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Elle a choisi une vie austère, sans ornement ni superflu.

Elle a choisi une vie austère, sans ornement ni superflu.
She chose an austere life, without ornament or the superfluous.
From Lesson 360:Negative coordination (sans... ni...)·French

Questions & Answers about Elle a choisi une vie austère, sans ornement ni superflu.

Why are there no articles before ornement and superflu?
After the preposition sans, we usually drop the indefinite and partitive articles (un, une, des, du, de la) when talking about things in a general sense. Because this sentence links two general nouns with ni, both appear without an article.
The English translation says 'without ornament or the superfluous'. Why does French use ni instead of ou?
The word sans has a negative meaning. In French, when you list multiple things in a negative context, you replace ou (or) with ni (nor). The structure sans X ni Y is the standard way to say 'without X or Y'.
Is superflu a noun or an adjective in this sentence?
It is functioning as a masculine noun here, meaning 'the superfluous' or 'unnecessary things'. Although superflu is very commonly used as an adjective, French often allows adjectives to act as nouns to represent abstract concepts.
Why does the adjective austère come after vie?
Most French adjectives follow the noun they modify, unless they are part of the BANGS group (Beauty, Age, Number, Goodness, Size). Since austère (austere or strict) does not fit into those short, common categories, it follows the normal rule and goes after vie.

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