All this while, a lot of people likes to go for maximum and splurge when they renovate their house. Home owners buy new property and feels like they have to go all out when they renovate. They will go to an extend to source for high end furniture, find exquisite art and décor, exotic interior design, luxury soft furnishing, all for the sake of hoping their abode is one of a kind. They can even take a loan just to renovate their house.
But is it really necessary?
Well, before we talk further, let us admire some of these beautiful homes belong to some famous people whom most of us know.
Bill Gates
One of the most famous philanthropist and smartest man, Bill Gates’s luxury eco-friendly mansion in Medina, Washington. It is a 66,000sq ft property and apart from having 7 rooms, 24 bathrooms, 6 kitchens, large swimming pool, 2,100sq ft library, this luxury property has a mega trampoline room which Bill Gate’s children love to use.
Bill Gate’s home sweet home
Bill Gate’s library
Angelina Jolie
Now let us look at another famous humanitarian, academy award actress, filmmaker and a mother of 6 children, it shall be no other than Angelina Jolie. This is Angelina Jolie’s new home with her 6 children in Los Feliz, California. It is a 11,000sq ft property with 6 bedrooms. Hmm, since there are 7 of them, so someone need to share their rooms!
Angelina Jolie’s living room
Angelina Jolie’s white kitchen
Angelina Jolie’s library
Mukesh Ambadi
Have you heard of the extravagant spender in Asia? This is India and Asian’s richest tycoon, Mukesh Ambadi. He built a 27 floors villa for himself and family, which is equivalent to 568 feet tall and approximate 400,000sq ft. Sometimes I wonder if such a wealthy person in India helps much to his own slum citizens in India. And maybe he needs his home to be this tall so he can have a great view of the slum in India!
Mukesh Ambadi famous 27 storey property
Warren Buffet
Many people want to be like Warren Buffet, a great investor. Warren Buffet is also a great philanthropist who has given lots to charity together with Bill Gates and at the same time frugal. He is currently still staying in the house of 6570sq ft that he bought in 1958.
Warren Buffet’s long time property
So let us analyze ourselves. Most of us are common people and not those mega rich. I have picked just a few examples for a reason. Bill Gates, Angelina Jolie and Warren Buffet is not just famous but did and still doing a lot of charity works. Mukesh Ambadi was famous for that 27 storey extravagant mega home. We can be very rich, medium class or lower income people today, but end of the day, the most important is a roof over our head with our loved ones and being healthy. Do we really need to spend excessively?
Living minimalist and design our home minimalist is one of a trend now. Life is so unpredictable especially with this current on-going global coronavirus which is already more than a year. We do not really have to design or renovate our new home in an extent that we fork out what we cannot afford. To take a loan for renovation is not a smart move.
To me our most
important space in the house is bedroom. We need a bed, side tables and
wardrobe. If possible, make built-in wardrobe so you can fit in more stuffs,
not encouraging you to buy clothing, but it is always good to have space put
store stuffs that you use only once awhile. Example : winter clothing
The next important space is the kitchen. Again, try to build custom made kitchen as we always have lots of cutlery and dry food to store away. If you think you do not have much budget to build full custom made kitchen, why not build partial and maybe add on some Ikea racks. Then when you have more budget in the future, you can add on to your kitchen cabinets and take away the racks.
Lastly, is our living room. Simple sofa, coffee table, TV rack and storage. If budget allows, always build some custom cupboard so you can store in toys, books, toilet rolls, etc. Look for corners that you can build your full height built in furniture and extend later when you have the money. If you have the budget, then build it.
End of the day, we do not need a lot to live. Simple life is not too bad after all (like Warren buffet) as you will own less stuffs and will not hoard your home. Give away what you do not need (but make sure it is still good) and buy less. The world is changing and let us go for minimalist living! Spend some of your savings to the unfortunate too. What goes around comes around and we should plan for our next generation!
