In some ways, modern and contemporary home decor have a lot in common. Both styles tend to keep it simple – modern decor emphasises austerity in material, colour and form, while contemporary decor often allows colour and texture. For both of these styles, large open spaces, allowing for entertaining or just lounging in one part of the house, are in vogue.
Maintain the modernist aesthetic by avoiding heavily patterned fabrics and ornamental accessories, and choose their heavily textured linens in neutrals to act as a backdrop to sleek furniture and accessories.
Colors
Colour choice for your home could be important, setting the tone or scene for your eventual usage of it. If you’re trying to foster a reflective mood, choices such as blue and green (cool hues) could start you off on the right track. If expression and social interaction are what you are after, brighter reds may be more appropriate.
Browns, grays and blacks create a more casual foundation, a natural canvas that works with the organic shapes and textures commonly seen in current decor: rich earth tones co-ordinate with wood furniture, sisal rugs and woven baskets.
Colour is your friend in modern environments – but you don’t want to crowd out the rectilinear forms and raw finishes that characterise contemporary decor with fussy trim (ruffles and flanging), excessive figural carving or floral print textiles.
Texture
Texture is a critical, often essential part of the design of any home project, as it adds depth and contrast, which helps bring your vision to life.
Rough textures such as woven jute rugs and reclaimed wood furniture are earthier and more organically organic when it comes to home decor, as opposed to smooth, polished marble that adds an inorganic sense of luxury. Increasingly more prevalent are decorative cushions, plump rugs, velvet upholstery and shaggy accessories that embody comfort and bring cosiness to a space, turning it into a cosmos and a home for those who inhabit it. Matt finishes such as chalk paint or flat-finish walls provide minimalist aesthetics that match contemporary homes towards the less decadent side of the spectrum.
Clean lines are still part and parcel of contemporary style, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use the occasional curvalicious furniture piece or detail in your scheme: a mixture of straight and curved elements can add softness and comfort while still adhering to modern design principles.
Patterns
By adding visual interest (and indicating style) without overwhelming, patterns also help define some boundaries, such as the location of the dining area and also the seating nook seen in this sleek townhouse by Suzy Hoodle.
Once quintessentially ‘traditional’, patterns such as paisley, chintz and buffalo check are reappearing in modern homes — often in the most fashionable interiors — and they come across as entirely current when balanced by something more restrained in either.
Stripes, the other fundamental designDuresco, shown in a classic horizontal hatching, is one option for stripes, but any evenly aligned pattern will do; stripes come in a multitude of options – that’s what makes them nearly universal. They can lend themselves to just about every scheme and style, but herringbone (close-up, below left), which is actually a variation on the chevron (secondary close-up, below right), gets special mention here because, though it also uses zigzaging elements, they have breaks between them that take the form of either fine lines or actual gaps, making herringbone particularly appropriate for modern spaces where its slimmer silhouette offers visual impact in a fresh way that chevron does not.
Natural elements
Natural ingredients bring in warmth in an interior. Wood furniture, stone countertops and jute rugs enhance the mood of a home. Addition of soothing colours such as green, brown and yellow soothe the eye in any interior space.
Bringing nature inside your home is the easiest way to create an uplifting space: exotic plants and calming flowers an effortless way to splash colour and get your greens in an instant. From majestic fiddle leaf fig trees to petite orchids, these blooms can make wonderful focal pieces.
They could include rocks and fossils (like dinosaur bones or a trilobite), along with other geological finds. A potted cactus on a coffee table or a small unfussy fossil are visual focal points that add strength on a coffee table. Scents and sounds can be a fourth way of connecting people with nature.
Joyful aesthetics
To create a fresh vibe in modern interior decor, throws, pillow covers, cushions and so forth with bright prints, houseplants, flowery decor items or vases, or lamps are in common use.
Modern spaces are relatively uncluttered and the dining space, the party space, the lounging space can all fit quite comfortably through some simple design adjustments such as the addition of caricatures or stumpy bases – furniture that is art and not merely a coffee table.
A love of simplicity of line and space, of the geometric, and of positive, facetted and strong colour, are the things that make for contemporary loveliness in an interior.