30 Stunning Minimalist Living Rooms That Prove Less Can be Best

Minimalism is everywhere. From sparse but stylish rooms on Pinterest to stunningly sleek examples on your Instagram feed, the minimalism trend has proven that it’s here to stay. 

Minimalism itself is rooted in the principle of ridding your life of clutter and focuses on simple living habits, including continuously curating your space to have a few meaningful items rather than constantly accumulating more things. This design philosophy also hinges upon cleaner, more sustainable, and more efficient ways of living.

Minimalist silhouettes are clean and smooth, and you won’t find clutter or excessive amounts of flourish. You likely won’t find something like a houndstooth couch or stacks on stacks of books in a minimalist living room, but you might see a bright color here and there or a few inconspicuous patterns being added in the form of a rug or throw pillows. 

Below, 30 minimalist living rooms that will inspire you to test the waters of simple living.

When your space consists of a large, one-room loft, it makes good design sense to keep things minimalist. That’s the case in this beautiful Barcelona loft, where a deep, cozy gray couch takes center stage, set against exposed brick walls. 

Neutral tones of gray and white work together to create a clean, minimalist vibe in this California living room. We love the way the designer incorporated subtle pops of mint green along the way. 

This Barcelona living room keeps it minimal with a black and white aesthetic. The owner’s choice of dark-hued furniture works well with the black-framed windows in this chic space. 

The living room of this Brooklyn loft proves that you can achieve a minimalist look despite having very large furniture. This expansive sofa is paired with a minimalist coffee table and otherwise open space for a clean, airy vibe. 

Home stagers are to thank for the minimalist living room in this beautiful, updated home. They incorporated smart hues of white, gray and black and removed clutter to create a space suitable for entertaining and relaxing. 

The light, airy living room in this Michigan home gets it right when it comes to that sought-after minimalist vibe. Blonde wood combines with neutral furniture in this Scandinavian-inspired  A-frame. 

Floor-to-ceiling shiplap in white combines with a white area rug and curtains to make a beautifully clean, well-lit minimalist living room. A cool, desert-inspired graphic on the wall adds a bit of visual interest. Courtesy of @renov_88. 

This Nashville minimalist living room by @hollyvioletragsdale is perfection. Natural touches like the brick fireplace and the rustic ceiling beams add a cozy touch to this beautiful room.

This pretty, neutral San Francisco minimalist living room is full of vintage finds like a cut-out coffee table and gray chairs.

The blue and gray colors in this Los Angeles living room are warmed up with a wood coffee table and floors.

The faux zebra area rug in this New York minimalist living room is a fun touch to its black-and-white color scheme.

Minimalism sometimes gets a bad rap for looking sterile, but this style isn’t solely reserved for all-white, cold spaces. There are plenty of minimalist living rooms that feel cozy. Case in point: this Barcelona living room. If you mix textures and add a few natural touches to your room, the overall feel will be warm and welcoming, even if your room embraces blank space with just a few key furnishings and details.

Blue is the accent color in this New York City living room, which has special touches like a cowhide rug.

This Montreal living room may be small, but it doesn’t look cluttered thanks to its minimalist design. Fun pillows and leafy plants keep it far from boring.

The unintrusive pop of color from the mobile hanging in this chic Valencia home is the perfect example of how to use brighter shades in accordance with minimalist principles. Warm-tone wood accents are also helpful in making this gray space feel a bit more homey without losing its simplicity.

A few well-placed patterns and plants help this lovely Brooklyn living room maintain its balance between Cali cool and Scandi simple.

Look no further than this Culver City home for proof that you can use deep, dark colors and still give your room a minimalist vibe. The key is not overfilling your space with furniture and keeping shapes simple. This space features a gorgeous soapstone coffee table as a statement piece.

In larger spaces, a lot of people get intimidated by white space and try to decorate every square inch, but this Virginia home shows that that’s not necessary. The curvy shapes of the lamp, pillow, table, and chairs provide plenty of personality to this simple space.

Manipulating negative space, as seen in this Dutch living room, proves how minimalism can be the furthest thing from boring. The interplay of the little fireplace, tiny cuckoo clock, small television, and framed posters creates tons of visual interest while also giving the minimalist living room a bit of an art gallery vibe.

There is nothing boring in this space designed by LA-based firm Amber Interiors. Though seemingly simple, the space is full of intrigue thanks to its textures—everything from earthy leather and faux fur to nubby linen and live-edge wood.

Designer Eileen Kathryn Boyd is known for her more-is-more approach when it comes to color, but in this minimal living room she played with subtlety and shape instead of a harmony of hues. The slight curve of the sofa and the sophisticated palette leave little else to want.

Designer Jessica Helgerson’s clever implementation of circles throughout this room keep the eye in constant movement while its complementary textures beg to be touched.

At first glance, this living room by Studio Lifestyle (who designed the home for actress Hilary Duff) doesn’t necessarily come off as “minimal” but look again, and you’ll see that there isn’t actually much going on in here. With just a few key furnishings and lighting, you can create quite the design story with minimal fluff.

Sometimes, a tone-on-tone room can be even more interesting than a space with a million things going on, like in this room designed by Brad Ford. His subtle neutral inflections keep your eye constantly engaged and primed for discovery.

For a space that has minimal colors, there’s so much to discuss! New York designer Sasha Bikoff brilliantly weaved a cool, almost icy palette that is still pretty inviting and filled with endless texture and sculptural wonders.

This streamlined space designed by Austin’s Claire Zinnecker is all about bleached wood furniture legs.

Bennett Leifer shows off how cool it is to be square in this gorgeous Manhattan living room where angles are anything but boring. A touch of polished brass lends a cool ’70s vibe to the otherwise monochrome space.

The serene Utrecht apartment of Sarah and San is quite sparse, and maybe the most minimal of all the rooms in this list, but somehow—thanks to some greenery and textiles—it still feels warm and inviting.

Movement is the driving force in this Jenny Norris-designed space. Here, the combination of light and dark hues blends perfectly for a serene, inviting feel. 

What else does a living room really need, aside from a pair of oversize sofas to sink into at the end of a long day? According to this killer minimalist living room designed by Leanne Ford, not much!

Additional reporting by Carolin Lehmann