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How To Make Your Modern Style Timeless
Designing a Space that Won't Look Dated
I am an architectural design writer who often focuses on how environment can affect behavior. Before consulting privately, I received my MA in writing and ran a design boutique in Los Angeles.
I am an architectural design writer who often focuses on how environment... More »
Last week I was asked over tea how a current and modern look can be achieved without setting a home up for looking immediately dated — like the newest car, which depreciates the minute you drive it off the lot, or the iPad you're perhaps now slightly frowning at as the new sleek one comes onto the market.
Going for modern can seem problematic. As my husband and I are looking to freshen our place with a Paris-salon-cum-Jackson-Pollock-studio kind of aesthetic, he rightly asks if the modern pieces we are looking at will be "so 2011" in years to come.
Creating timeless modern style in a home requires a strict aesthetic vision, while allowing for inspiration and a bit of fun. Sleek black slacks are to timeless style as the Eames chair is to timeless modern. Go with what will age, and allow small edits through the process. Here are some specifics on how to achieve timeless beauty in modern style.
Going for modern can seem problematic. As my husband and I are looking to freshen our place with a Paris-salon-cum-Jackson-Pollock-studio kind of aesthetic, he rightly asks if the modern pieces we are looking at will be "so 2011" in years to come.
Creating timeless modern style in a home requires a strict aesthetic vision, while allowing for inspiration and a bit of fun. Sleek black slacks are to timeless style as the Eames chair is to timeless modern. Go with what will age, and allow small edits through the process. Here are some specifics on how to achieve timeless beauty in modern style.
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| Pairing clean architectural lines with well-edited furniture is the greatest key. Though modern style has gone through its phases (glass brick, anyone?), distinct elements such as strong lines and simple materials have always been its hallmark. |
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| Go with modern furniture that has already withstood the test of time. Who can ever see this Eames chair and ottoman becoming passé? Often one focal piece is all it takes to make a room. |
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Keep it simple. For a modern style that can withstand the aging process, understatement is key. Go for smooth, chic, and for items that stand out with a timeless style (check out the floor lamp!) rather than as a current trend.
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Mix your mediums. This large surface coverage of wood finish (popular in the mid-20th century) pairs well with a more industrial look of steel. The open shelving adds a personal touch.
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| Similarly, this sleek dark kitchen finish pairs well with the lighter flooring and the various materials throughout. Keeping materials mixed and honoring materials that have been fresh and modern through the years creates a unique look for YOUR version of modern. |
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| Take older, beloved furniture and arrange it in a more modern way. You don't have to have all of the latest modern furniture to suggest a modern space; in fact, acquiring all of the newest material of right now is exactly what will date your space. The sparseness and fresh arrangement of the furniture here pairs beautifully with the simple architecture and window detailing. |
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Keep the dramatically individual pieces to what can be interchanged somewhat easily. Here in this open and beautiful space, the chairs and table create a more understated look of modern, while the chandelier above makes a current statement.
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Similarly, the pieces in this open dining and living room are solid, simple, and beautiful. The details in the art, lighting and decor could all eventually be replaced to create an entirely new look should the individual's style change.
Mixing things up a bit can add individuality. It can also string time into one continuous stream, breaking down barriers in past, present, and future. In a way, this room could have existed in the forties as much as next year. Classic pieces like the ottoman are arranged in surprising ways, and the mix of items blends into one great whole.
![modern living room [ Steven Ehrlich Architects ]](http://st.houzz.com/fimgs/5c6125f107682bc5_1000-w422-h330-b0-p0--modern-living-room.jpg)
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Modern materials such as this lacquered concrete flooring and center wall pair with classic brick, sculpture, and a classic lounge/salon setup. Who could ever see this open and intriguing space fading into oblivion?
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| In the bedroom, simplicity equally reigns. Neutrals create a quiet and consistent palette throughout. The window walls are framed with an understated light hue. And one signature piece overhead gives the space added individuality. |
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By contrast, this warmer bedroom offers a different vibe and a more private- feeling setting, yet offers the same modern aesthetic. Details are kept simple in the pieces themselves, and the arrangement of the furniture adds to a fresh, current feel.
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Ideabook published on March 12, 2011.
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@ellie48: Regarding your comment "...does not have to mean boring/traditional."
Traditional architecture/design is "boring"? You find nothing of interest (i.e. not boring) created over the course of 2000+ years? Nothing created throughout the entire history of the western world's architecture/design is interesting? Greek Classical, Roman Classical, Medieval, Gothic, Romanesque, Renaissance (and each of their varied sub-types)... Plus, Colonial, Romantic, Victorian and Arts n Crafts (and all the varied subtypes in each) occurring in the US, all the way up to F.L. Wright's Prairie Style... BORING?
WOW! Either you're not knowledgeable about what the term "traditional" means with respect to architecture and interior design... or, you have an extremely limited (and/or indoctrinated) opinion. Which, if it's the latter... so be it. However, I can and would be happy to recommend a number of excellent books on the subject matter.
Regarding the Post itself...
Essentially, what this post advocates is to select "modernist" period/style pieces for placement in minimalist contemporary style spaces. Sounds okay to me... I'm a fan of furniture in the "modernist" style... but, whether I do or don't like this type of approach is really not important.
What I want to address, however, is the continued misuse of terminology with respect to "modern", "modernism", and "contemporary"... their correct use and reference within a well-define lexicon. These terms are consistently misused by most people, including those "in the industry", which is frustrating to read as someone who has made great efforts to understand such particulars.
1. What many, if not most, people (including the professionals) call "modern", is either an example of "Modernism" as a style or contemporary in expression. For instance... the Eames chair noted in the Post: that's a period piece of furniture in the "modernist" style. Now, the "Modernism" is a term which includes varied sub-types as well, just as the Victorian or Romantic period styles which preceded it.
But, what most people don't understand, is "Modernism" occurred within a period of time, just as another other period prior. The period style of "Modernism" is no longer "modern". I realize this may be confusing... and I realize this may even bother some... but, it's a fact. Pick up any book on architecture which outlines the numerous historical periods and you'll find "Modernism". And, you'll find the newer, more "modern" styles, which have been documented (so far) to have occurred since the period style of "Modernism" ended. You'll find "Post-Modernism" for instance. What I find illuminating about "Post-Modernism" when discussing these matters, is it's a documented period style having occurred after "Modernism", yet it's expression/character is marked by use of "classical" architectural element(s)... at times tongue-in-cheek and too often laughable because the architect who designed the "Post Modernist" building was a "Modernist" who has no capabilities to properly design a traditional element, because the "Modernist" movement purposefully eschewed such studies.
2. Buildings designed today which purposefully turn their backs on "traditional" precedents (the architect and/or critic commonly states the expression is "Modernist") are actually either "contemporary", OR they are Neo-"Modernism"... just as a building which borrows heavily from classical precedents might called Neo-Classical. What's amusing about this contemporary architects who claim their work to be "Modernist" are usually the first to deride buildings designed based on precedent buildings of any "traditional" expression as being "Historicism"... or copying. Yet, contemporary architects who successfully design a building in the "Modernist" period style are doing the same... they are looking to precedent. Now, as someone who practices "traditional" architecture I of c
If anyone wants to question, comment, challenge my 1/2 comment, above, please feel free to contact me... I'd be happy to try to clarify, offer books for reference, etc.
Best, Chad
Phew, er Chad, even as an architect - I know what you are getting at, but is this really the place for it? Relax mate.
You seem to be searching for a forum for expressing your views. Please feel free to make your own ideabook and contribute positively to the Houzz community.
From what I just checked into three dictionaries, the word modern is one of the synonyms for the word contemporary, and vice versa. But you are saying that in architectural and interior design world, these two words have two very different definitions, and represent different periods and eras.
I agree with you, I don’t think all traditional is boring and unworthy, hardly so. But some of the very hideous creations (I won’t even call them styles) I certainly would eliminate them when time comes to renovate my house. See, it really comes down to our subjective tastes. Here is the now very fashionable word “vintage”, what period does it belong to, the same as Eames, or anything you find from your grandma’s garage that you can clean it up real well?
As for Eames Lounge Chair and Ottoman, whether mid-century period or modern, I simply call it classic. And at a price tag of $4500 and end, I call it a classic with a contemporary/modern charge.
Chad- overboard. Dont take one comment that may or be not be completely literally as fuel to lecture and slightly insult.