Contemporary Home Decor:
How To 'Do' Contemporary Home Interior Design

Contemporary home decor made easy:
Seven contemporary decorating ideas & tips that work!

Contemporary interior decorating is about 'fusion': composing and mixing interior design elements to create a living space that looks innovative and fresh.

This page shows how to integrate decor elements into contemporary home interior design to create individual, stylish interiors.

Contemporary interior designers tend to mix home decorating styles from different periods & cultures. On the one hand, this can look fantastically sophisticated ...

... on the other hand, it can, erm, go wrong. So here are some ways to make sure it doesn't!

This page covers, firstly, some 'ground rules' for mixing contemporary home interior design styles.

Secondly, it gives you an overview of contemporary home decor 'looks' that work well in most homes.  So let's start with the basics:

Contemporary Home Decor:
The Basics

Contemporary Home Decor Tip #1:
Always start with what you love most.

Whenever you decorate or re-decorate a room, take something you love as a starting point. That way, you'll create and combine contemporary home accents and decor elements in personal and often surprising ways.

Let's say you really like your Grandmother's settee and wouldn't part with it for the world. Or you have this sleek, high-tech reading lamp that you just want to use all the time. Or there's a particular color that you love to surround yourself with. Or all of the above!

The things you love most can set the stage and guide you in editing the contents of a room until you are left with a truly original, inspired living space.

Andrée Putman, world-renowned guru of contemporary home decor & interior design, said (House & Garden 10/1985):

"I have no recipe for how to combine things.
But you must be sincere.
And if you are, strangely, it will succeed."

Andrée Putman

So the secret is to trust your gut. Still, the contemporary home interior design scene is full of people who will tell you that 'you can't do this' and 'should buy that'. But the clearer you are about what you like, the more your home will shine.

Contemporary Home Decor Tip #2:
Create Clusters.

You can create focal points in a room by pulling contemporary home decor together in groups. Look for 'themes', like a color family, or particular materials (e.g. raw blond wood), or an area of interest (e.g. wild horses)

For example, have a look at this 'vintagey' collection of crockery. It looks like a random jumble of patterns and styles, but the colors have been put together with careful deliberation:

In fact, this colorway is so harmonious that you could take any three of the color swatches above left, and they would make a handsome color scheme by themselves.

Another example of clustering: Decorating around a theme. This combination of contemporary wall decor is united by three properties, which connect the two pieces even though the folksy papercut and the 'artsy' black-and-white photograph aren't stylistically related.

a) the color scheme, black & white, unifies the two pictures;

b) so does the size & identical style of the frames;

c) finally, the two pictures are united by their theme: birds and trees go together like, well, fish and water.

N.B. Clustering is also a very good way to integrate things that don't look great on their own - they sometimes 'thrive' in the company of other items that complement them in interesting ways.

Contemporary Home Decor Tip #3:
Stars Want Limelight.

The 'star-and-chorus-line' setup is another way of making contemporary home decor look cool.

If, for example, you have a gorgeous antique heirloom or a striking modernist piece of furniture, do give it center stage.

Place other, less remarkable things nearby to provide a low-key backdrop: don't dilute the impact of your 'star' by placing it next to the competition. Low-interest colors, patterns and shapes will show the 'star' off to best effect.

By the way, you've probably wondered what that 'thing' is in the photo at the top of this page.

Well, here it is again: The picture to the right shows the double-height 'library wall' in the home of a Swedish/German couple (an artist and an engineer).

Suspended from the reading gallery is the star: a self-built (and seaworthy!)  kayak.

It is spotlit from above and therefore doubles as a wonderfully sculptural light source - a reflection of the owners' love of simple, well-made, less-is-more  contemporary home interior design.

Which brings us to Part II of this page:

Contemporary Home Decor 'Looks'
That Always  Work

Contemporary Home Decor Tip #4:
Start with neutral, timeless pieces.

For example, look for 'classic', simple upholstery and flooring in neutral colors (tone-on-tone monochromes work really well here).

Items like these will go with practically anything, and you can change their appearance quickly by adding more colorful elements like cushions, throws, wall art or accent walls. (There's more about that in my free e-book, Stylish Neutrals).

Modernist classics (1950s/1960s) are often 'stars' in their own right, but they are also very versatile and complement many different contemporary home interior design styles.

Contemporary Home Decor Tip #5:
Create a 'minimalist' look with 'maximalist' detail.

If there's one thing all contemporary home decor has in common, it's a pared-down, uncluttered look.

However, many people complain that 'minimalist' rooms are not very comfortable, and I must say that austere, rigid seating and low-slung sofas don't really do it for me either.

(This is where my heroine, Andrée Putman, and I must part ways ... she's on record confessing that she'd sacrifice comfort for looks without turning a hair :-)

But you needn't throw the baby out with the bath water. You can 'do' contemporary home interior design that's sleek, easy and welcoming, all at the same time.

For example, keep your home furnished in a simple, unfussy, timeless style with clean lines, but scatter delightfully yummy, unexpected gems around it - overstuffed cushions covered in rich, sensuous cashmere, or a luxurious throw made out of an exquisite embroidered fabric backed with silk. That kind of thing.

Indulge your senses where it really makes a difference to you!

Contemporary Home Decor Tip #6:
Opposites Attract.

If there's one 'rule' that's currently being followed in contemporary interior design everywhere, it's this one:

Mix, rather than match, your contemporary home decor.

Play things off against each other: serious & witty / dark & light / old & new / shiny & matte / antique & modern / sleek & rustic / finished & frayed.

This is the most important 'rule' of all. It also gives you the most freedom in creating your own  contemporary home decor!

It's certainly not true that 'anything goes', but almost anything can be combined with something else that is quite different. You will know if it works - sometimes you can almost physically feel the click.

Contemporary Home Decor Tip #7:
The Element That Ties It All Together

The first and most important element in a mix of contemporary home decor is - you. If you look at the things you love, you will find that they all have something in common. They relate to each other, because you're  the person they all  relate to.

So take the time to look at, 'listen to', and develop a sense for your possessions. It can take a few days or even weeks of moving them around in your home until they have found the right place.

One mistake many people make at this stage is to talk themselves out of their own abilities. They'll go, "Oh, I haven't got a clue about contemporary home interior design. Who am I to say this works and that doesn't?"

Please don't do that to yourself! This is about being true to yourself, not about measuring up to some contemporary interior decorating trend guru's rules. Everyone of us has amazing creativity hidden inside, and we often don't know it.

You  are what makes the difference between a home that is vibrantly alive and one that's a bit ... sterile.

To gain some confidence, you could start by creating a small still life from some of your possessions, to get a sense of how the stuff you own hangs together. While you experiment you might find that a few things don't seem to 'fit' any more - they don't work with your other contemporary home decor because they're not really you.

Get rid of them if you can. Hide/(slip)cover/paint them if you can't.
If you keep going, you'll get to the point where the whole room decoration just falls into place.

So try it. Give it a go. Play around with what you have. Surprise yourself. Have fun. None of this 'means' anything - it's all just about having a home you really love.