10 minimalist homes for laid-back living

Strict minimalism is making way for minimalist homes with a softer edge. Such architectural and interior schemes incorporate materials such as timber and clay plaster for a warm ambiance.

Maximising natural light is a key objective, with pared-back framing and generous glazing having an important part to play.

This softer take can be useful when updating and extending heritage houses, particularly where there is a clash of architectural styles in the local area that require a more complementary approach.

1. Understated extension

A new rear extension transforms a four-storey Victorian villa in Henley-on-Thames, Berkshire, for entrepreneurs Sean and Bibi Coglan.

It’s built on the footprint of an old addition to the 386sqm Grade II listed house. The new-build features reddish-pink bricks sourced by practice McLaren Excell from Petersen Tegl.

The £1.6 million project encompasses a full renovation of the minimalist home, which has three bedrooms.

New oiled oak floorboards replace the carpet with original boards restored where possible. The ground-floor kitchen features a monolithic island made from Italian titanium travertine.

2. Coastal self-build

This four-bedroom home in Kattegat, Norway, is built almost entirely with timber.

The flooring, wall and ceiling structures are Douglas fir, and the façade is clad in cedar boards.

Belonging to a professional couple with two young children, the two-storey coastal property is a holiday home they visit all year round.

So it includes an annexe where friends and family stay. An internal courtyard separates the two buildings and, including a shed, totals 250sqm.

The design is by practice Norm Architects. “It’s somewhere to recharge, away from the city and close to nature,” says architect Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen.

“This is evident in the choice of natural materials that will age beautifully.”

3. Multi-level rebuild

Practice Ampuero Yutronic rebuilt a mews house for a professional couple with an extended family.

The four-storey, 245sqm home replaces a postwar property in a conservation area of Mayfair, central London.

Three original walls – two party walls and the rear wall – are underpinned and extended down to the basement, with a new raft foundation cast over the full footprint. At the back is a two-storey, 53sqm extension.

The new elements are of masonry construction. In keeping with the surrounding houses, the top storey has a mansard roof and dormer windows.

All the glazing has white steel frames, similar to those in nearby properties.

These, along with the pale wood joinery, stone and polished marble plaster, contribute to the pared-back look in keeping with minimalist homes. With four bedrooms, the project cost around £10,000 per sqm to build.

4. Courtyard layout

In Amarante, a historic town in the north of Portugal, a couple who own a company specialising in climate-control systems wanted a simple but impressive home.

They asked architect Ivo Tavares to design a two-storey, 715sqm house on a sloping site outside the town to maximise natural light and the panoramic views.

Ivo based the plan on two rectangles that intertwine to create an interior courtyard. This separates the living room, dining room and kitchen from the three en-suite bedrooms.

“The layout brings in light and forges a deep connection with the surrounding landscape,” he says.

“With its pure lines and the stair between the ground floor and basement, enhanced by the illusion of double height in the living room – achieved by the high ceiling – the design exudes a sober elegance.”

The foundations are concrete-frame and the walls are thermal brick, insulated and plasterboarded internally for a smooth finish. Additionally, the roof is concrete slabs with waterproofing asphalt membrane.

The project cost around £846 per sqm.

5. Heritage renovation

When homeowners Alan Bowling and his wife Francesca wanted to transform their 195sqm semi-detached home, they initially appointed architecture firm Proctor & Shaw to develop the planning drawings.

After this, practice Will Gamble Architects developed the interior design throughout the five-bedroom home, including technical drawings and revised spatial layouts for the upper floors.

The renovation of their Victorian house in Putney, south-west London, includes natural materials.

“Alan and Francesca expressed a desire for a calm and restrained look, while not compromising on a richness of texture and materiality,” says Will.

A curved staircase with an oak handrail and white metal spindles connects the main three floors, above which a rooflight brings light into the middle of the house.

Bespoke timber joinery features in several rooms

The build costs for the minimalist home renovation came to £3,600 per sqm for the first and second floor only, excluding joinery, finishes, fixtures and fittings.

6. Precision design

A new two-storey house in the Eastbourne suburb of Wellington, New Zealand, features heat-treated New Zealand pine board cladding.

This was chosen for its textural likeness to driftwood on the nearby seashore.

Costing £3,761 per sqm to build, the 260sqm house by Seear-Budd Ross belongs to a couple who own a construction firm.

It has concrete block foundations, timber-frame walls, a timber floor and a roof of timber and galvanised metal.

“The roof creates a unified exterior for the house and the adjoining garage. It provides a sense of continuity and calm in keeping with the landscape,” says architect Thomas Seear-Budd.

In common with most minimalist homes, features such as skylight frames, internal rafter fixings and roofing elements such as downpipes and flashings are expertly detailed and concealed.

The living room, which includes an exposed vaulted Monterey cypress-clad ceiling, has views from the back of the house towards the ocean.

The five bedrooms, also at the back of the property and arranged over two storeys, share a roof terrace capturing the evening sun.

7. Off-grid minimalist home

Designed under Paragraph 84 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), Water Farm in Raydon, Suffolk, is off-grid.

It was built for Marcus and Anna Cave and their three children, who moved to Anna’s family farm from Essex.

By practice Studio Bark, the 350sqm, sweet chestnut-clad five-bedroom home interprets local building styles in a contemporary way.

This is evident in the striking geometry of the roof and the two gable ends. “The house looks agricultural, but also nods to the variety of domestic roof pitches in the area,” says architect Stephane Chadwick.

The hyper-insulated lightweight timber frame structure is on a plinth to reduce heat loss.

Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels with 5kWh capacity on the studio roof, energy storage batteries and a ground-source heat pump provide much of the family’s heating and energy needs.

The house cost £3,000 per sqm.

8. Remodelling project

Architect Theo Games Petrohilos of practice Unknown Works went for a simple materials palette when updating his one-bedroom Victorian terraced house in Kentish Town, north London.

Theo and his wife Hannah Scarf, built side and rear extensions to their two-storey, 54sqm home.

The rear extension reaches just 1m into the garden. But the total extra footprint of 11.5sqm provides a new kitchen with dining area.

Remodelling the ground floor, at a cost of £1,750 per sqm, includes an internal courtyard in the side return. As a result, cross-ventilation and reaches the centre of the house.

A stainless steel and plywood kitchen includes a steel dining table on castors that rolls into the garden when the couple want to eat outside.

As with most minimalist homes the materials palette is select. ‘A sleek materials palette of glass, white oiled timber, concrete and stainless steel reflects the light,’ explains Theo.

9. Apartment transformation

Inspiration for the renovation of a one-bedroom garden flat came from the simplicity of interiors depicted by Danish painter Vilhelm Hammershøi in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The property in Hampstead, north London, was built around 1894.

“The design avoids altering the historical fabric of the apartment, or competing with the original features,” says architect Matt Cooper.

As a result, all the new finishes are contemporary and neutral. Plus, the understated joinery, cabinets and cupboards match for continuity.

Practice Type Studio reconfigured the flat for a professional couple in their thirties.

A brick extension with a sliding double-glazed door, creates a new living area that’s two steps down from the kitchen with dining area.

The scheme adds 25sqm of space to the 135sqm home. A similar renovation is likely to cost between £3,600 and £4,800 per sqm.

10. Whole house update

Architect Grant Straghan from Dedraft took his design cue from a series of minimalist-inspired geometric shapes when renovating and extending a four-bedroom mid-terraced Victorian house in Walthamstow, north London.

For a total cost of £224,000, the project includes a 57sqm ground-floor extension creating a spacious kitchen with dining area.

Masonry cavity walls are on a steel frame and include concrete elements cast in situ.

A 39sqm extension on the first floor includes a bathroom, taking the total to two, plus a ground-floor WC.

Plus, the loft, clad in concrete-fibre panels, is also converted and extended, adding 30sqm to the house and providing a new bedroom and bathroom.

A first-floor bedroom, now a study, was made smaller to allow for the loft staircase and the double-height central stairwell.

“In keeping with the streamlined look, all the replacement windows and doors have grey and white oiled oak frames,” says Grant.