Turns out, less is more in Texas.

This applies specifically to designer, Barbara Hill, whose earthy minimalist designs combine man made material with natural nuances.

Each of her spaces are inspiring, leaving you with room enough in your brain for contemplation.

Spaces from the Marfa house:

Photo via Hill’s website

Hill’s high ceilings give this space breathing room and draws attention to the stunning marbled walls. Contrast is created using fabric rather than color and plays with the eyes to keep them moving.The porcelain wood floors function to keep the space physically and aesthetically cool.

Photo via Hill’s website

My favorite piece in this room is the coffee table. The juxtaposition between natural and manufactured products is characteristic of Hill’s designs and is showcased beautifully here.

Photo via Hill’s website

This very geometric tub looks as if it was left standing from ancient ruins. The natural light in all of Hill’s spaces, especially in this one, creates a sense of a synergy between the earthly and the heavenly.

Photo via Hill’s website

The bared metal of the bath’s faucet call to mind a picture of harvesting a natural spring, making this fixture a completion of the aesthetic.

Details from the Dancehall:

Photos via dwell.com

Hill creatively displays her wardrobe that partions the space while letting light pass through. If she wants to open the room she can roll the cabinets on their attached skateboard wheels.

Photos via dwell.com

Hill defies the status quo by placing her stately tub in the very center of her bedroom complemented by the custom plumbing that seems to come out of nowhere.

Your designs are always inspiring, Barbara.

 Always,

Erin Stevens for KBD

Sarah Burton’s collection strutted out of a storybook at the Alexander McQueen Autumn/Winter 2014 Runway show. But this story nixed the talking flowers and replaced it with an inexplicable animalistic, ethereal darkness.

With each piece, the woman’s face became a focal point, accentuated by high collars, oversized hoods and floor-length gowns. The bell-shaped silhouettes, pom poms and goat fur mimicked the movement of moths (one of Burton’s inspirations) or dandelion seeds over a starlit pond.

These rich fur coats encourage a fantasy synergy between a courageous, but gentle human queen and her wild pack as she leads them into dark battle. The looming wickedness is apparent throughout the collection.

Even in pure white, the queen is harboring something much darker.  

Of these three gowns the middle is my favorite, a challenge of the ideal of virginity and the ghastly silhouette that seemingly carries the wearer effortlessly over the earth.

Burton achieved a striking dissonance between the pure and poisoned that leaves everyone in a state of skepticism about good and evil.

Which side are you on?

Always,

Erin Stevens for KBD

You followed the recipe to a T. But in hopes of making the dish more palatable, you added one more pinch of salt without first sampling your work.

The first bite would be your last.

What would have been a perfect combination of ingredients has become hard to swallow.

Minimalism is not the lack of something, but the perfect amount of it. Minimalist design often echoes the mantra of beauty and functionality combined.

Minimalist kitchen designed by Kristin Okeley, Kitchens by Design

Minimalist kitchen designed by architects Callum Fraser and Zahava Elenberg of Elenberg Fraser. Source: designmilk

Aesthetically, minimalism is often characterized by entirely black and white spaces. But it can be so much more. 

In ways, minimalist design challenges us to make the most of what we have. Maybe, more accurately, we should call it maximalism. A movement towards the combination of non-tradition materials is becoming is apparent.

Source: Pinterest

Certainly, simplicity begins in the mind. Over-thinking can lead to unnecessary clutter. And many of our greatest ideas come to us when we aren’t thinking.

Take for example, Jin Il Park who created this steel chair inspired by his own line drawings.

Steel chair by Jin Il Park. Source: designmilk

In at least one area of our lives we can afford less. And less can mean so much more.

Always, KBD