Thinking of upgrading your current living room design into a modern one?
Modern living room designs are all about neutrality, simple color schemes, and clean lines. This style gives off a sleek, neat, and sophisticated vibe. Who would not want that, right?
You will find that modern living room setups are less cluttered too. These designs are now leaning more on the minimalist side as designers have embraced the concept of “less is more”.
Now it does not have to be totally bare but it definitely is less.
So, in order to achieve a modern living room design, you should create a fuss-free space – less clutter, functional furniture, and smart storage.
Here are simple and easy design tips and ideas to help you get started on transforming your living room into a modern one!
1. Go for a neutral color palette for your base color.
If you check out images for modern living rooms, you will find that designers make use of a neutral color palette as their base color. This has been one of the most important aspects of modern design.
This is especially best for small spaces. Shades of white, beige, and light grays are a favorite. These hues reflect lighting and helps make the living room look larger!
If you find a neutral color palette too bland, simply add pops of color through your rugs, cushions, artwork, and the likes. However, ensure that the colors you choose will complement each other for a balanced look.
2. Embrace the natural light.
Natural lighting is one of the best features in modern living room designs. This makes the area look more airy and bright.
So invest in fixtures like sliding glass doors, glass walls, or large glass windows. Then deal with the intensity of the light that comes in with the right blinds.
3. Make use of metallic finishes or accents.
Here’s how you can create a high-end modern living room!
Think of polished metallic finishes or accents such as stainless steel, chrome, brass, or gold. You can use these on knobs, cabinet handles, photo frames, mirror frames, your lights, furniture, decor, and many more.
Choose just one type of metallic finish to pull the room together.
4. Avoid ornate furniture.
When picking out your furniture style, avoid ornate furniture as they do not go well with a modern theme. Instead, go for sleek and minimal furniture pieces with leather or natural fabrics for upholstery.
5. Statement lighting
You can make any modern living room feel more luxurious through glamorous pieces such as an awesome chandelier or unique lighting pieces. It does not have to be something expensive – just something eye-catching and fancy-looking!
6. Use dim lighting.
If big statement lighting fixtures are not your thing, do not hesitate to go for dim lighting. After all, everyone prefers to watch their favorite television shows or movies in the dark.
7. Be transparent.
A transparent living room makes it more visually attractive – especially when it shows a great view like a beautiful garden, a pool, the beach, a lake, or city lights.
And when you need some privacy, just draw the drapes or blinds!
8. Transforming furniture
A common fixture in a smaller modern living room is a transforming furniture. Getting a furniture that is multi-functional or has a hidden storage is a must for small areas as it helps save a lot of space.
In this example, a coffee table transforms into a table that you can use when you work from home, or when you’re having some snacks. And it has a hidden storage underneath!
9. Minimize your decorative pieces.
As mentioned earlier, modern living room designs are leaning into minimalism these days. A part of this concept is to have fewer decorative pieces in the house.
So, instead of showing a group of small paintings on the wall, go for a huge art piece instead. Or, instead of a lot of family pictures on the mantle, choose one big framed picture of everyone together.
10. Exposed brick wall
Another common feature in modern living room designs is having one exposed brick wall. This accent wall is an eye-catcher and great for when you prefer to add some homey vibe to the room instead of sleek neutral-painted walls.
If you find actual bricks expensive, you can also go for realistic-looking wallpaper.
11. Establish focal points through lighting.
The TV or entertainment center does not have to be the only focal point of your living room. If you have interesting art or decorative pieces that you want your guests to notice, you can give them their own lighting.
For instance, a common way to do this is to give display shelves LED parameter lighting. Simply turn them on when you have guests around.
12. Straighten up.
A common trend in modern living room designs is to go for sleek, clean lines – straight lines, rectangles, and squares.
For example, instead of going for a fancy frame with curved edges, go for a simple one with straight edges. Another example is to go for plain furniture instead of ones with patterns or ornate features.
13. Monochrome theme
Monochrome means you’re using shades of black, white, and gray for everything. It does not only look so sophisticated and elegant but it also looks cleaner compared to other themes. This one is best when you are also embracing the minimalist lifestyle.
14. Expose some wood.
Modern home designs are also fond of exposing natural wood instead of painting over them. You can refinish the wood on the windows, ceiling, fireplace mantel, furniture, or even the floor. As a result, you get a mixture of a modern and cabin vibe.
15. Bring in some textures.
Add texture to make the living room look modern through your furniture. Take a look at this example where the homeowner has tufted furniture pieces. These give the room a more classy and elegant vibe.
16. Don’t be afraid of color.
If you find neutral colors too bland then do not hesitate to add some pops of color in the room through your throw pillows, furniture, decor, or carpet. Choose colors that blend well together so it does not look distracting to the eye.
17. Go for a unique couch.
Ever notice how your eyes immediately go to the bed when you enter the bedroom? The couch or sofa has the same effect when you enter the living room. So why not turn it into a great focal piece by straying away from the usual designs and choosing something different this time?
18. Geometric patterns
If you love mixing things up and you want to have some color in the living room, use geometric patterns like diamonds, zigzags, stripes, waves, or triangles.
Geometric patterns can be on your wall art, your cushions, furniture, or the rug. These do not only look interesting but they can stretch the visual look of your living room – very favorable for small spaces!
19. Use the mirror trick.
This is well-known tactic in interior design. The mirror helps make a small space look wider than what it really is – a real gem for small space dwellers!
Also, if you position the mirror opposite a window, it will reflect the natural light around your space. This will make your living room brighter during the day.
20. Upgrade your fireplace.
If your living room has a fireplace feature, give it a modern look too! Modern fireplaces are pretty enough to be a focal point of your living room.
Less is indeed more.
As you can see, a modern living room design shows you that you do not need much to be able to relax and enjoy being home.
Some homeowners would shy away from the idea of doing a modern living room setup because they think that it could be an expensive upgrade. After all, most modern living rooms you see in magazines are from the homes of the rich and the famous. The good news is that there are ways to “adjust” the above tips and ideas into something that can fit your budget.
Of course, some of these tips could be expensive but when you choose to have fewer things around, that’s a different story. Just make sure that you get something durable so it lasts for years. Multi-functional is another plus.
So go for quality over quantity to get your money’s worth. This will save you money in the long run.
Henceforth, with these tips, we’re confident that your modern living room can be a fun and impressive focal point of your home where you, your family and guests will indeed feel at home!
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