19 Modern Living Room Ideas That Will Transform Your Home

A lot of people toy with the idea of a modern style living room, and then they look up some ideas on Pinterest and get turned off by some extremely bold color pattern. They assume that modern design is all about extremes.

And while an interior designer might publish some of these ultra-modern design ideas with an extremely bold color palette, you can create a stylish space without having to overdo it. 

Here are some tips that will transform your family room with well-designed living room ideas that are practical and very eye-catching.

Our 19 Modern Living Room Ideas

These are all simple modern living room ideas, and you can choose to what extreme you take them. 

1 – Choose Bold Furniture Colors

The number 1 thing you should consider is to experiment with bold colors for your furniture. It’s the one modern living room idea that will make modern spaces completely stand out because it creates a surprise effect. 

In most cases, a modern room will have minimalist and low-slung furniture. The advantage is that when you pick a bright color, it doesn’t take over the entire room because your furniture will take up less space. 

And if you’re not brave enough for a bright red couch or yellow accent chair, then try to introduce more colors with decorative pillows, blankets, or other accent pieces. 

2 – Don’t Be Afraid Of Color Contrasts

With a typical formal living room and classic furniture, the interior design advice will generally be to stick to a few colors on the palette that blend in well together. 

But you can be a lot more playful and should even avoid ending up with a color-neutral space. 

If you have a small space, then keep the stark white walls, but don’t be afraid to contrast those with bright red, yellow, or blue pieces of furniture or decorations. 

Those combinations will give you a modern look, and you get to decide how bold you make them stand out. 

3 – Look For Minimalist Clean Lines

One thing you’ll notice with modern furniture is that it generally tries to make a visual understatement. It doesn’t have a lot of intricate details like button-tufted leather or nailhead trim. 

It’s generally designed to have smaller overall dimensions and keeps to simple geometric shapes and sleek lines. 

That makes it ideal for a small modern living room as it makes sense not to fill the space with large and bulky furniture. One thing you should keep in mind is that you want to continue those sleek, understated lines with the rest of your decoration as well. 

4 – Declutter All Parts Of A Modern Living Room

One thing that can happen with time is that a minimalist living room with fewer things on shelves and walls will gradually become more cluttered. There’s always a temptation to add another picture to the wall or vase on a shelf. 

But it’s very important to always stick with a decluttered look. 

That means hanging fewer pictures and keeping empty wall space. And even your coffee table shouldn’t end up with lots of books, magazines, and other clutter. 

5 – Add Geometric Patterns

Geometric patterns are extremely effective in a modern living room as long as you keep it toned down. That means large check patterns or subtle shapes. And you can even add these as a balance to incorporate natural materials like leather and wood. 

These have their own subtle patterns, and contrasting them with man-made designs will add more visual interest for a modern look. 

Just be careful not to combine too many different geometric shapes, as an extreme contrast might take away from the wow factor and make your room visually confusing. 

6 – Keep The Walls Bright

Taking a modern approach to living room design should always aim to keep the walls bright and airy. This doesn’t mean that it has to feel sterile with only pure white in all directions. 

You can pick any color you like and then choose a shade that lightens the tone to not make it feel like the walls are closing in on you. Try looking at an off-white like a yellow cream, or go for cooler blue that you can then contrast with other primary colors in your furniture and accent pieces. 

This can be a playful touch at creating a fun contrast, making your living room a pleasure to spend time in. 

7 – Consider A Non-White Ceiling

Most people simply never think of doing anything with their ceiling other than giving it a fresh lick of white paint. But you can add personality to an eclectic living room by painting the ceiling in something other than white. 

I would suggest trying to find a different shade to what’s on your walls, as having all 4 walls and the ceiling in one color can become a bit claustrophobic. 

It’s also important to stick with tip #6 when it comes to the ceiling of a modern living room and make sure you keep it bright and airy. 

8 – Try Out Monochrome Color Schemes

Monochrome living rooms can be the ultimate in modern design, and I would suggest focusing on choosing white and one other color. You can go for the whole black and white approach, which is ideal when you have a lot of natural light to lighten up the black. 

But you can also choose a white and blue or white and red monochrome approach to living rooms. As long as you introduce it with a nice and subtle pattern that is consistent throughout the living room, this will give you a professional interior design appearance. 

9 – Look For Art Deco Accent Pieces

You might think that 20th-century art deco isn’t all that modern anymore, but the effect of a stand-out coffee table or some bold artwork on the walls will put a very modern touch on your design efforts. 

Now, you can go as far as creating a statement wall with several art deco pieces, but you still need to be careful that it doesn’t become too overpowering. Try to have one dominant piece in your living room, and then add a few smaller ones to complement it. 

Remember, clutter can quickly ruin the modern look otherwise. 

10 – Create A Modern Art Wall

A gallery wall is one of the most effective living room ideas as it can provide the perfect backdrop for showing off modern furniture. 

Because modern style furniture, by definition, is an understatement, you sometimes need to add a bit of interest to avoid your living room becoming too sterile. 

One option is to buy a collection of prints in different sized frames and then arrange them in an almost random fashion. And if you don’t have a large amount of wall space to experiment with, then you can also incorporate a wall-mounted TV into such an art collection. 

11 – Combine Modern And Contemporary Ideas

If some of the modern ideas for a living room make you feel like you might be taking things too far, then you can easily tone them down a bit. 

What you can do is pick a few modern statement pieces for your living room design and then add contemporary furniture and accent pieces using natural materials. 

These interior design styles work very well together as they don’t end up being a huge contrast in your living room. 

12 – Add Some Statement Lighting

You simply can’t underestimate the importance and effect of different types of lighting. Not only can you experiment with the brightness and shadows that your lights create. But there’s also the effect of choosing different color bulbs. 

For a modern twist and something a bit more unique, try to use adjustable light bulbs and set them to either a very warm or very cold color. 

And then you have to also think of the visual impact of the lamps. You could buy an industrial-looking floor lamp or a pendant light that looks more like an art installation at a gallery. 

Let your imagination wander to find some amazing ideas for your living room. 

13 – Experiment With Wall Art

The great thing about decorating a modern living room is that you can be a lot more adventurous when it comes to hanging art on your walls. 

I already mentioned having a dedicated gallery wall in a modern living room, but don’t just limit yourself to pictures. There’s so much more that you can do here. 

One option is to have a few floating shelves to display some vases, sculptures, or even lamps. And you could even get an ultra-modern-looking speaker.

Another option is to hang larger objects like a guitar, which is a great way to add interest, especially if you play music. 

14 – Include Accent Chairs To Create More Space

Another thing you want to avoid in a modern living room is to fill it with furniture, even if the individual pieces aren’t bulky.

One way to do that without losing places for people to sit is to add some interesting accent chairs around your coffee table. These take up a lot less space, and if you go for a more minimalist chair, then you’ll fit plenty of seats into your living room without making it feel enclosed. 

15 – Break Up Large Floor Spaces With Rugs

If you have a large living room, then one thing that can happen with modern minimalist furniture is that you end up with a lot of empty space. And when your floor becomes a very dominant feature in your living room with fewer disruptions, then that can be distracting and overpowering. 

What you should do here is use floor rugs to break up the space and even define different areas. 

This could be a modern pattern rug that outlines the sitting area making it a distinct part of a larger room. 

16 – Push The Boundary With Crazy Furniture

When you’re going for a modern look in your living room, then don’t be afraid to push the boundaries when it comes to furniture designs. 

Whether it’s choosing a coffee table with a completely unique geometric shape or you add some floor cushions with cool patterns, the more unusual that you can make it, the more interesting your living room will become. 

But with these attention-grabbing items, you need to be careful not to have more than 1 or 2 of these pieces as it will only end up creating visual confusion. 

17 – Expand Your Space With Large Mirrors

This is one of the most important living room ideas if you have a relatively small space that you want to turn into a modern living room. 

What you’ll need is quite a large mirror, and ideally one that is wide rather than tall. With a wide mirror, you can create the visual illusion of having a lot more space available, and it can also give you a great symmetrical look that works extremely well with modern interior design. 

What you’d want to avoid is choosing a classic style or antique mirror, as these tend to have very intricate molding on the frames that could look out of place in a modern living room. 

18 – Draw Attention To One Focal Point

Whether it’s a bright red modern sofa, an art deco coffee table, or some amazing wall art, you want to avoid getting carried away with adding more than one focal point. 

Sometimes, architectural details like a marble fireplace will dictate where your eyes are drawn to, so you have to work with what’s available in the living room. And when you gradually draw the eyes into that one point from every angle, then it can really allow you to create that wow effect. 

It doesn’t have to be the largest item in the room, as you can achieve this with geometric shapes, color, and patterns as well. 

19 – Let Nature Flow Into Your Modern Living Room

The final one of my modern living room ideas involves bringing nature into your home. 

It might seem like house plants or pictures of nature might be too detailed to work with modern interior design, but with some careful planning, you can achieve a natural contrast with the right amount of symmetry. 

One example would be an indoor tree like a palm, which has incredibly symmetrical leaves and bark. 

The rounded and oval flow of the leaves and trunk can work very well to contrast with a square design of typical modern furniture. It’s a simple and playful effect that can work especially well in urban homes. 

Putting Your Living Room Ideas Into Action

You don’t have to be an interior designer to put any of the above living room ideas into action. Simply start with a few that you like the most and then search for the right furniture to go with those ideas. 

With our carefully chosen furniture designers, you have a great selection of leather and fabric furniture to get you started. And with many customization options available, you’ll be able to create a truly unique look and feel for your home. 

And if you need any help with our living room furniture, then don’t hesitate to contact our team to help you make the right decision.