Basic Ideas of Modern House Designs

Designing and decorating a modern, or contemporary, home can be fun, but this style is distinctive. Without the appropriate color and texture combinations, modern house designs will not look well-put together. To ensure that your modern house is indeed of a modern style, follow a few simple guidelines.

Modern House Designs

Innovative architectural elements are a trademark of modern home design. Repurposed industrial buildings, urban high rises, live/work spaces and lofts comprise some of the modern spaces popular today, all of which require different approaches to architecture. Glass walls, sliding walls, inner courtyards and skylights integrate exterior and interior spaces. Ladders and stairwells connect living spaces with work spaces, but typically keep them on separate floors. Open floor plans that join the dining area and living room, and sometimes the kitchen, often feature a bay of picture windows or solar tubes to allow natural light to spill into the cavernous space.

Modern House Designs

The modern or contemporary color palette is composed mainly of neutrals and is accented with bright, bold color. Pastels are not typically part of a modern decorating color scheme. You can choose any colors that you like, but you will need to be careful that they are complementary and well balanced. For example, if you wanted to use lime green, cobalt blue and white to decorate, you would need to carefully balance the amount of each color in the room. Balance could be achieved with this color scheme by having white walls, cobalt blue and white furniture or bedding, an area rug that contains all three colors, and a sprinkling of lime green accessories. Since lime green is the brightest and more overwhelming of the three colors, it should be used the least. White, being the neutral color of the three, should be used the most in the room. Cobalt blue is what would tie the other two colors together and provide a balance between very vibrant and very neutral. Here are some other modern color palettes that you can consider decorating your house with: citron, chocolate brown, cream and tan; cherry red, black, white and silver; turquoise, mocha brown and ivory; bright yellow, white and gray; cobalt blue, slate, white and charcoal; orange, cream and brown.

Modern house designs extend to the furnishings and layout. Multipurpose pieces function well in open floor plans or loft-style buildings. For example, a Shoji screen may serve as a window covering, room divider and artwork. A tall bookcase, long bench or skinny table adorned with plants sets a living room apart from a dining area. A covered porch, deck or patio allows gatherings to spill out from the home and into the garden, especially if you furnish outdoor areas with cushions, lighting, a fire pit and chairs. Modern space-saving devices such as closet systems and loft beds with desk areas or storage underneath often feature the crisp lines, light wood tones and metal accents that blend well with modern home design. Add color and style to a modern home design with fashionable light fixtures such as pendant lights above the dining room table or a funky chandelier painted periwinkle blue over the bed.

The decorative accessories you choose should have clean lines, color coordinate with the rest of your design scheme, and pull the larger elements of a room together. Be careful when choosing wall hangings and paintings for a modern house, you should choose a style of art that is modern, contemporary, eclectic or avant-garde. For example, if you were to put a Victorian painting into a modern room, no matter how nice the painting is, it will not fit into the style of the room’s design. Keep this in mind when choosing other types of decorative accessories as well. Also, remember that when decorating or designing a modern home, less is more. You do not want to over-accessorize, doing so will take away from the chic simplicity that defines modern design. Choose just a few accessories you like for one room.

Modern House Designs

Solids, stripes, geometric patterns and abstract motifs are ideal when decorating a modern home. Avoid floral since they do not work with a modern design scheme, and use animal prints sparingly throughout the room in the form of accent rugs and decorative accessories. The best textures for a modern or contemporary design scheme have clean lines. Avoid ruffles, lace and fringe, these do not complement or fit into modern design.

If you think modern house designs are limited to stainless steel cube construction and designer paint colors, think again. There are many influences on the modern design aesthetic, from the midcentury modern designs of Frank Lloyd Wright and Charles Eames to contemporary eco-design visionaries who integrate natural finishes, repurposed items and indoor/outdoor spaces into their structures. Modern design infuses everything from furniture hardware to window frames, so it is relatively simple to give a current home a modern makeover.