The subtleties of the living room design in a modern style
Despite the fact that the classics always remains relevant, many now prefer to arrange living rooms in a modern style. This design combines practicality, stylish minimalism and very interesting decorative solutions. In addition, modern style is a fairly broad concept, it allows for many of the most unexpected options, so everyone can choose an interior project to their liking.
You can even think about the living room décor yourself. The main thing is to take into account all the nuances in advance and choose harmonious combinations.
Special features
Although modern design can be called more diverse and free than the classic or country style, it is worth adhering to a number of rules to create a harmonious and cozy living space. If you want to develop a living room design project yourself, consider the following features of the modern style:
- Modern design to the maximum open space. It is good if you have a very spacious living room that can be visually divided - to highlight a work area, a children's corner or a place for sports and creative work. It all depends on your hobbies and preferences. Also a topical option is a living room combined with a kitchen.
- Conciseness and minimalism should also be attributed to the peculiarities of the modern style in the design of the hall. If you want to arrange your living room in a similar style, you will have to refrain from an abundance of bright accessories, decorated furniture and wallpaper with ornaments. For the modern style, large forms are characteristic, and excessive jewelry in combination with modern elements can look old-fashioned.
- Despite the minimalism of such a design, one cannot say that modern interiors are boring. On the contrary, they can look very interesting if you focus on abstract forms. Furniture and accessories may be unusual in their form and texture, but at the same time, not overloaded with details. In this design, asymmetry and unexpected solutions are appreciated.
- Another way to make modern design as original and interesting as possible is to select complex colors.If we confine ourselves in the interior black, white and red, the situation is unlikely to turn out refined and cozy. Prefer composite shades: olive, ivory, chocolate, gray-blue, crimson or terracotta.
- The unusual division of space is another feature of modern style. This can be done with the help of color finishes or using different lighting. At the same time, physically distinguishing the space is only if you have a very spacious living room, and the zones are functionally different. Such a distinction is characteristic of the kitchen-living room. In other cases, it is better to avoid arches, columns and partitions.
- As in any design, in the modern interior the semantic center of the room is important. However, in a spacious hall there can be several such centers. For their designation, you can use new items such as electric fireplaces or fountains, and also highlight the semantic center in a more traditional way - put a TV, a corner with photos and albums, a dining table or a panoramic window there.
Colors and decor
It will depend on the color scheme how cozy your room will turn out. Bright colors in modern decor are not used too often, it is better to replace them with dark or pastel colors. At the same time juicy saturated colors can appear as small accents. To create a harmonious atmosphere in your living room, Use the design tips and see the following actual color combinations:
- Living room in beige and cream tones - This is one of the best options for color solutions for the hall. The warm color scheme creates a unique comfort in the room, helps to relax and emphasizes the warm atmosphere of the habitable home. At the same time, light colors make the room visually more spacious and reflect light better. If you have small windows, it is definitely worth considering the warm color scheme for the interior.
- Hue tones suitable for owners of large and bright rooms. You can combine these two colors together or divide the living room into two zones with the help of two colors. If you choose bright yellow, use this color is minimal. To make large forms in yellow color look beautiful and elegant, you should opt for mustard and pale pastel colors.
- Black living room - this is a very interesting and modern solution that will not leave indifferent those who like experiments. At the same time, in order for the dark color scheme to look harmonious, the room must be quite spacious, and good lighting will also be important. However, pure black should be used minimally, it is better to choose very dark shades of blue, khaki, plum and burgundy. Also in combination with a similar palette will look great warm gray and metallic color.
- Many choose living rooms in green colors. Depending on your preference, you can make it cold or warm. Peach and lemon shades are perfect for cold green tones, with them your interior will become fresh and interesting. If you choose warm tones of green, a harmonious combination can be obtained with beige and terracotta. However, if you want to give the room a distinctive and interesting look, you can try light shades of turquoise.
- Living room in bright red colors it is not recommended to make out, however it is quite possible to replace red with dark shades of burgundy or fuchsia.Subdued dark tones are suitable even for the basis of the interior and for wall decoration. It is best to combine them with cold gray, ivory and muted blue.
With all the brevity of the modern style in the interior without accessories and decor can not do. It is important that the small details were not too catchy, but shaded the interior as a whole.
When choosing a decor, try to take into account the following nuances:
- An unusual picture can decorate the interior of any living room.. In modern style often choose abstract paintings with massive monotonous spots, but there may be other options. For example, watercolor landscapes or black and white graphics will also look great in such interiors.
- From the living room will be a great combination of high-tech watches. It can be floor or wall models. Plastic and metal versions with geometric shapes, glass transparent watches or natural stone watches will look very interesting.
- Carpets are often used for the decoration of the living room.. In modern interiors, it is better to abandon Persian carpets with oriental ornaments and replace them with plain models.It will also look great carpets with a long nap, imitating the skins of animals, but such options will require you to especially careful care. If you are looking for the most practical solution, you can lay a mat on the floor now fashionable - a lint-free carpet, made on the basis of weaving from natural fibers.
- Stylish modern vases are also great accessories. Depending on the requirements of your interior, they can be bright or transparent. In the spacious living room you can place massive floor vases, and in a medium-sized room should be limited to miniature products.
- In a modern living room, simple but stylish curtains with tulle will look good. Blinds can look too boring, and traditional curtains with floral ornaments often turn out to be very old-fashioned for a modern hall interior. It is better to choose monochromatic curtains, models with small geometric patterns or options with a wide strip.
Design options
The design of the living room can be extremely diverse - modern ways of finishing the floor, ceiling and walls allow you to put into practice the most daring ideas.In this case, the project of finishing the room must be approached comprehensively. If you are planning a major overhaul in your old living room or decorating a room in a new house, you need to choose the floor covering, ceiling and wall decoration so that they are combined with each other.
It is worthwhile to proceed, first of all, from the desired design of the walls, since it is he who catches the eye as soon as you enter the room, but choosing the appropriate ceiling and floor is also very important.
Floor
The flooring of the hall in modern style can be extremely diverse - everything will depend on your design project. Sometimes the coverage throughout the apartment is made the same, and sometimes a special option is selected for the living room. Consider the following fashion ideas for floor design:
- Laminate - This is one of the most popular ways of modern flooring. It combines practicality, attractive appearance and relatively low price. In addition, in the shops now you can find laminate with a variety of designs, such as imitation of wood in natural shades, colorful boards and even interesting options with decorative prints.
- Linoleum can also be used for the living room, but it is inferior to the laminate in its aesthetic qualities. In addition, it is less durable and can tear in areas under furniture or at door seams. The main advantage of linoleum is its low price.
- Parquet - It is an expensive coating of natural wood. This coating is considered quite warm, and also it has a stunning appearance. You can pick up wood of different colors and lay it out with patterns or separate the space with colors. However, it must be borne in mind that parquet requires special care.
In order not to form scratches, you can not move furniture on it and you should avoid high humidity in the room.
- Tile - This is an interesting floor covering for all types of interior. With its help, you can lay out unusual ornaments, create a monochromatic glossy or matte finish. At the same time for the living room such material may be too cold. Tile the floor cover in those cases when they plan to build in it heating.
- Carpet - This is another solution for a modern living room. On such a floor it will always be nice to walk barefoot, and also it will help to create comfort and a special atmosphere in the room. However, this coating is not suitable for every interior.In addition, covering with a nap will require special care, and you will often have to do wet cleaning, especially if there are animals in the house.
Ceiling
Typically, the ceiling does not differ much diversity. Nevertheless, in a modern interior you can realize unusual creative ideas with which the living room will become even more comfortable. Consider the following possible solutions:
- The easiest option - ceiling trim whitewash. It is suitable for lovers of traditional options. The smooth white ceiling will be perfectly combined with any modern interior design. In addition, such a simple finish can be done independently. It should be borne in mind that this option will look good only in those cases if you have a high-quality finished finish.
- Painting the ceiling - This is an infrequent phenomenon, however, if you appreciate the experiments, the interior of the living room can be supplemented with such a highlight. So that the ceiling does not seem overloaded, and the room was comfortable to be, try to choose pastel colors for the ceiling. Suitable blue, light gray, peach or beige shades.
- If you want to hide the flaws of the rough finish, you can lay the ceiling with plastic plates. They are square or elongated, solid white or with a simple light pattern. This option will make the ceiling visually smoother and give it an interesting texture. In addition, this coating is not expensive, and you can decorate the ceiling with plastic plates yourself.
- Suspended ceiling allows you to make the lines perfectly smooth, conveniently place the lighting devices around the perimeter of the apartment, as well as give the room design a more complete look. However, this option will cost more, and a suspended ceiling is not recommended if you have low ceilings in your apartment.
Walls
Wall decor can be very diverse. However, designers do not recommend combining more than three colors or using bright ornamental prints for modern interior types. Consider the most current ways of finishing and interesting decor for the walls in the living room:
- Wallpaper still are one of the most popular ways to finish walls in residential areas.For the living room in a modern style, you can choose various options. You can opt for wallpaper with abstract prints, striped or monochrome options. If you appreciate the environmental friendliness of materials, you should choose paper wallpaper, but vinyl models will give your walls an additional interesting texture.
- Now many choose for their interior textile wallpaper - it is a beautiful covering made on the basis of natural fibers of a fabric - silk, flax, velvet or bamboo. These wallpapers can be used for all types of interiors due to the variety of prints and colors. They will create an unusual texture on the walls and help strengthen the atmosphere of coziness in the room. Among the minuses of such wallpapers are relatively high prices and the need for careful care.
- Wall mural - They are also an interesting option for the interior of the living room. Usually, landscapes or panoramas of beautiful cities are chosen as images. In the modern hall such options can look very relevant. They will allow you to be transported to any beautiful places while in your own living room.
For this reason, most often the photo wallpaper is used only in spacious rooms, because they need to allocate a whole wall, not obscuring its furniture and other interior items.
- Simple painting walls - This is another topical solution for a modern living room. Smooth, monotonously painted walls will perfectly fit into a minimalist design and will allow to emphasize other details of the interior. In a small living room it is recommended to use one or two colors; in a spacious room, a combination of three different colors for different walls is possible. Among the actual shades you can choose purple, beige, blue, peach, emerald or light gray.
- Coloring with texture achieved thanks to special paint application techniques. If smooth painted walls require an ideal rough finish, painting with a texture will smooth out minor irregularities. When applying paint, you can create the effect of spraying, flowing paint or smears in different directions.
- Tiled You can lay out all the walls in the living room or only individual fragments. Usually choose a tile that mimics the stone or brickwork.In a modern interior, such solutions can look very unusual. You can choose such a tile in red, brown or whitish tones. The decor, imitating stonework, can be combined with ordinary painted walls and metal interior items.
- Sometimes the walls in the modern interior are decorated with columns. Most often these are not columns in a classic style with all sorts of decorations, but simpler rectangular options. They can be painted in the color of the walls or different colors. A column embedded in a wall may be a purely decorative part of the interior, but sometimes it is used for practical purposes, for example, for placing photos, coat hooks or small shelves.
- Molding on the walls - This is another interesting decorative element that came from the classical style, but has become relevant for modern fashion design. The molding is a relief overlay on the wall of plastic. Horizontal lines and frames are most often made, but molding can also be found with a more bizarre shape. Moldings are usually decorated with plain painted walls.
Lighting
Lighting is a very important part of a living room design project, but often it is not paid due attention. Meanwhile, too bright or too dim lighting will annoy you, and you will not feel the comfort of the room to the fullest. In addition, it is thanks to the correct lighting that one can distinguish the semantic centers of the room, emphasize successful color schemes, hide the finishes of the decoration and visually expand the space.
You need to come to the lighting responsibly. In a small living room or studio apartment, a single light source may be enough, but for larger rooms of several tens of square meters, you should choose sources of both primary and secondary lighting. Consider the best options for living rooms of various sizes:
- For a small living room with an area of 8-12 square meters. m Do not choose too many light sources. Usually one chandelier is installed, located in the middle of the room, it should be bright enough and have more than three lamps of high power. Nevertheless, try to pick up the closed ceiling, directed in different directions - so the light will be soft and diffused.If you still want to add another light source, put a floor lamp or a desk lamp.
- For living rooms from 14 square meters. m You can choose two full source of lighting, thereby dividing the space into zones. Sometimes they make two symmetrical chandeliers on the sides. If you have a bright window, you can consider the option with a chandelier in the center, which is combined with several lamps along the perimeter along the far walls from the window. Such lighting options can be very interesting, but the specific choice should depend on the layout of your room.
- In the spacious living room to 35 square meters. m several sources of lighting will be simply necessary. Even if you have large panoramic windows, one chandelier is not enough to give light to a large hall in full. Often do the lighting single lamps around the perimeter, they can be located on the walls and on the ceiling. Single lamps can be distributed over the entire ceiling area, creating uniform, comfortable lighting.
Moreover, if you want to divide the room into zones, it is better to use two or three separate chandeliers that differ in the types of lighting.
We select furniture
Furniture in a modern living room should be practical, functional and beautiful. Sometimes it is worth choosing one material and color for all the furniture in the room, and sometimes you can experiment and try to combine unexpected colors and textures. In a small-sized living room it’s better to confine one thing to something, but in a spacious room you can give free rein to your imagination.
Furniture in wood, particle board, plastic, artificial stone, metal and glass are characteristic of the hall in a modern style.
When choosing furniture you need to take into account a number of nuances to make the arrangement of interior items convenient, and their design to underline the design concept of the entire room:
- If you have a small living room, it is preferable to choose cabinets without handles and with a minimum number of open shelves so as not to split up space once again. It is also good to choose glossy and bright facades, because they will reflect the light and visually enlarge the room.
- Even if you have a spacious living room, do not overdo it with small details. Modern style to minimalism, therefore, prominent handles of cabinets, carved patterns or painting on furniture will not look organically.At the same time, an interesting design can be created with the help of concise non-standard forms.
- If you have a bright living room, the furniture in it should not be pale or unduly challenging. Find a color that will be similar in tone to the walls, but have a different shade.
- The arrangement of furniture should be approached thoughtfully. It is necessary to highlight the semantic center of the room and emphasize it with the help of other furnishings.
- For upholstered furniture is to choose a suitable coffee table. It should not be too massive for the sofa and armchairs to be clearly seen behind it. Moreover, if you have a large sofa, a very small table will not work either, otherwise it will be completely invisible against the background of upholstered furniture.
- TV, music system and other equipment can be successfully entered into the furniture so that the equipment does not stand out too much and does not violate the design concept.
Despite the fact that the design of each living room is different, there is a set of universal pieces of furniture, which is important to have in almost any room. Before you go to the store, pay attention to the following products:
- Sofa - This is the traditional important part of the living room.In the one-room apartment there must be a wide and comfortable sofa that can be expanded. If you have a separate bedroom, the model can be almost any, if it fits well into the decor of the apartment. Do not rush to buy a sofa made of leather, because it is not too comfortable to sit on it, the skin sticks to the body, slides, quickly cools and heats up, despite its presentable appearance. For home comfort it is better to choose a sofa of textiles.
- Armchairs may also be located in the room if it is spacious enough. They will need owners of large families and lovers to invite guests to the house. You can put the chair next to the sofa or form with their help a separate zone.
- Coffee table - one more necessary thing. In large rooms there are several. You can have laptops and tablets, books, decorative flower vases, board games or accessories for needlework, depending on your interests. The tables are very different - wooden, stone, with a metallic coating or from stained glass.
- Usually in the living room is placed also a cabinet or several cabinets with open and closed shelves. In such a closet you can store books, photo albums, household items. Also open shelves can be decorated with accessories - watches, statuettes, vases or small sculptures.
You can place baskets and storage boxes in the closet, which will make organizing the space even more convenient.
For a spacious living room with several zones, it is better to choose several different small cabinets, and for a small room it is better to choose one massive cabinet.
Beautiful examples in the interior
Variants of living room design in modern style will depend on your needs and interests, the number of family members, footage and the layout of the room itself. To furnish a modern hall harmoniously, you first need to think about practical needs, and only then look for fashionable ways to make the idea a reality. Consider real-life examples of different interiors.
In a very small living room should give preference to light colors of finishes and furniture: beige, dairy, light green, blue, pink or gray. It is better not to use white in the decoration of the walls or to use it as little as possible, because sometimes the room with it may look like a hotel room and look uncomfortable. Stylish accessories can be bright and dark, but with them you do not need to overdo it.
In general, it is better to choose glossy monolithic surfaces so that they better reflect the light. For example, it can look great interior with lilac painted walls, plastic beige furniture with built-in appliances, a dark gray sofa, bright vases, a floor lamp and photographs in the framework.
In a medium sized living room or in a spacious living room one can afford more small details. If you do not plan to divide the living room into zones, All furniture and decoration should be approximately the same in style and color. It is necessary to arrange furniture not chaotically, it is better to place all pieces of furniture around the semantic center, which can serve as a table, a TV or an artificial fireplace.
As an example, consider a living room decorated in dark burgundy and purple with dark wood furniture, beige soft furniture, metal accessories and several sources of lighting.
If you want to divide the living room into zones, in the framework of the modern style it is better to do it without physical partitions - you can achieve separation using the difference of lighting, decoration colors and furniture materials. Zones can be allocated in different ways. Now it is fashionable to combine the living room with a kitchen, a children's room or a hallway, and in one-room apartments it is combined with a bedroom.
In addition, you can allocate a place to work in the spacious living room or simply divide it in such a way that each family member has his own space to relax. Interesting examples may be with a colored floor, with the help of which areas are distinguished, with the color and texture of the walls. Sometimes use reception with different power and color of lighting - in the area for recreation, the light can be muffled, and in the kitchen and in the working area should be left bright.
See the following video for tips on how to design a modern living room.