One of the current top trends for home theaters is making use of neutral colors to create a calming environment. This color palette naturally pairs itself well with the minimalism trend that’s still rocking interior design publications. The goal of both is to create open spaces that elicit a feeling of immediate relaxation, which surprisingly goes hand-in-hand with home theaters and those ultra-comfortable leather-upholstered entertainment room recliners.
If you’re thinking about switching things up and going for a completely different look, or you’re eager to try out the minimalist design philosophy and want to start with an easy room, here’s how to turn home theater into a minimalist’s paradise.
Limit Your Color Palette
One of the biggest keys to achieving that highly sought after look in your home theater is to limit the variety of different colors you’re working with and to strictly adhere to a color palette, with most cases comprising of neutrals and beige colors. Having a defined color palette in your room not only makes picking out furniture and décor easier, but it also has the added benefit of instantly making your room look more sophisticated and adult.
If you need to swap out those home theater couches with bright red leather upholstery for something a little more subtle, try finding other options like media room seats upholstered with white microfiber fabric, entertainment room recliners wrapped in brown leather, or even a black recliner. The best thing about these is that they’re all also timeless colors, meaning they’re not going out of style any time soon and you’re likely to get more use out of them down the road.
We’re not denouncing any and all bright colors here by any means—color is still an essential element in expressing your unique style, however having multiple different colored objects and furniture in a room can be nothing short of disorienting with each object trying to grab your attention more than the last. Instead, make use of other colors in little pops. Maybe you add a few throw pillows to your new leather home theater loveseats or you add a piece of art to the wall that features bright colors. Whatever you end up doing, just remember: less is more. Don’t overdo it.
Add Texture and Warmth to Your Space
Since we’re going with only neutral colors, it’s important to make up for the lack of color by introducing other visual elements like texture and natural warmth. The addition of these makes for a more visually interesting room and it keeps things from feeling too plain. There’s a fine line between embracing neutrals and minimalism indoors and creating what can only be described as a holding cell in an insane asylum.
How do you accomplish this? It’s actually not too hard. Natural materials add immediate warmth to a space and perfectly complements the minimalistic style. Maybe you’ve got a couple rows of leather-upholstered entertainment room recliners that seat up to three people, or you add in some wooden side tables or a coffee table crafted from oak or maple wood. Both of those materials—wood and leather—add the ever-important texture and warmth to a space without overwhelming the minimal aesthetic in the slightest.
Area rugs are also your best friend in this situation. Say you’ve got a couple of two-seater media room recliners with leather upholstery, and a standalone home theater chair with boucle fabric in your seating area. That area rug, when placed underneath the seating, will tie the seating area together, plus the rug will add some needed texture to the room to keep things interesting.
Mood Lighting Reigns King
Usually when constructing a home theater, you want the least amount of light intrusion possible. While this still holds true for the best possible view of the screen, times have changed, and people are keen to let the light into their homes. Plus, it pairs well with the minimalist aesthetic, complementing the sun-drenched, bright interiors that grace magazine covers.
Dimmable recessed lighting or track lighting will be your best friend when creating a calming, minimalist environment to recline on your top-notch multimedia room couch while watching flicks. The dimmable lighting allows you to fine-tune the lighting for the occasion, keeping harsh overhead lighting out of the equation. Dimmable lighting can create the ultimate ambiance in the evening that immediately relaxes and calms.
Keep Things Cohesive and Clean
If you weren’t already aware, minimalism thrives on cleanliness and clutter-free environments. This includes investing in storage to keep non-essential items out of view. Built-in shelving behind panels or even some luxe multimedia room furniture with extra storage can be a godsend here when attempting to keep things streamlined. If you have platform risers for entertainment room chairs, you can even hide things underneath those to get them out of view.
You’ll also want to find a wire management system that works well for you to keep the tangled mess of wires that belong to your audio and visual equipment out of sight. Wires are decidedly not a natural element and can easily break the calm, serene environment that draws so many to the neutral, minimalist aesthetic.
Minimalism might not be for everyone, but it really does work in a home theater environment and can even increase the amount of relaxation and comfort you get from it.