relatives and their pictures are in so many different rooms – trying to design minimalist will be difficult with unmatching frames and backgrounds of dozens of relatives.

our first help – what to do with photos of relatives?  any advice/ideas of how to display them in a minimalist home?