11 modern living room ideas for the contemporary home
A modern living room can be many things. Whilst vintage, Scandi or midcentury living rooms have a tangible colour scheme and easily identifiable furniture, modern design is a bit more nebulous.
In a modern living room, black and white always feels appropriate, but you can also get away with pastels or big blocks of loud primary colours (see how designer extraordinaire Matthew Williamson does so below). Sprawling U-shaped sofas fulfils a very modern desire for comfort when working from home, but flexible and lightweight furniture can better adapt to changing needs. And whilst it would be very difficult to create a farmhouse feel in an urban flat, a room can be made modern no matter the era or style in which it was built.
This flexibility is a gift when it comes to decorating, but it doesn't make it any easier to land on the right scheme for you. Below, we look at modern living rooms that run the gamut from the serene and sophisticated to the youthful and glamorous with plenty of ideas and inspiration...
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Modern pastels
This is a great example of using pastels in a really contemporary and sophisticated way. A sunny corner like this will always benefit from a paint colour with yellow undertones – this delicate pistachio shade is a great example – while the accents of black provide some contrast. A modest approach to accessorising favours the contemporary minimalist, and keeps a space feeling expansive and serene.
Pictured: House Beautiful Ada Chenille Chaise Sofa at DFS
Black and white
Black and white is a failsafe palette for a modern living room, and can streamline a lot of your decorating decisions. It has the potential to all look a bit austere if you pare back both colour and accessories, so this favours those who like a room full of things. As you can see in this glamorous Victorian townhouse in Brighton, browns and deep plums make great companions to black and white. A note on the painted ceiling – it's a wonderful trick if you have a lot of height and natural light (and what a great way to show off the modern pendant), but without those features, it will feel enclosing.
Singular accents of colour
Modern living rooms aren't always sleek and monochromatic. For those who are invigorated by colour, singular blocks of primary shades like red, sunshine yellow and mint green feel bright and contemporary.
Pictured: The home of Matthew Williamson from his book, Living Bright (Thames & Hudson)
Mixing in retro pieces
Modern interior design often prioritises an open flow and plenty of natural light – both of which are captured in this Victorian renovation in London. Much of the impact here is in the use of retro furniture in a contemporary space. The jewel-toned upholstery and the curvy silhouette of the chaise longue and midcentury sideboard offer a really lovely way of tempering clean lines and scant architectural detailing.
XL sofas
We recently reported on the trend for oversized sofas that reflect our changing attitudes to living room design. These sprawling L and U-shaped pieces dominate the space, satisfying a craving for total, unadulterated comfort, whilst also catering to our need for extra space to work or entertain.
Pictured: Penny Corner Sofa at Rose & Grey
Going modern in a traditional space
This living room is a real lesson in preserving the integrity of original features whilst decorating in a way that feels modern. The traditional fireplace surround, intricate cornicing and wooden floorboards are not hidden, but their uniformly pale tones recede them a little into the background. What jumps out is the furniture, art and fabulous lighting that, whilst contemporary, still suit the scale of the room.
Pictured: Cream Stripe Lampshade at Hum London
Make use of texture
Modern design is often criticised for its lack of warmth owing to an overuse of hard materials. And whilst the foundations of a modern living room may be sparse or even cold – these simple white walls and pale herringbone floors are an example – there is plenty of warmth to be had in hard materials. The key is often found in surface texture – a smooth and shiny brass will almost always feel cool and contemporary, whereas the rough and organic texture of the Zellige tiles used here feel warmer and more rustic. The same can be said for handmade glass and ceramics, raw wood and bricks.
Pink
Pink has been slowly creeping back into interiors – Dulux's colour of the year for 2024 was a soft blush, and who can ignore the enduring cultural impact of the Barbie movie. Whisper soft rose and natural clay feel contemporary again, whilst anything that sits low to the floor like this corner sofa and stout tables look relaxed, informal and inviting.
Pictured: House Beautiful Truffle Shutters Hillarys
Open-plan living room
An open-plan kitchen and living room is a thoroughly modern solution to homes that are becoming smaller and smaller. It is a sensible choice to sit the sofa in the middle of the room, separating the kitchen from the living area without the fuss of squeezing in an extra room divider.
Pictured: Marlborough Terracotta Tile at Ca'Pietra
The Scandi playbook
Owing to their lightweight furniture and timeless neutrals, Scandi living rooms always feel modern. Take a leaf out of their playbook and saturate your space with warming creams and biscuit tones – a colour palette that modulates beautifully over the course of the day – sofas that sit low to the floor to open up the space above, and a great big nod to the outdoors with an oversized plant.
Pictured: Walls painted in White 05 at Lick
Youthful decorating
Decorating with a sense of playfulness is a shortcut to creating a home that feels modern and youthful. Despite the classic proportions of this living room belonging to Katherine Ormerod, there is a sense of play and spontaneity in how it is accessorised. It also makes a case for prioritising freestanding pieces in a modern space which feel flexible and lightweight compared to their heavier, built-in counterparts.
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