How to Implement Wabi-Sabi Design Ideas in Your Home

Posted On April 13, 2022August 14, 2022

Posted By Alex Perez - Mental Health Writer, B.A.

Introduction

If you’re feeling frustrated with the way your home looks, you may have considered a renovation. Renovations are an expensive and time-consuming process that can be unnecessary if you don’t know how to implement wabi-sabi design principles in your home.

What is Wabi-Sabi Design?

Wabi-sabi is a Japanese aesthetic that focuses on finding beauty in imperfection. Wabi-sabi contentment comes from appreciating natural materials, flaws, and irregularities. The goal is to create beauty so subtle that it goes unnoticed at first glance; this way, you understand the small details in your home instead of constantly wishing the space was different.

How to Implement Wabi-Sabi Design Ideas in Your Home

1. Editing Down Your Possessions

Wabi-sabi design prioritizes beauty in natural materials and that which is impermanent. To achieve this, you’ll want to edit down your possessions. To do this, think about the necessity of each item you have and if it would bring beauty or discomfort to your home.

2. Don’t Hide What’s Broken

Fixing what’s broken isn’t an option, and that’s the beauty of wabi-sabi design. While you should repair severe damage to your home, you shouldn’t hide other minor flaws.
Take pride in your home’s broken features, such as chipped paint or cracked stone. Fixing these things will make them less beautiful.

3. Be Open to Impermanent Change

The things in your home don’t need to last forever—they need to bring joy for a short time. Wabi-sabi design suggests avoiding having too many heavy items that are difficult to move around.

4. Simplicity

Avoid items that are complicated to maintain. Being straightforward means, you can use fewer products to maintain your home. Refrain from having too many things in your space.
Simple design is imperative for wabi-sabi design. The less clutter you have, the more room you have to appreciate the imperfections in your surroundings.

5. Avoid Work-Life Distractions

Wabi-sabi design suggests avoiding keeping many unnecessary items or possessions around your home to prevent work-life distractions. It means avoiding excessive decoration and unnecessary things that may draw your attention away from the beauty of your surroundings.

6. Accent Your Home with Nature’s Imperfections

Wabi-sabi design focuses on imperfections within nature, such as a cracked rock of moss-covered stone. These features add a story and character to your home without costing money or time to maintain.

Other Ways to Incorporate Wabi-Sabi in Your Life.

1. Cut down on unnecessary items. It will make your home’s space feel more open and allows you to appreciate the beauty of what is around you.

2. Be modestly adorned with minimal décor items. That way, you’re more likely to enjoy what you have around you instead of always wishing you could go out and get new things to update your home.

3. Eliminate clutter from your environment to make it feel more appealing and less cluttered, which will make the space feel less cluttered and allow you to appreciate the things around you.

4. Enjoy nature’s imperfections but don’t overuse them. In essence, beauty is found in minor flaws or defects that we can see with many natural materials. When you overuse them in your own home, it can become too much and detract from the beauty of your surroundings.

What to Do With the Old Stuff for the New Design

Wabi-sabi design doesn’t require you to throw out everything in your home, but you will want to consider what items have the most value and which ones can go. First, ask yourself if you love certain things or if they are just clutter that is taking up space in your home.

Consider a consignment store if you want to sell some of your old items. To ensure that the store takes care of your items, ask if they’re willing to hold on to your item until after the sale is complete. If they are unwilling to do this, consider another consignment location.
You can also use a thrift store or donation center to sell your possessions. When selling off old items of yours, ask those who receive them if they would like shipping labels sent to them so they can ship them back to the store where their new owner bought them.

Conclusion

Wabi-sabi design requires you to think about what items you want to keep and which ones you want to get rid of. It also focuses on editing down your possessions and implementing what’s broken in your home. Removing clutter from your home will help you appreciate the beauty in each home feature.