How to Decorate in Contemporary Design Style

Contemporary interior design is comfortable, welcoming, sophisticated, and not cluttered. Contemporary interiors appear sleek and fresh and focus on color, shape, and form. Today's contemporary style is appropriate for offices, stores, loft apartments, and traditional homes. Interiors showcase "the space" rather than "the things."

Read on to learn how you can bring contemporary interior design into your home.

Contemporary Design vs. Modern Design

The terms "modern" and "contemporary" may be synonyms in a dictionary but they shouldn't be confused with one another when it comes to interior design. Contemporary styles are distinctly different according to home designers and decorating professionals.

Styles described as "modern" and current with the style of the moment may also be considered "contemporary." However, the two styles have different features. Modern style has more hard lines, furniture that favors function over form, and a neutral color palette, while the contemporary style uses more curvy lines, attractive ornamentation, and stark, contrasting colors like black and white.

Uses of Color

Neutrals, black, and white are the primary colors in contemporary-style interiors. Black is often used for grounding and defining a contemporary-style room. The palette is often punched and accented with bright, bold colors that play against neutrals.

With walls painted in a basic neutral, you have an excellent backdrop for bold-colored accessories. The trims should be neutral if the walls and windows are painted in pastels. If a wall is a bright, bold color, neutrals should be used everywhere else.

Line and Space

The "line" is contemporary interior design's most prominent and distinctive element. Strong visible lines are evident in any contemporary-style home, whether straight vertical or horizontal lines or curved shapes. The line is found in architectural details, bold color blocks, high ceilings, bare windows, and geometric shapes in wall art and sculpture.

The bare space on walls, between pieces of furniture and above in upper areas, becomes as important as the areas filled with objects. In contemporary interiors, less is more. Each piece stands out as individual and unique.

Take advantage of structural elements. Air ducts may hang from a ceiling, broken bricks provide texture and stability, and exposed plumbing pipes are perfectly acceptable in a contemporary-style interior. To draw the eye, paint these structural details in bold contrasting colors or, to diminish their importance, blend them with the walls.

Contemporary-Style Furniture

Contemporary furniture should make a bold statement but simultaneously be simple and uncluttered. Incorporate smooth, clean geometric shapes. Upholstered furniture is often black, white, or other neutral tones, using the natural fibers of wool, cotton, linen, silk, and jute to add textural appeal. Pillows in clean geometric shapes add a shot of color and texture.

Use a basic background and shout out with your favorite color on a furniture piece that stands out. Sofas, chairs, and ottomans often have exposed legs. Beds and chairs usually omit skirts, trims, fringes, or tassels. Don't use ruffles, excessive carved details, or floral prints. Abolish cute and tiny—go basic, bare, bold, and structural.

Flooring

Floors in a contemporary-style home should be bare and smooth, using wood, tile, or vinyl. Marble is another popular choice in contemporary interiors. Use laminate that resembles wood to achieve the look at a lower cost.

Choose commercial grades if you must use some carpet for sound control or warmth. Add color and texture to hard flooring with plain or geometric-patterned area rugs.

Lighting Considerations and Art

Track lighting and recessed lighting help to wash a wall in light. Consider installing cove lighting or indirect light in both home renovations and new construction. Include color and metallic elements on the light fixtures. When featuring art, use spotlights or can lighting directed at a painting, poster, or print. These will help to draw the eye to the pieces you want to focus on.

Place contemporary-style sculptures on a structural column or pedestal and any framed artwork at eye level. Frames in high-gloss or matte black, natural wood, or metal finishes are good choices in contemporary interior design. When grouping multiple pieces, hang them close together so they create the feeling of one large piece. Don't clutter contemporary-style rooms with collections or too many pieces. In contemporary interiors, open space is often just as important as the pieces you put in the space.

Other Design Elements

Here are a few other simple ways to add to the contemporary style of your space.

• Add metal, stone, and glass elements: Works made of these materials are mixed and matched throughout the space in decor and accessories like vases.
• Use heavily textured fabrics: Textured fabrics in pain, neutral colors soften and warm up the space. Consider these for window treatments, pillows, and rugs.
• Avoid colorful, fussy prints: These confuse the plain space that is key to a contemporary-style home. Use two-tone prints instead. Think about a zebra-print pillow on a black leather chair, a large leopard-print pillow thrown on a plain floor, or a bold, heavily textured striped rug to anchor solid-colored, sleek furniture.
• Add large plants and flowers: Plants and flowers are dramatic but in simple containers. Large blooms with interesting leaves work better than small arrangements. Place upward-focused lights around a large plant on the floor if space allows. Keep the arrangements neat, with rocks or bark chips arranged over the soil in the pots.
• Keep dinnerware contemporary: Many geometric shapes, bold colors, and interesting styles are available. Add texture with silverware, napkins, placemats, and centerpieces.

Contemporary Style Throughout the House

Kitchen

Give your kitchen a contemporary edge with sleek, functional pieces, keeping everything looking clean. Think stainless steel appliances on an open floor plan, emphasize big open spaces and make sure small appliances can be stowed away to avoid clutter.

Contemporary style is sophisticated yet easy and breezy. Encourage entertaining in your open space by placing bar seating at a kitchen bar or island. Design materials don’t have to match; consider mixing textures using wood, concrete, glass, ceramic, and metal.

Living Room

Make the living room feel inviting with rounded, soft lines. Use curvy couches or rounded pillow backs. Place lighting such as lamps and sconces where it fills the room with softness and is not only functional but also classy-looking.

Typical living room color schemes feature white, grey, black, cream, taupe, and brown with simple notes of color. Furniture textiles are usually natural fibers like cotton, wool, linen, leather, and silk, mixed with other textures in the room, such as warm woods like birch and maple, glass, and metals like nickel, chrome, and stainless steel.

Bathroom

In a contemporary bathroom, focus on sleek lines and bare surfaces, particularly with no clutter. Chrome is king in a contemporary-style bathroom, although other materials, like quartz, concrete, and light-colored wood or bamboo, work well. Use simple lighting or let in natural light. Highlight contrasts in color like white and black or texture differences like soft wood tone contrasted with metal or glass.

Bedroom

Use neutral tones as the prominent colors in a contemporary-style room. Incorporate natural textiles, like cotton, linen, and silk, on wall coverings, bedspreads, and furniture. Furniture is simple and practical, enclosing items and keeping things orderly and out of sight. Lines and curves keep the feeling sleek and sophisticated. Lamps and standing lights give the room ambient, layered light, softening the room's mood.