I'm not a minimalist, but I don't live a life of over-abundance either. My wife and I have very different experiences when it comes to selection. A large number of options does stress her out, and she has mentioned that she is worried that she won't pick the best one. For me, I figure that a large number of options means saturation, and as a result, I care less about my selection. A large number of options doesn't bother me. I like to have a cozy furnished living space. I like rugs, paintings on the walls, music, interesting items from some place I have been. To me, the texture of this is not distracting, but energizing. Nature is not a minimalist. All you need to see that is to look closely at a patch of earth. I enjoy complexity. I can appreciate the need anti-consumerism aspect of the minimalist approach, and I practice it. But I think the aesthetic decisions of minimalism needn't be related. Personally, I am tired of the future minimalist design that has reigned for so long. Give me some rococo (BTW, I think so much of that is a byproduct of mass-production rather than taste). That said, I eat oatmeal for most lunches, and I don't have cable or reception on my TV.