Interior Decor: How to Create a Slow Life Home

Interior Decor: How to Create a Slow Life Home

As we become increasingly aware of climate change and its disastrous consequences, many of us are seeking to modify our consumption habits to reduce our personal environmental footprint and the damage it is causing. As part of these efforts, more and more of us are embracing the slow decor or slow life trend in our homes.

Work, eat, sleep, repeat. For years, we have blindly followed this routine. Now, however, we are stuck at home. What better time to explore what the slow life has to offer? Hot fad or sustainable lifestyle alternative? Let’s take a closer look.

Three Styles in One

The point of this type of design is to create a soothing and restful atmosphere. A slow life decor combines a number of different styles into a unified whole. Its first major source of inspiration is Scandinavian minimalism which rejects the use of items and accessories that a cheaply priced and cheaply made. The second is the Japanese aesthetic of wabi sabi, or the art of finding perfection in the imperfect. It is the antithesis of magazine-worthy homes, the sort that doesn’t exist in real life. Finally, boho chic comes in to add natural raw materials, plants and earth tones. Together these three decor styles form the basis of the slow life look.

Going Beyond the Design Rules

However, this design concept goes far beyond accessories, paint colours and ambiance. It is first and foremost a lifestyle. Therefore, wanting to reduce how much we consume to furnish and accessorize our homes is perfectly in tune with this philosophy. When it comes to decor, slow living means focusing on buying local and investing in quality furniture and decorative objects that will bring us joy for years to come instead of slavishly following trends and fashion. 

How to Successfully Integrate the Slow Life Vibe into Your Own Home

The slow lifestyle means buying less to have more. Our first tip for achieving this type of look is to use what you already own in your home by repurposing various items. You could also swap furniture and accessories between rooms to revamp the decor without spending a dime. For example, that bar cart you bought for the dining room could also be used to store detergent and other cleaning products in the laundry room or your kids’ craft supplies in the playroom. Giving an old thing a new use is exactly what the slow life is about. 

Embrace the Slow Life at Home in Three Easy Steps

1- Purge and organize: it’s half the battle.

2- Determine your personal style, choose your primary colours and accents colours.

3- Step back and think each time you are considering purchasing a new piece of furniture or accessory. Does it match my style? Do I really need it? Don’t bring something into your home just because it’s a great deal or even free. Rather, ask yourself if you would be willing to pay the full price to have it. If the answer is yes, then you can find a place for it in your home and in your life. 

It is said that embracing the slow look is a great way of decorating your home without spending money or being particularly design-minded. So, how can you achieve this? By working slowly (of course!) and unfussily while having an eye for details. Because the little things count. It’s not a matter of completely redecorating your home overnight, but about spending more time on carefully selecting furniture, accessories, styles and colours and gradually changing your space over months or years.

The slow life means getting back to basics.

And don’t forget that the way we live day-to-day is a reflection on how we live our lives as a whole. Finding answers to these fundamental questions will open the path towards adopting the slow lifestyle at home. 

RE/MAX Québec

By RE/MAX Québec

By RE/MAX Québec

A leader in the real estate industry since 1982, the RE/MAX network brings together the most efficient brokers.