Minimalist Interior Designs

[MarcoChan 0]

Hi Everyone,

Currently I am considering Minimalist Style for my new flat. Can anyone post any good links where I can see samples of such style? Or any photos of such style also can.

Many Thanks in advance!

[demioboy78 0]

Hi Everyone,

Currently I am considering Minimalist Style for my new flat. Can anyone post any good links where I can see samples of such style? Or any photos of such style also can.

Many Thanks in advance!

Google images? You might wana visit ID firms and take a look at their photo albums... Online photos are limited.

[gakuseisean 4]

The Japanese are masters at minimalism, so I'd suggest that you take a look at Adidaem's masionette, which was done up by a Japanese-Singaporean firm.

Anyway elsewhere, one of the best places to browse minimal interiors is ArchDaily- it's more of an architectural website, but there are some amazing homes with extremely minimalist interiors, especially Japanese ones (which I've filtered for you). Archipile is another good source.

Alternatively, Italian furniture brands such as Porro or Jesse also have photos that are generally minimalist in nature.

I'd personally suggest that you do your prior research, such as borrowing library books, especially those published by the likes of firms like PageOne to acquaint yourself with minimalist concepts, as from what I see, most interior designers in Singapore don't exactly execute it very properly, and instead offer you modern, but cookie-cutter designs that are not truly minimalist in principal.

Remember that the key to minimalism is "less is more", so it also requires a lifestyle adjustment, be it in terms of storage, or simply limiting the amount of clutter you have at home, that in itself can be quite a challenge. Just something that you should consider.

Hope that helps!

Edited September 29, 2011 by gakuseisean

[chling 1]

My interpretation of minimalist interior design

all white theme with tinge of black

plentiful storage to hide things away

mood lighting to create the room ambience

check out more pictures at My Minimalist White Home T-Blog

[lexusgs 0]

i am looking to design my unit mainly in white and grey.

you have found out any website with many ideas? can share?

tia

[gatan2012 0]

I found this photo in Rezt & Relax's website.

I think you might want something like this. I suggest you concentrate on white, grey and black and use materials such as leather for added durability especially for your sofa.

I'm excited to see your interior once it is finished! Please post your before and after photos here to share it with everyone.

=)

Edited March 19, 2012 by gatan2012

[adidaem 6]

The Japanese are masters at minimalism, so I'd suggest that you take a look at Adidaem's masionette, which was done up by a Japanese-Singaporean firm.

Anyway elsewhere, one of the best places to browse minimal interiors is ArchDaily- it's more of an architectural website, but there are some amazing homes with extremely minimalist interiors, especially Japanese ones (which I've filtered for you). Archipile is another good source.

Thanks Gakuseisean! I do agree that overseas do minimalist better. In Sg tends to be poorly executed or a badly misunderstood concept. Actually my place is not truly minimalist cos I'm fairly practical at heart. Take my oversized hood that gave my IDs much angst. Also, SG mags don't tend to feature minimalist interiors. They tend to cater to the quirky or contemporary crowd. I do think it's also cos of HDB constraints. It's hard to achieve minimalist interiors in smallish apartments. 'Form' magazine sometimes have some nice places, and the others that I like are 'Dwell'/'Dwell Asia' and 'Habitus'.

As I learnt from my IDs and contractor in the course of the reno, you have to be disciplined down to the little details. I'll take the pic below as an example...

The sofa does not have the clean lines required to match a truly minimalist concept (true minimalists have painful butts imo...), the upper left corner mess of walls and lines leaves much to be desired. The door with patterns totally destroys the 'clean' look and the clock is a distraction. Even the line running across the upper right wall is distracting. A true minimalist would have hidden/removed these as much as possible.

One thing I have to say... minimalist does not equal white. It's not the absence of color that makes an interior/the design minimalist, but the combination of clean lines and absence of clutter. The best example I have seen is this Singapore 5 room HDB...

My inspiration for the new flat is this minimalist flat designed by architect and owner Desmond Ong.

http://www.habitusliving.com/live/projects/singapore-apartment

The moment I saw it I was amazed by how spacious and bright the whole place is. I also like the simple, clean, and straight lines look of the entire apartment. Notice there's no visible lights or wires anywhere in the entire flat!

I knew immediately I wanted to create the same look for my apartment. The question is, how?

Can be done, but need $, loads of discipline and some sacrifice.

For this particular apartment:

- Walls and switches: lots of partition walls to hide all wirings, switches, piping

- Cove lighting + some placement to make the beams less obvious

- Sacrificing one room to achieve the spacious/empty feel (refer to floor plan below - think the floor plan is something similar and the room nearest living room was sacrificed)

- Simple windows, 'Invisible grills'

- No feature wall, just use a partition wall to wall-hang TV and hide wirings

- Epoxy flooring (so it's one solid milky smooth surface)

- Simple but well designed/beautiful furnishings (the dining chairs alone cost a few thousands!)

- Disciplined use of muted/woody colors... white and wood

- All doors - simple wood/solid smooth surface

It's hard to achieve minimalism in HDB flats, usually due to space and cost. How many will be willing to give up an entire room just to give the sense of 'emptiness'? Or to replace all the doors (which costs a good 4 figs) so that patterns on the doors do not spoil the overall look? Small little details make or break the minimalist look IMO. Plus without enough 'empty' space, the true 'feel' of minimalism just doesn't come out. And it takes so much discipline just to maintain the look... think has to be a lifestyle change... or must have a really good housekeeper at home! Just my 2 cents.

Euphony has compiled some examples in his t-blog for reference: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=45542

[albertchng 0]

I found this photo in Rezt & Relax's website.

I think you might want something like this. I suggest you concentrate on white, grey and black and use materials such as leather for added durability especially for your sofa.

I'm excited to see your interior once it is finished! Please post your before and after photos here to share it with everyone.

=)

This is NOT minimalist in my book... no wonder i rejected their quotation. Even their MD also cannot think of a minimalist design for my audio console.

Edited March 20, 2012 by albertchng

[EarthaLim 0]

agree... how they do the floor? it has the raw feel.. any term to call it?

Thanks Gakuseisean! I do agree that overseas do minimalist better. In Sg tends to be poorly executed or a badly misunderstood concept. Actually my place is not truly minimalist cos I'm fairly practical at heart. Take my oversized hood that gave my IDs much angst. Also, SG mags don't tend to feature minimalist interiors. They tend to cater to the quirky or contemporary crowd. I do think it's also cos of HDB constraints. It's hard to achieve minimalist interiors in smallish apartments. 'Form' magazine sometimes have some nice places, and the others that I like are 'Dwell'/'Dwell Asia' and 'Habitus'.

As I learnt from my IDs and contractor in the course of the reno, you have to be disciplined down to the little details. I'll take the pic below as an example...

The sofa does not have the clean lines required to match a truly minimalist concept (true minimalists have painful butts imo...), the upper left corner mess of walls and lines leaves much to be desired. The door with patterns totally destroys the 'clean' look and the clock is a distraction. Even the line running across the upper right wall is distracting. A true minimalist would have hidden/removed these as much as possible.

One thing I have to say... minimalist does not equal white. It's not the absence of color that makes an interior/the design minimalist, but the combination of clean lines and absence of clutter. The best example I have seen is this Singapore 5 room HDB...

Euphony has compiled some examples in his t-blog for reference: http://www.renotalk.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=45542

[musicbox 0]

Well, I might not got this "minimalist" concept right but when I renovated my house, i go for simple and practical design. Just black and white. Till now, I must say these 2 colours match perfectly.

[garethcooper9 0]

Thanks for all the info and images guys. I have always been a fan of the minimalist design but unfortunately my wife loves stuffing our house with loads of items so it was great to know some people share my ideas. I definitely loved that flat, I wish could stay there for a while

[etc 1]

Desmond of The Singapore Apartment did my flat too.

Bearing in mind mine is a much smaller 4 room HDB with no walls taken down to enlarge the living room space, he employed several visual tricks to make the place look spacious.

Ample lighting, clean lines and careful selection of furniture is indeed the key to achieve minimalism in small spaces.

Edited August 14, 2012 by etc

[someoneee 0]

Desmond of The Singapore Apartment did my flat too.

Bearing in mind mine is a much smaller 4 room HDB with no walls taken down to enlarge the living room space, he employed several visual tricks to make the place look spacious.

Ample lighting, clean lines and careful selection of furniture is indeed the key to achieve minimalism in small spaces.

hey etc,

nice place! mind sharing how much did you pay for the reno...?

[LEDguy 0]

Demond ong looks like an architect who loves his work.

lucky you didn't get a Internal designer instead. he would give you a stark and sad mimimalis home

[77suns 0]

Demond ong looks like an architect who loves his work.

lucky you didn't get a Internal designer instead. he would give you a stark and sad mimimalis home

Don't belittle Interior designer, minimalist design can be achieve easily with the right discipline and knowledge , at least for me.

"Ample lighting, clean lines" -- only applies here but are not a criteria at all!

Edited October 25, 2012 by 77suns