Modern interior design focuses on making a space feel more open, less cluttered and highly personal via a variety of strategies. Although many interior designers and other experts advise homeowners and renters to use a minimalist approach, you don’t need to get rid of everything you own to make a space modern. Instead, to do the interior home design Durham, NC residents enjoy, you merely need to get rid of things you don’t need, approach the space that you have with efficiency in mind, and add a blending of decorative elements associated with historic and current modern design trends.
Change Your Color Palette
Many homes contain a riotous mishmash of colors in different rooms or even the same room. Sometimes people mix up too many themes in one room or merely add conflicting pieces of furniture and art. These decorative items can make traditional design elements like darker and, as a result, make spaces feel cramped and small. In modern design, the idea is to make rooms feel larger and less chaotic, which means you can quickly make your space more modern by simply removing decorative elements that do the opposite. Additionally, a space is typically treated as a blank canvas with modern design. For a more extensive update, change wall and other background colors to light or neutral alternatives and then add vibrant splashes of solid or patterned accent colors, such as natural earth tones and a handful of other colors that match your tastes, via furniture cushions, throw pillows, rugs, and artwork.
Pick Clean Lines
Modern spaces aren’t known for an abundance of elaborate decorations because of the focus on minimalism and simplification. To make a kitchen more modern in an easy way, replace traditional cabinet hinges, handles, and knobs that feature uneven edges, scroll-work or engravings with less ornate or even hidden hinges and modern pull bars. You might also consider swapping out traditional vertical, side-open doors that can block floor traffic near cabinets with horizontal, lift-up, flat-front panels. To make your kitchen feel even more modern, consider replacing solid cabinet doors with glass or remove the cabinets entirely and install open floating shelves. Many people own traditional dining room tables that feature uneven surfaces, such as baluster legs and clawed feet. If you own this type of dining room table, you can give it a more modern appearance by simply replacing the legs with plain, straight, square-shaped ones.
Make Everything Efficient
Modern spaces usually feature widely spaced and efficient overall furnishings. To achieve this look, change the position of the furniture in a room. For example, you might move furniture closer to a wall to open up the center of a room or move different pieces of furniture further apart. For a more extensive update, rethink how you display books, artwork, collectibles and other items on bookcases. Bookcases can often take up too much space and make a room feel cramped. To fix this problem, you might remove these large units and install floating shelves. You might also convert the room closet, if applicable, into a deep inset bookcase. In addition, rethink big, overstuffed couches and chairs. Not only do these items take up too much space, but they’re also hard on the back. Modern, efficient furniture is smaller and features clean lines and more ergonomic seating options. Low-profile, flat-cushioned furniture pieces along with throw pillows for neck and lumbar support, for example, improve efficiency in terms of both space and health.
Emphasize Natural Materials
Although decorative elements made of plastics and other synthetic materials, especially molded plastic furniture pieces, were marketed heavily in past decades as a necessity in a lot of modern-themed advice articles, the current modern design trend has moved away from these materials. Instead, think more along the lines of eco-friendly, green home furniture materials. For example, you might replace molded plastic bar stools with ones that feature wooden seats and metal legs. For a more extensive update, you might replace laminate and particle board countertops with straight-edged or flowing, light-colored natural stone, wood or glass counters. If you must go with a less green product for budget reasons, choose laminate, for example, that has a long estimated lifespan and that’s light in color, sleek-edged and smooth to the touch. Another option: Natural wood flooring has always been a modern design trend. If your home has old wooden floors under any wall-to-wall carpets, you might remove the carpets and then repair and polish the floors to make a space feel not only more spacious but also greener and more natural.
