Welcome 2021 with year-end savings - see the deals here

Remodelaholic

DIY tutorials, Woodworking plans and more.

FREE BONUS: Kitchen Organization Boot Camp
  • Home
  • About Us
    • About US
    • Contributors
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
    • Instagram
    • Disclosure and Advertising
    • Contact Us
  • Shop
  • Project Ideas
    • Our Houses
      • Birch House (current projects)
      • Canyon House
      • Park House
      • Downing House
      • Logan House
    • DIY Project Plans
    • All projects
    • Barn Door Baby Gate
    • Dutch Door
    • Framing A Wall Mounted TV
    • Indoor Playhouse
    • Beach Themed Living Room Design
    • Chicken Coop Building!
    • Computer Desk
    • Computer Desk Plans
    • Custom Newel Posts and Stair Remodel
    • Family Room Sneak Peek
    • Headboard Tutorial
    • Living Room Progress
    • Mood Boards
    • Scrabbled Family Names
    • Pets
  • Design By Room
    • Bathrooms
    • Landscape
    • Kids Bedrooms
    • Kitchen
    • Living Rooms
    • Laundry Rooms
    • Master Bedrooms
    • Mood Boards
    • Office
  • Holiday
    • Christmas
    • Halloween
    • Patriotic
    • Easter
    • Fall
    • Saint Patrick’s Day
    • Thanksgiving
    • Spring
    • Valentines Day
    • Winter
  • Crafts
    • Printable
    • Art
    • Paper Crafts
    • Kids
    • Fabric Crafts
    • Decorate
  • Recipes
    • Appetizers
    • Beef
    • Beverages
    • Breakfast
    • Chicken
    • Desserts
    • Dinner
    • Fruit
    • Healthy
    • Holiday
    • Lunch
    • Main Dishes
    • Salads
    • Sandwiches
    • Sauces
    • Seafood
    • Side Dishes
    • Soup
    • Vegetables
  • Videos

Making Mid-Century Modern

Written by Dawn Sailors

  • Facebook
  • Twitter

Hello again! I’m Dawn from DesigningDawn.com back this month with another mood-board for your decoration inspiration. As always, if you’ve missed any of my previous inspiration posts here on Remodelaholic, you can always check those out here. This month, I’m talking about a favorite design style of mine: Mid-Century Modern.

How to Decorate in Mid-Century Modern Style

Mid-Century Modern style, made popular in the 1950s and 60’s (as the name would imply), is all the rage right now, and happens to be my very favorite design style. I love to hunt thrift stores and vintage sales to find stunning Mid-Century pieces and incorporate them into my home’s decor. Check out the amazing chairs currently residing in my dining nook!

Dining-Nook DesigningDawn.com

It’s really no surprise that the style has had such a resurgence lately. The clean lines and attention to detail that MCM furnishings tend to work really well in a lot of modern applications. The trick is taking the best I thought that this month, I’d delve a little into this classic style, and explore how to make this style work without creating a space that feels like you stepped into a time machine.

I think it can be easy with this style, or any style, to go a little overboard to the point where your living space just looks like it hasn’t been updated since the 1960’s, and that’s no good. The goal would be to incorporate Mid-Century style into your space, while still keeping a modern feel. Some examples:

1952 Mid Century Modern Living Room by American Vintage Home on Flickr

1952 Mid Century Modern Living Room by American Vintage Home on Flickr

 mid-century modern living room by army.arch on Flickr

mid-century modern living room by army.arch on Flickr

Mid Century Modern living room by tikitacky on Flickr

Mid Century Modern living room by tikitacky on Flickr

These images from the 60’s and 70’s, while all having some absolutely gorgeous furnishings, are clearly not modern. The combination of colors, wood tones, patterns, etc, combine to create a space that, while stylish for the time, looks dated now.

Now some updated Mid-Century styled rooms for comparison:

Via Brian Patrick Flynn - Flynnside Out / HGTV

Via Brian Patrick Flynn – Flynnside Out / HGTV

Found on stylebyemilyhenderson.com

Found on stylebyemilyhenderson.com

Found on stylebyemilyhenderson.com

Found on stylebyemilyhenderson.com

Found on hgtv.com

Found on hgtv.com

 Found on bhg.com

Found on bhg.com

Found on studioallday.com

Found on studioallday.com

You can see how these rooms have taken all the best of Mid-Century style and woven it into a space that feels modern and timeless. A far cry from the examples above.

So what’s the secret? I’ve put together a mood board below that incorporates some of my ideas on creating a contemporary Mid-Century space. Read on!

Making Mid-Century Modern – Designing Dawn for Remodelaholic.com #midcenturymodern #moodboard

For your convenience, this post contains affiliate links, which allow us to continue providing you lots of decorating and DIY ideas at no cost to you. Learn more here.

Check out sources and similar products for the mood board below:


You can see that this space has a distinctly Mid-Century style, yet still looks updated and fresh. So here’s my thought process and list of things to keep in mind to avoid feeling like you’ve stepped back in time.

• To really get a Mid-Century vibe, furniture selection is key. Select a few classic pieces to anchor the space. Look for clean lines and tapered legs and you can’t go wrong. To keep things form getting too themey, I’ve mixed in some more modern styles, like the rustic coffee table and the structured bookcase in the mood board above. The key is to keep the lines clean and low on your main pieces, avoiding overstuffed furniture, or anything with intricate scrolling or detailed carving.

• Black and white accents and geometric patterns tend to work well to bring a modernized look to a space with vintage pieces. Simple patterns and colors echo the clean lines of the style, but don’t fight for attention.

• A patterned wallpaper is a classic Mid-Century look, but here I’ve updated it with a more whimsical design.

• Bright colors are a must, either in the main furniture pieces, or in accent pieces. Traditional Mid-Century rooms featured a lot of warm colors in the popular orange or brown fabrics and prominent warm wood details (like paneled walls). To update the look, try mixing in some cooler colors. Elements like gray walls, cool blue in the artwork or upholstery, and (as mentioned above) black accents, can all help offset the warm colored wood found in many MCM pieces, and can modernize a space with vintage flair.

So those are my tips for incorporating Mid-Century style into your space in a modern way. Do you love this style as much as I do? Do you have any tips to add for incorporating the look into a contemporary home?

Thanks again to Cassity & the Remodelaholic team for having me here today. I look forward to being here each month to share some inspiration! If you like what you see, be sure to visit me over on my blog, DesigningDawn, or follow along on Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter. Have a great day, friends!

-Dawn

 

———————————-

Looking for more mid-century style to modernize?

Try this DIY reclaimed wood hairpin leg coffee table

mid-century modern hairpin coffee table

or try on some modernized mid-century decor inspired by nature.

mid-century modern nature-inspired decor

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
Remodelaholic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please see our full disclosure here.

Published: June 18, 2014Filed Under: Living Rooms, Mood Boards, Remodel Inspiration By Room Tagged: Black, blue, Furniture, Living Rooms, Modern, Wood, Yellow

About Dawn Sailors

Dawn is one half of the team behind the creative blog, AD Aesthetic. By day she works as the VP of Creative for a design and marketing company (getting paid to make things look good!), while by night she renovates her Midwest home, refinishes thrift-store furniture for fun, and works with her husband on raising two tiny humans. Dawn believes in the potential to design your surroundings and your life one day at a time, and lives by the motto, 'Make everything beautiful.' Get to know her better by visiting her blog, ADaesthetic.com, or following along on Facebook and Instagram.


free email bonus

Kitchen Organization Boot Camp

Is your kitchen a zen paradise? It can be. I'll show you how.

Previous Post
6 Ice Activities For Kids At Home
Next Post
De-Mystifying Math: 7 Tips for Supplementing Your Child's Math Education (ages 3-6)

Comments

  1. Nicole says

    June 18, 2014 at 7:07 am

    Love this! Great ideas! 🙂 I’m so happy I stumbled on your blog a few months ago!

    I have an old Victorian house and would LOVE to see a similar board with Victorian or French provincial decor with a more modern/traditional/updated twist! I am so bad at mixing and matching!!!

    Reply
    • stacie says

      March 19, 2017 at 4:03 pm

      I would love to have an old victorian house to go all out maximal bohemian with!. Have you read justina blakeney’s blog or book “the new bohemians”? it’s to die for.

      Reply
  2. Jake's a Girl says

    June 18, 2014 at 9:50 am

    Not much of a Modern fan but I love the way it looks. Such beautiful clean lines. I’ve always wanted to live in a BIG, open, steel, beamed, concreated loft. I know. I’m weird and eclectic.

    Reply
  3. Amanda says

    January 19, 2016 at 10:00 am

    Do you know who made the chairs in your dining nook?! I have one of them and would love to find more but have no idea what name to look for.

    Reply
    • stacie says

      March 19, 2017 at 3:57 pm

      I can tell you that whatever it is, you can probably find it if you comb through the website 1stdibs.com They have EVERYTHING mid century modern. Unfortunately, the prices are outrageous on the site but they would most likely have that chair. And from there, finding out exactly who made the chair, you could probably look for it on ebay or etsy.

      Reply
  4. stacie says

    March 19, 2017 at 3:55 pm

    I recently was GIVEN a mid century modern Russel Wright for Conant Ball dining room table (minus the chairs) because the person who gave had no idea what they were giving. You have no idea how excited I was/am. I could barely contain myself. I kind of felt really bad about not telling them what they were giving..not really. But I can’t wait to get it refinished and into my dining room. :p

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

We love hearing from fellow Remodelaholics, so let us know what you like about this and leave any questions below in the comments. If you have followed a tutorial or been inspired by something you have seen here, we would love to see pictures! Submit pictures here or by messaging us over on Facebook.
Recipe Rating




Hey there, I am Cassity! Nice to virtually meet you!

This blog is about DIY at its finest. We are obsessed with it and so are you, so while we're working and have nothing to show you of our own projects we show off yours. So submit your projects! More About Us…

Categories

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Meet The Team

Privacy Policy

Remodelaholic is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. Please see our full disclosure here.

© 2005-2016 Remodelaholic LLC, All Rights Reserved

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Copyright © 2021 · Remodelaholic

  • Pinterest
  • Facebook
  • Twitter