Modern ideas for arranging a living room

The modern living room is a spacious and bright room, decorated with maximum functionality and comfort. Most often, the living room of our days is a multifunctional room and, in addition to recreation areas, contains other life segments. The combination of the living room with the kitchen and dining room, study, and in some cases with the bedroom are popular design techniques that contribute to the creation of space filled with space and freedom with a practical approach to a comfortable environment. For the modern owner of an apartment or a private house, it is no longer enough to design the main room of the home, setting the tone for the whole interior, functionally and beautifully, it is important to follow the urgent trends of design, but at the same time create an interior that will be relevant for many years. In order to create a functional, practical, harmonious in every way interior of the living room, it is important to take into account every little thing - from the way the parquet is laid out on the floor to the pattern of decorative pillows for the sofa. In this publication we will try to answer the question - what is the modern design of the living room, in what color schemes is it made, with what materials and their combinations is it designed? We hope that our impressive selection of modern design projects of living rooms, collected around the world, will be an inspirational push for you to create your own, unique design.

The modern style of the interior is practicality and functionality, dressed in an attractive appearance. Simplicity and minimalism are the cornerstone of modern styling, but not the strict deprivation of the interior of any decor, but the desire to equip the premises with only the necessary items, allowing you to maintain a sense of spaciousness even in small spaces. If you want to equip a small room with maximum comfort, saturating it with functional interior items and at the same time not to lose the feeling of freedom, then modern style is at your service.

If your room, which later becomes a living room, is large, with high windows filling the room with sunlight, then there will be no problems with the implementation of the planned modern design. But spacious rooms are the lot of private houses or apartments of an improved layout. For standard dwellings dating back to the last century, only expansion at the expense of other premises can be a solution. Combining the loggia or the corridor with the room, increasing the door and window openings (if possible) will create the illusion of spaciousness even in a small room.

In modern design, much attention is paid to light. A room filled with sunshine is a blank sheet for the realization of your fantasies in the field of decorating your home. To achieve fullness of the room with natural light is possible only with the help of large windows. In particular, panoramic windows are needed if the room faces the north side of the building. The need for constant natural light pushes many designers (and after them the owners of apartments and houses) not to use drapery for windows. Windowless window openings organically fit into the minimalist mood of modern styling. If your room faces the south side and it is difficult to manage without tulle or curtains on the windows, then experts recommend choosing a universal snow-white veil or fabric blinds (Roman curtains, Japanese curtains-screens) in neutral, bright colors.

The system of artificial lighting deserves no less attention. Even in a small living room, one central chandelier is not enough.Depending on the size of the room, the number of functional segments, and in the living room there is often a workplace, a reading corner or a couple of chairs for private conversations, you can use several local light sources. Obviously, all lighting devices should be made in a similar design, be puzzles in a harmonious picture of the interior. The modern design of the living room does not taboo variations of lighting fixtures - from a suspended chandelier and fixtures built into the construction of a ceiling or furniture to floor lamps and wall sconces.

Decorating a modern living room is as simple in appearance as it is laborious. On the one hand, the specifics of a minimalist approach to room decoration dictates the rejection of expensive fabric wallpaper, velor inserts, embossed material, which is not easy to care for. But on the other hand, styling under a brick wall or concrete slabs is also not cheap. A universal option for those who would like to save on decoration is painting in a neutral color (an alternative may be a more expensive design with liquid wallpaper or decorative plaster). But such an approach requires the preparation of the surfaces themselves - a perfectly aligned and smooth wall plane.

The living room, created in a modern design concept, is a neutral interior with an accent. Against the background of all shades of gray or beige (often even a snow-white design), one or two bright objects are present. This can be a large sofa with colorful plain upholstery or an unusual panel on a large wall. The accent may be carpet or a large plant in a handmade pot brought by the owners from an exciting trip. The advantage of this approach in shaping the interior is that it will be easy for you to change the mood of the room. Replaced decorative sofa cushions, hung another picture on the main wall or chose a different color for colorful curtains - a new image of the living room is ready.

The main piece of furniture in a modern living room is a sofa. Spacious and transformable, with removable covers for quick and easy washing, it is a convenient, practical and comfortable island for creating a recreation area. Often such a piece of furniture is complemented only by a coffee table (in Russia it is more often called a coffee table). A large corner sofa is a self-contained unit of the interior that does not need support from armchairs or ottomans. But if you need to organize a reading corner in the living room, then you can not do without a comfortable armchair and floor lamp (lamps on a small stand table).

The modern style of decoration of living spaces is a mix of ideas collected from various stylistic directions. The following interior design concepts influenced the formation of a contemporary style:

• minimalism;
• eco style;
• eclecticism or fusion;
• pop Art;
• Scandinavian country;
• retro style;
• modern.

The influence of eco-style on the formation of modern stylistics was manifested in a tendency to natural materials and create an atmosphere close to nature. It may sound strange, but large houseplants are back in fashion. If earlier you did not know where to put a large tub with a green palm, then the modern living room is the best suited for these purposes. The use of wood as a decoration material (most often local for walls or total as a floor covering), raw materials for the manufacture of additional furniture, such as storage systems, coffee tables or coasters, allows you to create an atmosphere filled with natural warmth.

Retro-style has received another embodiment in the framework of the concept of modern style. The antique piece of furniture fits organically into the minimalist design of the living room. The restored grandmother's sofa or coffee table looks surprisingly organically against the background of simple concrete walls or concrete-styled finishes.

The influence of minimalism on the formation of modern style is difficult to overestimate. And yet, the living room, decorated with modern ideas in interior design, is not “bare” minimalism, represented only by a pair of furnishings on the background of light walls without paintings and photos in the frame, these are sofa pillows in monophonic design that are not devoid of decor. The principle of using only the necessary and functional elements of the interior is maintained, but unlike minimalism, modern style leaves room for comfort, coziness and warmth, which are often introduced by things that are not necessary from the point of view of practicality.

Scandinavian style is a source of inspiration for a modern interior. The style of Northern Europe is simple and concise, functional, but at the same time comfortable and cozy. The love of bright rooms, a feeling of spaciousness and a comfortable atmosphere, which instantly becomes comfortable for everyone, is most fully reflected in modern style. Attraction to materials of natural origin, bright spots of living plants on a light background, simple but practical furniture - all these motives are applicable in the design of a modern living room.

The eclecticism of the modern style is manifested in the ability to combine interior items that are significantly different from each other in design, color, design or texture. Against the backdrop of a neutral finish, furniture from different collections, but even eras, can not “get along" easily. When combining elements that differ significantly in design, it is important to observe the rule “better, less, better”. Busting with eclecticism will negate all efforts to compile a modern (practical and functional) interior.

The main task of arranging a combined living room is to create a harmonious environment between areas with different functionalities. The general decoration of the premises, the use of a combination of materials and the “interplay” of furniture design in different functional segments allows you to maintain a connection between all elements of the interior. At the same time, conditional zoning is necessary to streamline the design of the room, in which the segments of rest, work and dining areas are combined.

The most obvious way of zoning - with the help of furniture, is actively used in modern studio rooms. In the living room sector, the main zoning element of furniture is the sofa. It can be a spacious corner sofa or two pieces of furniture of the same design, but different in color, for relaxing. In addition to the sofa, a pair of armchairs and a coffee table most often appear, but the option of using a medium-sized ottoman as a kind of island is also possible.

In order to maintain harmony between pieces of furniture in sectors so diverse in functionality, such as the living room and kitchen-dining room, you can go in two ways. The first way involves the use of an analogy of materials of execution. For example, a dining table in the dining area and a coffee table near the sofa in the living room sector, can be made of one material, have glass countertops. The second way is to preserve color harmony. For example, upholstery of upholstered furniture in the leisure sector of the living room and seats (backs) for chairs that are part of the dining group is performed in one color.

If we talk about the methods of zoning, achievable by means of finishing, then you can select a functional segment using the difference in ceiling and floor levels. Suspended ceiling structures, made in several levels, can clearly indicate the boundaries of the functional areas, while maintaining the spaciousness of the room, without interfering with traffic. A similar effect can be achieved by creating a low podium for the kitchen and dining area or vice versa, raising the segment of relaxation of the living room compared to other segments.

Another effective and necessary variation of the zoning of the combined room is the lighting system.Even in an ordinary living room, one central chandelier is not enough as a source of artificial lighting. And in a room that combines the functions of a kitchen, a dining room, a living room, and sometimes an office, it is simply necessary to place local light sources or provide zones with lights. In the living room sector, you can hang a chandelier or equip the ceiling with built-in lamps (depending on the chosen ceiling decoration design) and install a floor or table floor lamp to organize a reading corner.