Designing a modern living room interior is something each of us envisions differently – some see it clearly and distinctly, while others may have a more vague idea. In any case, it’s much easier to properly arrange a living room if you know a systematic approach to the task. Let’s delve into the details in our article.
Why modern living room design is considered challenging
The interior of a room refers to its appearance, which includes various items ranging from furniture to various accessories, strategically arranged within a space enclosed by walls, a ceiling, and a floor.
It’s important to understand that the main enemy of room decor is dull uniformity that doesn’t reflect the inner world of the homeowner or act as a mirror to their soul. This is especially important for a modern living room because the overall atmosphere of the main room sets the mood for the entire dwelling.
Today, you can easily find a huge amount of diverse material, ideas, and photos on the internet on the topic of “decorating a living room in a modern style.” However, surprisingly, this often does not give a clear understanding of what needs to be done.
The information primarily takes the form of numerous specific examples, comparisons, recommendations, and photographs, with hardly any focus on design principles or methodology.The main reason for this is the difficulty of popularizing a sufficiently voluminous and interconnected field of knowledge. Despite this, we will still try to explain it as simply as possible for people without professional training, using the example of creating a modern living room design.
An interior design project for a modern living room
The living room is usually the largest room in the apartment, where both residents and guests have the right to be. For this reason, the room is decorated with special care, trying to give it not only an impressive but also an exclusive look, but this is not always the case. Sometimes the owner may have spared no expense, using the highest quality and most expensive materials, furniture, textiles, but ended up with a boring standard room, or even worse, a ridiculous accumulation of expensive items.
To avoid such unpleasant situations, it is necessary to begin the material embodiment of the design ideas by creating a specific plan in the form of a drawing, sketch, or even a model. Why is this so important?
- You can clarify your desires definitively and see the final result even before starting the work.
- The design project of a modern living room protects against erroneous steps and meaningless wanderings that increase the cost of work. During its creation, various layout options, finishing materials, and color schemes are modeled and finally selected.
- You can accurately select the necessary furniture and equipment.
- With the final version of the project, it is easy to calculate the amount of necessary materials and create a detailed estimate of expenses.
There are different approaches to creating a project. For example, you can follow this sequence:
- Room layout.
- Determining the style solution.
- Choosing the color scheme.
- Designing the lighting.
- Final detailing.
Modern living room layout
The principles of hall layout are universal. They do not depend on the size of the room or the style of decoration. The main element of the living room is the relaxation area. It can occupy the entire space, but can also be combined with a dining area, a workspace, a bedroom, or a library.
Undoubtedly, planning a multifunctional space is a more time-consuming task, but there is no need to be afraid of it. By following the rules of zoning, you can achieve a stylish and harmonious design.
The essence of the layout is as follows:
- The entire space is divided into functional zones.
- In each zone, the main object is determined. Depending on the semantic load, it can be a sofa, a dining group, a computer, a bookcase.
- Then everything is built around these objects, as if complementing them.
Tip!
To move away from standardization and give the room an individual character, you can use the method of highlighting a decorative dominant. This should be one, but large and impressive object, whose voice sounds the loudest among the rest of the interior. For example:
- One of the semantic centers.
- A work of art (painting, stained glass).
- An architectural element (niche, column, arch).
- A uniquely designed wall (made of stone, metal).
- A bright color accent on the wall.
The overall mood of the entire room hinges on the decorative dominant. By arranging the rest of the decor to either contrast or complement this element, you can create the most magnificent interiors.
How to choose the interior design style for a modern living room
Each of us understands the word “living room” in our own way. For some, it is a respectable hall for luxurious parties, for others – a cozy room for family gatherings, and for the third – a place for fun gatherings with friends. Our lifestyle, habits, needs, and aspirations shape the design of our homes. The living room, being a special space, sees everyone applying their abilities and talents to craft an original and stylish interior.
To make this room your pride, you need to understand which interior design of the living room is closer to you, choose a stylistic and color solution. Much depends on the technical characteristics of the room and the individual features of the family.
For example, for a room with good ceiling height and an area of at least 30 square meters, there are practically no restrictions on the choice of decoration. And if there are several windows instead of one, then the best choice can be classic French or English direction.
Modern living room in French style
French style is noble chic of materials, respect for the individuality and uniqueness of things. The color palette is most often peach, beige, muted yellow, soft blue. The walls are decorated with moldings, the case furniture is light or white, and the soft furniture has smooth classical forms.
Choose chandeliers and sconces adorned with crystal or glass pendants for lighting. Metals like gold and silver are essential elements for a modern French style living room. You can incorporate genres and plant ornaments, as well as art objects such as still lifes and portraits. Feel free to add more decor items like mirrors, wall shelves, and lace.
Modern living room in English style
For an English style, you would focus on restraint, aristocracy, and refined elegance. Smoothly transitioning color palettes, with shades like burgundy, terracotta, green, and coffee, characterize this style. Decorate walls and openings with wooden panels and ornamental elements. Use oak, walnut, or mahogany for built-in furniture, and adopt a strict office style for soft furnishings.
Make sure your English style living room has abundant lighting. Use chandeliers and sconces with concise shapes and light shades, or those decorated with forged elements. Copper and bronze are the metals of choice in the interior design. Floral and striped patterns make up the ornaments. As for additional decor, use works of art like engravings, antique-style geographical maps, and landscapes. You can also use a small number of exotic items.
Modern Living Room Design in Other Styles
The opposite of classic design is high-tech and minimalism, which are quite similar to each other. Both styles have a fairly austere and cold character, so they are most popular among the younger generation. The main difference is that high-tech is more demanding in terms of material selection but is less restrictive in terms of space-filling objects.
Designers often employ minimalist techniques when tackling the challenge of small room design. In such situations, the designer concentrates on visually expanding the space and ensuring proper furniture placement. By adhering to specific guidelines for arranging compact areas, both objectives can be effectively achieved.
Fantastic interiors can also be achieved by synthesizing different design styles. This approach, known as “fusion”, emerged as a separate style several decades ago. It can incorporate elements of classic, minimalist, high-tech, and other styles simultaneously, but in the end, a cohesive picture should emerge. A sense of balance and taste is crucial when using fusion design.
The Influence of Color and Lighting on Modern Living Room Design
Choosing the right color and lighting solution requires careful consideration, as they can drastically affect the mood of a room.
The main rule for lighting in a living room is that the light should not clash with the main color scheme. Warm colors do not go well with cool lighting, while warm lighting paired with a cool color palette can become dull and lifeless.
Artificial lighting can be very diverse. In addition to the main chandelier, it may be appropriate to have local lighting in the form of ceiling fixtures. When designing multi-level ceilings, central lighting is often excluded, leaving groups of spotlights and diffuse lighting at the ends of levels or along the edges of the ceiling. Decorative lighting, such as lighting in wall niches and podium ends, can greatly enhance the main room.
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