Anyone that’s into interior design will tell you that trends change over the years. These days, it’s all about being modern. Everyone wants their home to look like it’s a new-build, even if it’s decades old. With these thoughts in mind, here’s a complete guide to modern interior design:


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Walls

One of the biggest parts of interior design is the walls in your house. Every room will have four walls, and you must decide what to do with them. You’ll have two main ideas up your sleeve here, you either paint them or get wallpaper. Back in the day, most old houses would have wallpaper covering all of their walls. And, if you live in an old home, or have been in one, you’ll notice this wallpaper doesn’t stand up to the test of time. Usually, the design is quite outlandish and involves lots of things going on. It was quite rare to find a wallpaper that was plain and didn’t have some type of pattern on it. At the time, it probably looked quite good. But, time passes by and trends change, now, there’s no place for this old style of wallpaper.

In its place is a far more simplified way of styling your walls. Instead of crazy patterns, people are opting for basic designs. Rarely will you see the patterned wallpaper. Instead, it’s either one or two colours and quite simple. Any patterns you do see will be modern and subtle. Regarding colours, the most common pairing you’ll find is black and white. These two go together well and are a feature in lots of modern homes. And, you also find that many people choose to do away with wallpaper completely and paint the walls instead. This allows them to pick a colour and go for a minimalistic design on the walls. That’s a key feature of the modern interior design, being minimalistic. In fact, I’ll go into detail about it later in this piece. For now, you have to remember that wall design is very simple in modern houses.


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Flooring

Modern interior design trends have led to a new focus on flooring in the home. Rewind to ten or twenty years ago, and you’ll notice most houses followed a similar theme. They’d have carpeted floors in almost every room in the house. Some of these carpets were quite outrageous designs and featured a lot of patterns. Then, you might see some tiling in the kitchen and bathroom area, and an oak flooring in the hallway. Most old houses followed this flooring pattern, it was seen as stylish back then.

Now, times have changed and very few people will have carpeted floors in their home. It’s simply not fashionable anymore, not a lot of new houses are built with carpets in them. Instead, everyone seems to be opting for hardwood floors. Hardwood flooring is a much more stylish approach to things, and can give your house a proper modern look and feel to it. Go into any new-build home and I can bet that there will be engineered hardwood flooring in almost every room. Many homes even opt for this option in their kitchen, as opposed to the ‘classic’ tiled kitchen floor. The reason it’s so popular is because it’s extremely diverse. You can get hardwood flooring in different colours, with different wooden patterns. It also lasts longer and is so easy to clean. There are practical benefits as well as style benefits too. One thing's for certain, if you want your house to follow modern interior design trends, then get your hands on some hardwood flooring.

Minimalistic

I mentioned it when I spoke about walls, and now I’m going to dive deeper into a minimalistic interior design. Previous trends saw people try and cram as much stuff as possible into one room. Living rooms were full of furniture, coffee tables, ornaments, you name it. Bedrooms had loads of pictures on the walls and plenty of other things too. Every room in the house was filled with stuff. Now, this may give your home a more personal feel, but it won’t make it stylish. Modern interior design is all about taking things away, rather than putting things in. As the old saying goes, less is more. For me, that’s the fundamental rule of modern design trends. Stop trying to do too much, and you’ll see how better the style is.

Some people find it hard to be minimalistic because they can’t get rid of anything in a room. My top tip is to start decorating with the essentials. For a living room, this will be your sofa, chairs, and entertainment system. Anything else is an extra. Try and keep the number of extras you add, as low as possible. For me, something like a coffee table, and maybe a fancy plant will do. You don’t need to put loads of ornaments and stuff in a room to make it look good. In this day and age, it’s all about being minimalistic.


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Furniture

Of course, we can’t talk about interior design without talking about furniture. No matter what room you’re in, furniture will play a huge role in how it looks. The style of a room can be changed by a simple change in furniture. If you go shopping, it won’t take you long to find out what is modern or not. Modern furniture is fairly obvious to spot, because of the way it’s designed. Everything is sleeker, finer than it was before. Take a look at a sofa from twenty years ago and compare it to one on sale now. Today’s furniture looks a lot better, and can improve the style of your house too.

So, make sure you’re filling your home with all the latest and greatest things. You can’t have a modern home it’s furnished with old things. A traditional kitchen table will stick out like a sore thumb if the rest of the room design is modern. Look for items that compliment your rooms and feel contemporary.

With this guide, you should know a thing or two about modern interior design trends. Now, you can go out and start redesigning your home to give it a new feel!