Designing Contemporary Interiors
What sets contemporary interior design apart from other interior design styles? It’s the fact that it is not a single thing but a mix of aesthetics. It can be cold, gray concrete walls and counters paired with warm, golden wooden plank ceilings and floors. It can be high-ceiling rooms with stark floor-to-ceiling glass windows, dark stone walls, and surfaces tempered by wool-upholstered couches flanked by leather accent chairs.
If you need a visual of what contemporary looks like, check out the home accessories in Dubai luxury apartments and villas. You know the type that sells upward of AED 20 million? These captivating homes often carry a contemporary label. However, if you look at them in detail, they are a combination of two or more specific styles, such as mid-century modern, rustic, minimalist, art deco, Scandinavian, and industrial.
This is the unique characteristic of contemporary interior design. It is dynamic and ever-changing. Today’s contemporary interior likely differs from what it used to be five years ago. What remains – what they have in common – is they are striking, current, and trendy.
As such, this style requires excellent design sensibilities. You can’t just put things together and call the outcome contemporary. It’s a mix of styles but presents as a cohesive look, mood, and vibe.
What Makes an Interior Contemporary?
There are no hard and fast rules about what makes an interior design contemporary instead of modern, mid-century modern, minimalist, or any individual styles used to achieve it. However, you can get a feel for the contemporary aesthetic by observing how it is in practice.
Immerse yourself in the world of contemporary homes and interiors so you can get accustomed to how it translates into the finishing, furniture and furnishing. For instance, if you look at a range of contemporary-style homes in the United Arab Emirates, you’ll begin to sense a pattern in the way colors, textures, beds, nightstands, lamps, lights, linens, flooring, window treatments, and many other elements have been blended and put together. With more study, you can tell which bed goes with which nightstand to make the design contemporary instead of matchy-matchy.
Of course, unless you are passionate about interior design, spending hours looking at prints, swatches, and inspiration photos may be less than ideal. You can hire an interior designer instead. They can create an inspiration or mood board to present their vision and showcase how they plan to bring it to life.
Another alternative is to find a furniture designer specializing in crafting contemporary pieces, like contemporary luxury bedroom furniture in the UAE. This will ensure the following:
Taste level: You can rest assured that whatever furniture, furnishings, or accessories you get will be elegant and tasteful.
Consistency: Since the designer specializes in contemporary furniture, you can be confident that its collections will fit your design vision.
Convenience: It will be easier to shop because the provider’s focus on contemporary interiors filters out non-contemporary options. Furniture shops that make and sell only contemporary furniture effectively curate your options.
Personalization: Find a furniture design studio that provides bespoke furniture design services. It can help you produce custom pieces and assist you with the contemporary design concept itself.
That said, even if you have contracted the services of an interior designer or are working with a design studio that makes bespoke furniture, furnishings, and accessories for contemporary spaces, you may still find it beneficial to learn about the hallmarks of contemporary style. The following are a few of them.
Openness
Contemporary spaces are typically tall, wide, and open. You will often see high-ceiling rooms and sweeping, panoramic views from tall, floor-to-ceiling windows. Contemporary interiors usually have open floor plans devoid of dividing walls and doors.
Standing at the main entryway of a contemporary home, you will often see one ample space divided into the living room, dining room, and kitchen. That’s not to say the individual components are indistinguishable. However, the differences in flooring, colors, and textures allow distinct areas to blend and flow seamlessly with and into each other without losing their individuality.
Lines and Angles, Curves and Shapes
Contemporary interiors typically display geometric boldness. There’s a clear emphasis on sharp edges and straight lines, so you’ll see wooden planks, fluted wall cladding, exposed beams, and sharply pleated curtains.
Sharp angles may also be present as a result of playing with perpendicular and diagonal lines. Wall planks with horizontal grooves can be juxtaposed against an entryway that frames a floor-to-ceiling, metal-framed window or a series of tall cabinets arranged in a row.
Designers also use polygons, such as triangles, squares, rectangles, rhombuses, parallelograms, pentagons, and others.
Curves and shapes provide relief against the austerity of sharply drawn lines and razor-edge corners. They manifest in curved sofas, flowing ceilings, coves, spherical pendant lights, circular and oval wall hangings, and curved walls.
Experiment with shapes, lines, curves, and angles to create your unique contemporary style. Start your journey by checking out contemporary living room furniture in Dubai.
Layers
Contemporary spaces are clean and non-fussy but layered. The hard is layered with the soft (marble floors with a wool rug), the matte (dark floors) is complemented by the gloss (gold or silver accents), and synthetic fabrics are laid against natural woven materials.
Colors may also be layered. They may progressively get darker or lighter as you move deeper into a room or closer to its focal point.
Layering can be done in multiple ways. Cold may be juxtaposed against warm tones, curves against edges, light against dark, and mid-century against industrial.
You can even layer and play with perspectives. Doorways can frame another doorway, which in turn frames a mirror. The mirror then returns the image of the viewer plus part of the room that the doorway keeps hidden.
Contemporary Is Now
Contemporary is a combination of styles. It is fresh, current, and now but future-forward – thus, its popularity in interior design. Consult an interior designer or talk to a furniture design studio specializing in bespoke furniture to find your unique interpretation of the contemporary aesthetic.
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Designing Contemporary Interiors
