Top Ways to Modernize Your Home’s Style
For some, going with a traditional aesthetic in the home is quite intentional. However, you may find that your home feels disagreeably outdated because of an odd mixture of styles and a cavalcade of clutter that assaults you no matter which room you enter. It may also be that facets of your home and the items within it have succumbed to the creeping wear that comes with age. Despite these shortcomings, your house is not unsalvageable. In fact, you can use these top ways to modernize your home’s style to reshape your living space into one that you can be proud of.
Go Neutral With Your Color Palette
Before purchasing new pieces, you should plan an overall color palette that your home will follow. In more current interior design, the foundation from which you should build is a neutral collection of colors. These include subtle variations of white, black, gray, beige, and brown. The term neutral refers to how each of these hues works well with the others and harmonizes when paired with any bright or statement colors as well. Because of these shades’ unassuming nature, you have more certainty that your décor will not overwhelm the viewer with harsh brightness when you stay within a predominantly neutral color palette.
Neutral tones create a quiet, elegant atmosphere because they eliminate visual inconsistencies and allow you to place focus on oft-forgotten properties of your décor, such as form, texture, and luster. You effectively limit yourself so that you can attain quality in your design that is noticeably elevated, yet not antagonistic or brash. Within the confines of the neutral color palette, though, you can play around with specific shades of the hues to suit your individual style. It’s also advisable to inject livelier colors in small doses as points of contrast.
Acquire New and Simple Furniture
With your color range decided, you can now look at the tangible changes that you want to make to your interior space. You will find that a common thread in contemporary homes is commitment to that pared-down, yet sophisticated neutral design philosophy. Another top way to modernize your home’s style is to replace out-of-date furniture with new, simple pieces.
Pick furnishings that are comprised of geometric shapes and lack excessive embellishments. This could mean a solid-colored sofa with box cushions and a rectangular silhouette or a metal frame shelf that has no backing. A wooden or simple glass-topped coffee table and minimalist side tables would also complement the look. To add some interest, you can juxtapose different materials and vary the colors of adjacent furniture pieces. For example, you might arrange upholstered seating around a dark-stained coffee table or place a leather chair alongside a sofa and other seating that is gray.
Update the Fixtures, Hardware, and Appliances
Along with furniture, you should update the fixtures, hardware, and appliances that you have throughout your home. In themselves, these may seem insignificant because of their smaller size, but they can have a noteworthy influence over the general tone you set even amid more substantial pieces of furniture. As they say, “The devil is in the details,” so don’t neglect these small but unifying elements.
Take the time to scrutinize cabinet handles, doorknobs, lighting fixtures, light switches, faucets, and the appliances you set out in the kitchen and restrooms. You might find that some fixtures, hardware, and tools are tarnished, stained, or damaged. Others might have an overcomplicated aesthetic that is incompatible with the contemporary style you are pursuing. You should exchange these with new, more minimalistic alternatives that clean up the details of your home. To illustrate, you may have a kitchen ceiling light that is an eyesore with an exaggerated shape and flashy brass components. You could remove this fixture and put in a modest line of pendant lights with matte conical shades.
Tidy Up With Sleek Storage
Disorder is just as detrimental to your modernizing endeavors as any shabby item. Clutter makes a room feel oppressive and suffocating, which is the opposite of what you want when you are trying to make it feel fresher. While you might clean regularly and throw away or recycle trash and other disposables, you can still be plagued by disorder if you don’t have places to stow away your possessions. This is why finding sleek storage is so essential. The most direct strategy for adding storage to various rooms is to obtain standing or built-in cabinets that, once closed, bring a sense of calm to the space with their symmetry and straight lines. Modular square shelves with matching bins also accomplish the same purpose.
As you search for suitable furniture, you can also keep secondary hidden storage functionality in your mind. There are beds, tables, and seating pieces that have storage compartments built in so that you have convenient places to put away miscellaneous objects like television remotes and magazines, which are common culprits of everyday clutter.
Change Your Fabrics
Fabric offers a pleasing contrast to wooden and metal cabinetry and furniture. Though its soft texture may be its main draw, home décor fabric in general is less resistant to deterioration. Whether you’re looking at blankets, curtains, towels, rugs, or upholstery, aged fabric can definitely date your home. It may lose its original color, stain, rip, or show loose threads. Rather than replacing worn upholstered furniture, consider reupholstering it. Pillows, blankets, and other soft furnishings that are past their prime can be donated or disposed of. New accent pieces will instantly enliven whatever room you put them in.
Unlike bulkier items, fabrics are great places to integrate some patterns and pops of color because they aren’t overly imposing. You can play with stripes, geometric prints, and even somewhat more complex repeating shapes. To keep things from becoming overbearing, you should stick to patterns that are comprised of different shades of a single hue or that have only two to three distinct colors that fit within the color palette of the room.
Find solid, geometric, and striped fabrics that you can use to modernize your furniture or replace outdated window treatments and curtains, contact Decorator’s Best today. Our comprehensive selection is sure to meet your needs, whatever your personal preferences are.
