How to Furnish a Fantastic Modern Living Room

Create a living room with a modern feel.

Decorating your home requires choosing a style of decor. The modern style is known for its clean lines, minimalistic feel and natural light. It might seem like decorating with a minimal look would be simple, but it can be more difficult. When you are decorating a living room with a modern look, it should be clean, refined and have an open floor space.

Things You'll Need

• Focal point
• Paint
• Furniture
• Textiles
• Accessories

Instructions

1. Choose a focal point for your room. Selecting a focal point, and determining where you want to place it, is a critical step because you will design the room around the focal point. For example, you might want to place a sculpture against one wall in the room or a large piece of modern art above the fireplace.

2. Use the focal point to determine what color to paint your walls. Take a color from the focal point of the room and use it for the walls. Alternatively, select a color that will contrast nicely with the focal point. Choose either a light color for the walls or a bold color so you maintain a modern design style.

3. Buy modern furniture for your living room. The furniture should be sleek, with clean lines. For example, you do not want to place antique furniture with carved wood in a modern living room. Instead, choose simple furniture, such as a long, rectangular sofa with minimal cushioning. If you plan on placing a TV inside the room, place it inside an entertainment center that has closing doors, or mount the TV on the wall.

4. Choose textiles for your modern living room that coordinate with the color scheme of your room. Because natural light is an element of modern decor, consider choosing white, airy curtains for the windows. If your sofa is a pale color, place throw pillows in a bolder color onto it. If the sofa is dark, add light cushions. Consider placing a rug with a bold pattern on the floor. Do not choose a traditional Oriental rug because that doesn't fit in a modern living room.

5. Add accessories to the living room. Because modern decor is meant to be minimal, you do not want to place lots of accessories all over the room. Choose simple, sleek lamps for your end tables and a simply framed mirror for the wall. Framed pictures of landscapes that contain the colors in your room is another good option.

References

• Real Simple: 40 Decorating Tips for Your Living Room
• "Architectural Digest"; A Modern Renaissance; Michael Webb; April 2001