The contemporary style of home decorating emphasizes the minimalist approach. We discuss what makes or breaks the contemporary style of home decor.The most important thing to consider before you start decorating, or redecorating, your home or apartment, is what you like. What you want. Do not concern yourself with the current trends, that many home owners seem to follow like lemmings. The most important thing is that you are comfortable in your own home.There are a few factors that you have to consider. Are you a business person, and will you be entertaining colleagues and bosses in your home? Or do you have a lot of friends whom you'll be entertaining on a regular basis? Or do you prefer to keep yourself to yourself, with only an occasional friend stopping by? In each instance, you may want to decorate your home in different ways.It's not necessary to decorate your entire house in one single style - you can always use several different styles, one per room. It all depends on what works best for you.The minimalist contemporary style eschews bold floral patterns such as you'd find in wallpaper, and replaces this with plain colors - shades of white. In this way, photos, paintings or other wall hangings will stand out the more. Also, the walls should not be overloaded with these wall hangings - to do so blunts the impact. It's like the old cliche, "You can't see the forest for the trees" or in this case, you can't see the trees for the forest!Simplicity must extend to the floors as well. Hardwood floors with their golden gleam add a warmth to every room, although in winter time they can be cool on the feet! Throw rugs in bright colors can add that necessary "je ne sais quois" to any room. If you like wall-to-wall carpeting, again, choose neutral colors - shades of white, once again to highlight the furniture that rests upon it.