Decor
What Makes a Modern Living Room Modern?
No discussion about modern living rooms can take place before first understanding exactly what “modern” means in terms of interior décor and living room furniture.
In everyday language, “modern” means “of or relating to present and recent time” (dictionary.com). In interior design and home furnishings, “modern” is actually a design style that may not include elements that relate to the “present and recent time”.
To give you an idea of how that might be confusing, since the modern design style rose from the ashes of World War II, newer design styles, including “industrial” and “Scandinavian” have come along.
To help confuse things even further, “modern” is sometimes used to refer to “mid-century modern”, which is yet another design style.
Elements of a Modern Living Room
Modern living room designs will include the following hallmarks of modern design.
- Clean, Crisp Lines – Both in the design of the room and the furniture and accessories in it, modern living rooms will feature a variety of intersecting lines, from area rugs to coffee tables and cabinets.
- Neutral Colour Palettes – For the most part, modern living rooms will feature a neutral, sometimes monotone colour palette. Towards the end of the first appearance of modern design, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, the limited palette began to be punctuated with olive greens and autumn oranges, first as highlights and later as palettes on their own.
- Natural Textures – Interestingly, when it comes to texture options for tables, chairs, floors, walls and ceilings, modern design quite happily leaves its simple, clean characteristics behind in favour of beautiful wood and stone textures. From light wood panelling on walls and hardwood floors, to stone fireplaces and walls, the use of natural textures can be the focal point of the living room and comes from the idea of bringing nature into the home.
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