A Minimalist Approach to Happiness

A Minimalist Approach to Happiness

Springs Heaven

“a life with less, less clutter leading to a simple and practical life'

What happens when one of your closest friends in Dubai reaches for interior help?? You say YES, YES and YES! Welcome to Springs Heaven! We are excited to reveal the styling and décor of this lovely villa located at the heart of Springs. Besides being one of my loveliest friends in Dubai, they are also the 'DREAM clients'.

Let’s start from scratch and tell you a little story about living with less… that’s right, we were hired to allocate a limited amount of furniture and make this lovely villa look a lot like home but with a minimalist approach to life. Living a life with less was the motto.

This project was very different, as our lovely clients decided to go from BIG to SMALL by choice. They decided to practically live in a cozy home and sell everything they owed. When I say everything, is literally everything. On these lines, they decided, to buy a smaller house and live with LESS, mainly focusing on maximizing the space. The main aim of this project was to target all those pieces that are actually important on the day-to-day living and multi use them. A life with less clutter towards a simpler life.

Eucalyptus from Garden Center

Tati and I read a little bit about the theory of the 'minimalist' approach and the importance of simplifying life. We were so excited about this project that we designed and styled every corner with that extra eye and detail to maximize the space. We focused on creating a space that was useful and at the same time essential on the day to day living with of course our C’est ici touch.

How did this project come together? See below the process of making and styling this lovely villa with LESS.

Kitchen Shade from the Bowery Company

The Dining Room

Lamps from the Bowery Company

We had very limited space to create a useful and yet stylish dining. That said, this didn’t stop us on curating the best methods for a practical dining table. The answer was WHITE and ROUND, and of course extendable. We spotted the dining and dining chairs at Crate & Barrel. The beauty of this table, is that is extendable. We decided to custom made the corner sofa, mainly with the aim of creating storage underneath. The base cushions and structure of the sofa were customized to the size, which created a very relaxed look. Pastel tones with a hint of majestic blue was our last touch for this chic and useful dining.

Dining Cushions from Indigo Living and Urban Nest.

The Living Room

Our starting point when designing the living room was the statement wall. We wanted to create a stone wall on pastel tones to build character in the room. Once this was approved, we designed most of the decor and styling around this statement wall.

The L shaped sofa was quite a big deal as it was going to be the ONLY piece in the living room. No more than a three-seater sofa, cozy and simple but significant. This sectional dark grey piece from West Elm was our chosen piece.

Blending the grey sofa with our pastel creamy ice cream colors was the last touch to give tranquility to the space. The rug from Urban Nest was key as we wanted to create some minimal patterns along the way. Our last addition, were these two beautiful pendants from the Bowery Company.

The Kitchen

White white and more white. Accent pendant from our friends from the Bowery Company and accessories from IKEA made the kitchen look super relaxed with a touch of bling in the air.

The Play Area

Playing with less and using less, had only one answer 'CHALK WALL'!How can you get a away with limited toys and a four year old?? Well, telling the four year old that he can write on the wall, is a pretty good answer to this and it worked! While imagination and creative games were on our mind, our little client loved it!

Batman accessories and run from Batman storage bag from NOOK. Upgraded White storage from Pottery Barn, Carpet from H & M HOME, Wall Posters from PAPER POP, S from ACE,

Lighting and Hooks from D.TALES and shelves from the BOWERY COMPANY

Guest room

Well this is not just a guest room... is the tv area, library and yes, guest are supposed to stay here as well. One thing that we learned about limited space is that you can create smart and yet accessible solutions. We only had the space for the sofa bed and we manage to fit it! Creating shelves as a replacement of coffee tables was a good bet to the space.

Sofa bed and shelves from IKEA. Cushions from URBAN NEST and NOOK. Side lamps from KARTELL. Accessories from MAISONS DU MONDE. Leather straps from ETSY. JOTUN PAINT

The creation and execution of this project was such and amazing experience and an excellent way to understand living the 'minimalist approach'. Aside from being able to hang out with my lovely friend, we were all very pleased with the result! We look forward to spending lots of time eating yummy food in this casita and having lots of play dates, with LESS of course.

The end result of this project was that we clearly can live with less! It is very easy to get carried away with but 'we need' this and that, in fact, we can be happy with the LESS is MORE approach.

Last but not least, we have captured a few images of the BEFORE and AFTER process.

Hope you like this post!

Written: Monica Durou

Photographs by: Natelee Cocks

Styling and Decor: C'est ici