home interior design

Modern Furniture

As the name suggests, ‘Modern Furniture’ is furniture of our times that is comfortable, affordable, and stylish to match modern tastes and perspectives. Technically speaking, the phrase Modern Furniture refers to furniture from the latter half of the 20th century and on into contemporary styles of today. A microscopic view of this kind of furniture reveals that designers more often than not use the phrase for furnishings manufactured in the 50s and 60s in post world war II America, and to a lesser extent in Europe. This type of furniture is quite experimental in nature; use of curvilinear shapes, integrated modular elements and understated monochromatic color schemes is common and is very different from the more traditional rounds, squares and rectangles.

When you decide on redecorating the house with modern furniture, some key things need to be kept in mind:

•    Have a game-plan ready before you even set foot inside a home furnishings store.

•    Measurements of rooms and photographs help a lot in visualizing the furniture in its final destination while shopping. Having wall paint samples and carpet may be helpful if you are looking at changing only the furniture.

•    Each element in the room has to be treated almost like a sculpture with an almost ‘museum like’ look. You can experiment with highlighting art by placing sculptures on columns or pedestals. Uncluttered furniture arrangement which forms the framework for home décor is the underlying objective.

•    Bold statements with both furniture and accessories are an apt definition for Modern Furnishing. Ruffles, florals, carved details, traditional shapes are usually a no go.

•    Selection of store is also important as furniture stores broadly fall into 4 general categories – Promotional, Medium, High End and Specialty Stores. These stores may provide you with a still wider array of styles like Traditional, Country, Early American, Shaker, Mission, Modern, Art Deco, Retro, etc. It may therefore be a good idea to give the stores a call and ask for their furniture style line-up. Unless you are fixated with the kind of furniture you want, it might be helpful to note that Modern Furniture includes styles like Southwest, Lifestyle, Lacquers, Euro-look, Retro (50′s),  and Art Deco.

So just go ahead and experiment!

•    While deciding on fabric, remember that Modern fabrics tend to have lots of design and color-change in their appearance. Here a degree of creativity might help in visualizing the complete set.

•    Modern accent tables may use a variety of material like metal, glass, stonework as well as wood. Choose well in order to have a synchronous furnished outcome.

•    Where lamps and accessories are concerned, remember that fine lines are a hallmark of modern look. A gaudy or heavy look is certainly not modern.

•    Mostly Modern Styles use geometric lines and well-matched colors to add an air of neatness to the whole look and feel of the room. For additional impact make sure the room(s) have lots of natural light and plenty of space. Cove lighting and washing walls with light are other options to be explored.

And lastly, do remember you’re the person who has to live with what you decide upon now. Have fun shopping!

Interior Decorating For Small Apartments

So you have a small apartment. You are possibly wondering, how do I make my small space look comfortable and inviting with out looking cluttered? I have your answer. Actually several answers first of all start with looking around, notice the placement of windows and which way the light reflects in the rooms during different times of day. You do not want to blind someone, who could possibly be visiting, by that stunning sunset. Also look at your current furniture and the colors that it is or is not. Some colors can make a room look small, clinical and cold. Good warm toned colors also make it more comfortable for you to live there.  Browns, Reds, Yellows, and Oranges are great colors to open up space and make the room warm and inviting. Use accent rugs to help with the addition of colors as some Landlords do not allow you to paint. Sofa Covers are a great way to add color and save from wear and tear on your furniture.

When choosing a color scheme please note that you should choose something that is easy to clean i.e., browns and grays. White is not a good choice, unless you plan on never really living in your place. Try to look at the big picture, small living rooms means that you shouldn’t get a sectional sofa. Instead try a small love seat or futon couch. Not only does the futon couch help with space but it can be converted to a bed for those single room apartments. If you are on a budget and don’t want to get rid of your current bed and you are in a studio apartment try a bed that looks like a bunk bed with out the lower bunk. That way you can store your dress and other articles under the bunk and enclose it with a curtain and no one can see your unmade bed up top. This is very useful for bachelors.

Try creating rooms with the use of decorative screens.

It can make a single room look like two or more rooms are there. Also remember your curtains, they should be allowing the light in, the more light you allow in the bigger the space looks. Use a small bistro table as a dining table. It is intimate and makes for a great coffee talk spot. If you are lucky enough to have some one in your apartment remember to always hide your laundry. Laundry laying around makes the apartment appear cluttered and small. Plants are a great way to make your room appear bigger. Try hanging them from the ceiling or by using hooks on the wall. Don’t forget the importance of mirrors. The use of mirrors can make your small apartment look large. Use a focal point and angle your mirror towards it, it gives the illusion of depth. Most importantly make sure you always have a clean space, it is always bigger when it is clean.

Ok so now you have gone and cleaned, you are noticing that the apartment still looks small. Question your storage. You need some ideas for storage you say? Well I am full of them. Look around and if you notice you have lots of magazines lying around get yourself a magazine holder. It is a handy little box that is decorative to your specific likes and it cleans up your tables of clutter.

Get your self a footrest that has storage inside of it. It is nice for when the surprise guest comes over and you need to store something quickly. A coffee table with storage underneath it is also a wise choice. The more storage you have that isn’t added clutter makes your life easier. Wall shelves help to eliminate tabletop mess. Put your collectible gnomes on a small wall shelf and look at all the free space you have just created for yourself.

All of the suggestions presented here to you are easy do it yourself projects. You can get most of these easy to use items at your local all purpose store and hardware store.