Design enthusiasts praise the mid-century modern style – but what is it, exactly? Coined by author Cara Greenberg in her 1984 collection, mid-century modern refers to pieces from the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s which pushed the limits of engineering. Desperate for creativity after World War II, famed designers took war materials and molded them into iconic chairs, tables, and lights – goods still sought after and replicated – furniture whose design was never bettered. Follow our detailed guide and links on how to incorporate mid-century modern pieces – and the style’s philosophy of good living – into your own inspired living room full of 50’s wonder.
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Make mid-century modern look effortless. Fit your lounge with the high, wooden windows typical of the style, using a tilter to afford fresh air. By using wooden-legged furniture, here a peach accent chair, and long three-seater, your interior can offer difference without one piece dominating. Light a like , beside a Bell table lamp by Tom Dixon to pair matching metallics. Sprigs of poppies could add focus behind your couch, as ferns pop up in planters across your living room. By matching a to your wooden joinery, you can provide a place to read books surrounding the TV.
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Imagine mid-century modern away on holiday. Use shades of white, turquoise and gold beside an Areca palm to create an everyday getaway. Stretch a beneath your couches to add a dash more colour, and tie , each featuring three rounds of glass, into hues for leaf-patterned pillows. can further catch the eye with triangular legging, as a bends over the scene. Light up a wall of windows with the day’s incoming sun, finishing with turquoise tunes in a tufted floor pillow, couch cushions and table ornaments.
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As day sets, settle for something warmer. Heat up a more masculine scene with a ceiling-held fireplace beside a white . Sit a wood and metal coffee table on a to centre the space. Two can cuddle up beside a monochrome ottoman, while a couch in the same hue can offer more snuggling. Polish off your interior with grass views through glass panes.
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Grey and light wood are classic mid-century modern hues. Keep warmth in your living room with wooden walls on either side, while grey hues in your floor, seating and Jackson Pollock painting (here the ) keep it spacious. Use the style’s ceiling-height windows to bring in light, and an Axis floor lamp to bring a focused glow to seating. With the Axis’ golden base harking to the seat and coffee table’s legs, it’s easy to add glitz to this relaxed scene.
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Think outside the square when designing inside. House trees in , a table in spotted driftwood and a in natural weave. Insert and floors to make it more modern, and two spiralling wall ornaments to match their tone. Ceramics in jade and lots of white – here shown in the lounges, walls and – create breathing space for your outdoorsy interior.
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Create the look with different materials and textures. To design an eclectic, yet not overpowering, living room, coat your seating brown in leather , , and a blue metal in the Platner style. Join together a , metallic standing lamp and to create a lounge that looks ever so put-together.
Mid-century modern was originally created for smaller spaces. Use a brown like the room above, but create your own vibe with a lightbulb pendant and dreamscape . Let geometrics linger in a pentagon-legged coffee table and grey patterned rug. A range of potted plants, most notably here the , can sit with your objects and photos to tie the look in.
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Looking a little larger, this living room uses brown as an accent for notable pieces. To achieve this look, sit a demure upon a varnished floor in the hue. Face two chairs in the style towards the couch for conversation, letting a sofa cushion, framed print and match them in colour. By using classic mid-century modern pieces, here a geometric-legged coffee table and standing swing lamp, you can add nature in potted ferns and an . Lie a red Turkish rug upon your floor to suggest travel and avoiding jarring colours.
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The mid-century look can look super-modern – although its pieces have never changed. Make like this sloped-roof living room and use a couple of masterpieces, such as the Verner and cheeky Ray . Other interesting finds, like the tortoise with the elephant, or red shell couch to the back, can add character. Build ceiling-height windows and rows of long wooden bookshelving to cement your interior’s mid-century modern influence.
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Metallics are not just for the 21st Century. Employ them as feature pieces, by hanging a convex wall round and sitting a on your floor. Add hints of blue in a Myers sofa and rug to match patterned wallpaper, lending the blue to more . Finish with a few florals in a vase full of snapdragons, printed cushion and leaning stamen painting.
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Create an entertaining area the 50’s greats would’ve been proud of. If decorating for a large, high-windowed space, scale up its walls with widely-spaced wooden panels, a series of white pendants and a large abstract artwork. Cover the floors and fireplace with red brick, keeping it warm with a large . Create a space for a chaise longue, Tom Dixon Wingback and school chairs, letting a rounded coffee table meet another in a triangle. Complete the look with a wistful baby grand and standing lamp for company.
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Don’t be scared to have colour at your centre. Draw in the eye with a psychedelic piece beside a relaxed leather sofa set and geometric marble coffee table. Use light wood to softly cover your chair legs, shelving and wood stack, a potted tree to add nature.
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Keep it classic in black, white and brown. Signal an eclectic style with dotted framed abstracts, abstracts like or these. Employ a range of seating styles to populate your area, such as the , and a golden floor lamp to match your coffee table. Woollen textures can get cosy in fluffy ottomans, rugs, throws and cushions, whilst plants, such as the natural or Fiddle Leaf Fig, can be presented for show.
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Baby boomers will remember this decor of their parent’s style. Get nostalgic with a white and wooden frame, centred by a blue wall featuring a bookcase. Place two white sofas beside many smaller windows, and two to bring the outside in. Draw in guests with a mid-century modern coffee table holding a full of roses, adding a geometric console in the 50’s style. A bookcase can stand as your final relic, full of vases and picture frames below a spreading out its rays.
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Get cosy with 50’s-style colouring. Relax your orange and grey room in three types of seating amidst mid-century style table lamps, available and . Hang two rectangular framed prints mirroring the shape of the windows. Design your furniture in light wood to keep it cohesive.
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Grey and orange couldn’t look more different in this open plan rendition. Break colour dominance in your living room with two berry chairs and the Noguchi table by Herman Miller, now available as an original or . Match its shine with a gleaming silver in the corner, adding a hint of life with . We recommend a simple grey rug and shelved ornaments to finish.
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Heavily influenced by 30’s painter Mondrian, this living room uses mostly geometric shapes, shapes that Mondrian believed were of a higher nature. Open your living room to a bold feature wall almost copied from his pieces, falling to a and chairs in block colouring. Allow breathing space by decorating with simple windows, white walls and a wooden table, console and floor.
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Lucky enough to be surrounded by windows? Clothe your interior in charcoal, like this unique space. Showcase a ceiling-high feature fireplace amongst wooden accent chairs, adding small pops of colour in couch cushions, magazines, and two pieces of abstract art.
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After more muted hues? Colour your furniture in teal and taupe, bordered by white walls and patterned floors. Matching wooden legs and a stone bookcase provide a good background for an Orient pendant looping over your wall.
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Make your living room warmer, with a floor and half-wall in the polished wood of the style. Wrap a stone-coloured L-sofa around your windows, complementing the look with a white lined rug. Play with iconic pieces such as a , black and peeping over your sofa. Offer a spot by the fire with an . Splash turquoise about in hued watercolours and cushions.
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Keep it warm yet light with wood and orange tones. Carve a wooden roof with rafters over a stark white floor, diffusing your bright orange wall with a rug in brown checkers. Opt for an Eames lounge chair, available as an original or , to tie your TV and orange hues together. A suite in taupe could look out to a Noguchi table, whose Herman Miller original and now-available are iconic of this style. Complete the look with a fireplace, cushions and vases.
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Make the most of a beautiful outdoor view, with a few mid-century modern pieces. Wind a cream L-sofa beside a , here the iconic Platner side table, whose oscillating bands reflect the midday sun. Adding a lower side table, ball lamp and classic fluffy rug can make this look last a lifetime.
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Decorate your living room a la Mad Men. Make the most of your high windows with a marble centre, brown leather seating and shown . Pepper your lounge with standing lamps and an olive green armchair, for a perfect place to relax and watch the show.
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Design like the Eames’ – using their own Pacific Palisades living room as inspiration. Take cues from their contemporary Mondrian, and build double-height windows and high wooden bookcases with his rectangular forms. Nest amidst a bevy of , using the Eames’ chair designs and iconic bird, available as an . Fill vases with flowers, lean a ladder to the ceiling and add to complete your homage.
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Designed by architect Eero Saarinen for the industrialist J. Irwin Miller, this also-famous home was the beginning of a once-burgeoning trend – the conversation pit. Get inspired by Spanish and Middle Eastern influences, and construct a pink-couched depression in the middle of your floor, offering a space for focused chat. Scatter differently-coloured cushions to complement an iron table, figure and pot. A few roses in and out of the pit can also pretty up the scene.
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Centre your mid-century modern living room around a rug. Take a bright-coloured Cubic rug and set it upon a wooden floor, inviting companionship with black chairs in the style. Accent the look with a marble standing fireplace and .
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White and wood mixes with grey and blue in this mid-century modern interior. Light its décor with a fireplace illuminating pockets of wood holding ornaments and frames. can act as your headline piece, while a shaggy rug, gold-rimmed table and geometric cushions create your home’s rested guests.
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Looking for more modern adaptations of the mid-century modern style? These last three interiors should yield inspiration. This particular look, blessed with the décor’s high windows, can be achieved using more muted shades of wood to cover your floors and walls. Replace the style’s characteristic floor lamps with LEDs lighting each wall. Place a rug in the centre, and stand a plethora of chair styles in more recent materials. A low marble table can act as your room’s pivot point.
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Use the classic mid-woods of the mid-century modern style, but throw distressed floorboards and charcoal into the mix. Go for the classic look with wooden window joinery, a , and voluptuous bookshelf. Make it more modern with framed prints, not paintings; a rug that’s neat, not shaggy; and a central couch and ottoman that match a modern pendant.
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Make mid-century modern work with a sunny veranda. Employ the and laden bookshelves of old, adding a lime couch and black-painted floorboards. Add a central fireplace and rug to show evolution of the style. A Noguchi-style coffee table and can further twist the classics.
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