Open Instagram, Pinterest, or any other social media- if you’re keeping up with the trends, then you’ll be sure to see clean, white couches and plain brown tables strategically covered by succulents in plastic white pots. A model lounges in the well-lit room with a rescue animal perched on their lap. It is pristine and free of any clutter- and yet it somehow manages to be outrageously ugly.

Minimalism began in the late 1960’s, after minimalist artists started to think that the current forms of painting that were available during that time were too personal and insubstantial. They wanted something that was only able to be taken as it was- nothing that could be associated with anything else would be allowed in their work. This led to life-changing, interesting pieces such as Untitled by Donald Judd in 1972. Untitled consists of a box. It’s literally just a box, with some red inside. That’s it.

This extreme art form might be poetic to some, but to me it’s uninspiring and boring. Who would want to live a lifestyle that is so simple and lacking in complexity? Life has too many opportunities and is too complicated for someone to try to take it and make it fit into a medium that’s more interesting pieces include a box with some red on the interior.

Minimalism advertises itself as a way to “streamline your life” and free yourself of any clutter that’s “holding you down.” However, the minimalism movement takes it to the extreme by using plain Scandinavian-style furnishings, all white, rounded edges, and keeping anything that could even be considered clutter far out of sight from any watching eyes.

In my experience, people who embrace the minimalism lifestyle to its fullest are either really boring, or are desperately looking for a way to make their life magically better and simpler. While it may be appealing at first- after all, who doesn’t want to live a life free of messes? It certainly doesn’t age well. That is, unless you’re able to keep up with the maintenance that minimalism requires and enjoy the idea of living a life free of individuality. To me, a house inspired by minimalism isn’t a house at all; it’s just a really large piece of art that absolutely should not be considered art.

A home should be a place that is filled with things you enjoy. By throwing away all of your mementos and things that make your home a home to you, you’re throwing away the idea of a home itself. We can’t all live on sets that have been deep cleaned and designed to perfectly appeal to the eye. Besides, your solution to getting rid of the mess around the house shouldn’t be so extreme, anyways. Minimalism doesn’t really fix the problem of dirty dishes piling in the sink, mounds of laundry in the room corners, dusty floors, and succulents that seem to keep on dying no matter what you do to keep them alive. You don’t need minimalism to make your space a wonderful place to enjoy; you just need to learn discipline and how to actually clean up after yourself.