18.9.07

The New & Improved Modern Home

It used to be, when you described a home's décor as being "modern" you might have also inferred some more negative connotations, like sparse, cold or impersonal. Stark spaces, with minimal amounts of furniture and dressings, even though the rooms might be very large.

Modern Home

Nowadays, modern home décor is taking a turn for the diverse, and I absolutely love the trend. Modern doesn't have to be anything you don't want it to be. This kind of thinking might be different for some people, but for your personal style - you should be able to take the attributes you like about different kinds of style, and incorporate them into a design that satisfies you completely. For some that might just be French country, with no other influences. But for more and more people, and the commercial market is picking up on this trend, modern means what they want it to, and not anything they don't. Warm colors are being mixed with cool metals, and modern spaces are filled with useful accessories and pops of color - a collection of vases grouped together, instead of just one.

Modern can be so many things, even cozy! It doesn't have to be spare and completely geometric with only clean, straight lines. I love adding organic elements to modern design, to me, they make it even more fresh. Undulating lines work beautifully with clean straight ones; they contrast in such a way that makes them both more interesting to look at. And, they don't compete with each other the way some modern design can, they're supposed to be different!

Color palettes are getting more complex each season, home dec designers are trying bold new colors together in exciting ways, and many different textures are popping up in unexpected ways. Monochromatic rooms are even gaining more popularity, and the tones and textures that are so crucial to actually pulling off such a bold design choice are becoming more available everywhere.

I like to chalk this brave new world of home décor up to curiosity. It might have killed the cat, but how can you ever know for sure what you think or feel about design until you start experimenting with what works for you? You can't! And, lots of designers and retailers catering to wildly varied design appetites means lots of options to choose from. How awesome, right?

What does modern mean to you? How would you describe your home décor style as? And, would or do you incorporate modern elements? What makes it your style? (Sorry for the barrage, I've had home design on the brain for a few weeks, and I'm really interested in other people's perspectives!)

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous18.9.07

    Oooh, I love your vases, where are they from?

    I think of my style as modern organic, but it varies and it limited by what we can afford and the size of our house. I would love to be rich and have tons of different rooms in my home to decorate :)

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  2. I enjoyed your post!

    Maybe someday I'll have a home style -- we're renters and only here for another year (across the country from where we were before and where we'll likely be returning) so we haven't picked up that much stuff, and what there is a mishmash of free and/or inexpensive used items and IKEA purchases. It's kind of spare in here right now, but cozy enough. It really helps that the building we live in (built in 1900) has some great moldings around the windows and doors.

    I love relatively simple lines (and curves!) in furniture, lots of color, and artwork on the walls (I paint, draw, and enjoy photography).

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