Design Inspiration: Home Builders Create Leaner, Less Cluttered Homes
One of the most common New Year resolutions is to lose weight, but have you ever thought of putting your home on a diet plan? Home builders have. In fact, builders and designers have resolved to 'lose extra house flab' and have taken a 'leaner' approach to home layouts, according to the Chicago Tribune, designing houses 'that focus on functionality and flexibility' and installing more space-saving areas, like window seating and nooks, and omitting less-used rooms like formal dining rooms.
And we've noticed that as furniture gets bigger, interior designers, too, are embracing the home diet, encouraging clients to consider room usage and organization potential. For instance, how often is a tiny guest room used and could it be better utilized as an entertainment room or office?
In theory, a leaner home necessitates less clutter. Larger cabinets and more utility space should allow home owners ample opportunity to live clutter-free. Also, a good rule of thumb to live by, says interior designer Sharon Kreighbaum, author of "Is Your House Overweight? Recipes for Low-Fat Rooms," is to "look at a room...and remove anything that doesn't support the activity of the room."
Ready for your own home detox? Click through our slideshow below to check out how to shave off excess. And, let us know your ideas for slimming down or decluttering your home in comments!
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This comment has not yet been postedI notice that the "fat" kitchen represented by efficient open shelves happens to be another example of making do with less and efficient use of space. On the other hand, the "lean" kitchen is represented by what are obviously costly, hand-crafted cabinets. The fact that the one drawer shown is stuffed with enough pots and pans for a commercial restaurant is not a very good example of "lean."
Finally, a truly "lean" home is one where less storage is utilized more efficiently. Paring down possessions, getting rid of duplicates and editing one's wardrobe are excellent examples of "lean." The author's comment that everything that has no function should be stored away in cabinets is the reason why so so many homes are "fat" in the first place. Why would one continue to hold on and store away items that are of no practical use?