Inside: How to Make Your Home More Modern. Collaborative post.
Is your house feeling a little outdated? If you’ve ever stood in the middle of your living room and thought that this place could use a little pizazz, then you’re in the right place. Making your home more modern is so much easier than you might think, and you don’t necessarily need expensive designer pieces or a full renovation.
As long as you are thoughtful about your changes, you can turn the entire house into a chic and stylish sanctuary that feels fresh, current, and very much your own! In fact, we believe it’s that easy that we’ve put together 10 simple ways to make your home more modern while keeping things fun.
Photo by Pixabay
Upgrade your furniture.
Take an inventory of the furniture that you’ve got in the main communal areas of your home. Look at the living room, the appliances in the kitchen, and the bedroom furniture, too. If you want an easy way to elevate your style, and instantly give your space and modern vibe, start with the furniture. Modern and stylish sofas made in Italy are known for cutting edge designs and impeccable craftsmanship.
You get that contemporary luxury touch to a room purely for investing in Italian furniture. You can blend style with comfort with your choices and whether you prefer something minimalist or something with bold and geometric lines, you’re going to find furniture pieces that fit your taste.
Play with bold and minimalist colours.
Modern designs are all about simplicity and that includes your colour choices. You don’t have to worry about busy patterns that are too bright or overly saturated colours. Modern interiors choose to lean towards a more minimalist palette, so just think of those beige, white, grey and black shades. That doesn’t mean that your home will look dull and that’s what we’re going to go onto.
To make the rooms in your home feel fresh, paint your walls with a crisp neutral colour and add pops of vibrant and bold colours in accessories. Artwork, rugs, cushions, all of these things work to add those pops of colours. If bright yellows and neon oranges are not your thing, then bring in some metallics such as gold or Chrome for that touch of glamour.
Choose sleek and smart lighting fixtures.
The lighting in your home can make or break the mood of each room. By replacing outdated chandeliers with minimalist pendant lights, sconces, or recessed lighting, you’re going to be able to add stylish fixtures that double as art. Look for clean lines and simple designs, such as black matte ceiling lights or a geometric floor lamp.
You can also give your home a modern twist with smart lighting. Smart bulbs allow you to control your lighting with your phone or your voice, so you can adjust the brightness and change the colours depending on the time of day or even just your mood.
Embrace your open spaces.
If you want a modern home then you need to get involved in decluttering every room. One of the cornerstones of modern design is the creation of clean and open spaces. If your house is filled with clutter, it’s not going to feel modern, it’s going to feel cramped and outdated.
Not only will decluttering make your house look tidier, but it will create that spacious and airy vibe that you’ve been looking for. Start by decluttering the countertops and the shelves and even the closets. If your furniture is bulky, swap it out as we suggested earlier.
Go for natural materials where possible.
Bringing the outdoors inside with natural materials can really make your home feel fresh and modern. Modern interiors love to blend textures and wood, stone and metal are key for this. That contemporary feel in a pure white kitchen but with oak countertops and chairs can really help the kitchen to stand out. Stone countertops in the kitchen that are luxurious can offer that modern feel.
When combined with those minimal decor options and clean lines, natural elements add style and warmth without detracting from the overall design.
Photo by Expect Best
Go contemporary with your art.
You need art if you want to have a modern home. Art doesn’t just play a role in modern design, it helps you to inject your personality into each room. Most modern artworks tend to be bold, abstract, or minimalist, but the beauty is in the simplicity of it. Large canvas pieces of black and white photography or geometric shapes with splashes of colour can serve as a statement piece for your living room or hallway.
Modern decor isn’t just about the art on the walls, either, but it’s about the little things such as decorative bowls, modern sculptures, or clocks that subtly enhance the overall aesthetic of each room. It may feel a bit out there to upgrade your art in such a way, but if you want that modern house feel, then upgrading your art is where you’re going to make much of a difference.
Contemporary art can be found in so many places so do some research and check out the local galleries to see if you can buy a piece that you can be proud of.
Mix up those textures.
You don’t want your house to feel too sterile, so mix and match different textures to help with layering. Those soft velvet cushions, sleek leather chairs, plush rugs and shiny glass accents can create a sophisticated but inviting atmosphere. Let’s not forget that a modern home is often seen as something to be aspired to, it’s why they feature in so many magazines!
A pair of leather sectional sofas that are thrown well together with soft wool blankets or velvet pillows can really help the piece of art in your furniture to come through. Shaggy rugs added to hardwood floors and glass coffee tables added in the mix can really help to balance the soft and hard surfaces.
Pull in as much natural light as you can.
When you think of a modern home, it’s likely that your mind flits to the light and airy and that is what natural lighting is all about. If possible, consider installing larger windows or even glass doors to allow natural light to flood the space. Not only will your house feel brighter and more open, but it can connect your living space to the outdoors which is a key element of modern design.
If upgrading the windows is not an option for your budget, maximise the light that you do have. Lighter coloured curtains or blinds that allow as much lighting as possible can really help to throw light into all of those dark corners. Where possible, don’t have frosting on your windows except for areas such as the bathroom. While it’s nice to have that privacy, frosted windows can stop the light from flowing through the way that it should.
It can help to have screen doors but there should be some stickers across the middle of them so that children who are running through don’t think that there’s nothing there and don’t end up crashing through that window!
Modernise your kitchen and bathroom fixtures.
Modern houses don’t just stop in the living room, your kitchen and bathroom should also reflect contemporary design and you can start by replacing the old fixtures with minimal ones. A dated old faucet with a modern, brushed metal ones or a matte black fixture makes an instant change to the space. In the bathroom, you can choose minimalist vanities and modern fixtures with clean lines.
Frameless glass showers, floating vanities, and a simple countertop can instantly give your bathroom a sophisticated look. The goal for modernity is simplicity so keep the design as streamlined as you can for that modern feel. If you’re feeling really ambitious, you could rip out the entire bathroom and create a walk in a wet room which doesn’t even have a glass cover for the shower.
Add a claw foot bath in the middle of the space and you created an upgraded bathroom in an instant.
Go high tech.
Lastly, modernise your home by integrating as much smart technology as you can stand. The modern home is all about convenience and innovation and back in the 60s that meant having a refrigerator inside the house! Nowadays, we talk about installing a smart thermostat that learns your preferences and saves you energy, or use voice activated assistants like Amazon Alexa.
Video doorbells, security cameras, and even smart locks make life much easier and more secure. Smart home technology can really revolutionise your house and the way that you live in it. Imagine having a refrigerator that tells you what items you need to add to your shopping list this week?
You don’t necessarily need a huge budget or complicated renovations to make your house a modern one. When you incorporate Modern furniture and choose the right colours, declutter each room and add some natural materials, you can create something modern and stylish.