Mid-Century Modern Design & Decorating Guide

In this guide, we’ll cover the fundamentals of how to design a mid-century modern style home. Created in the 1950s and 1960s, mid-century modern is a design movement that revolutionized the way furniture were developed and homes were furnished. The iconic furniture and decorative pieces from this period were minimalist, sophisticated, and innovative in terms of engineering. Despite the passage of time, mid-century modern aesthetics have remained a staple in today’s interior architecture.

Editor’s note: this article has been freshly updated on March 28, 2023 to reflect new techniques and perspectives on how to design a mid-century modern interior.

To make designing your dream home easier, we made a collection of must-have mid-century modern furniture. Most of the products you see in this post are from our collection.

1.  Study Examples of Mid-Century Interiors

Before you start anything, it’s good to study some examples of your ideal mid-century modern interior to learn from them. Below are some great examples to give you some inspiration and ideas – try to find some on your own on. For example, investigate the individual furniture that they picked out, identify the color schemes, or the spacing between pieces.

Also, keep in mind that great interior design draws bits and pieces of influence from different interior design styles, so some of these examples have elements that are outside of the mid-century boundaries. We’ll cover more of this in detail later in the article.

2.  Pick the Right Colors

Selecting colors is always the first step to planning your decor, since it influences your furniture and decor selection. Colors in mid-century modern decor tend to combine neutral tones with accent colors. The accent colors are often more muted (i.e. low saturation).

Remember to follow the usual interior design color picking tip, also called the 60-30-10 rule. Your room colors should be 60% dominant base color, 30% secondary color, and 10% accent color. Avoid picking more than 3 to 4 colors.

3.  Choose Mid-Century Modern Furniture

Mid-century modern furniture is easily recognizable by their smooth, clean lines with gently rounded angles. They rarely feature any elaborate ornamentation or upholstery. Additionally, if the furniture piece has wooden or metallic components, they often appear heat-molded to form their elegant yet unnatural shape. Finally, they usually only feature one or two colors with no complicated patterns.

If you’re looking for classic examples of mid-century modern furniture, look up the work of industrial designers such as Eero Saarinen, Charles and Ray Eames, Isamu Noguchi, Arne Jacobsen, Hans Wegner, and Finn Juhl. After studying several of their famous designs, you will notice some distinct patterns.

4.  Be Creative with Rug & Decor Patterns

When choosing the rug or decor for your mid-century modern home, you can opt for a pure approach or a more hybrid method. Generally, a stereotypical mid-century modern decor would feature patterns that are asymmetrical and abstract in nature. Alternatively, if these patterns don’t appeal to you, feel free to choose a rug or throw pillow with just a solid color or even patterns from a completely different design style. For example, a persian rug can blend very well with mid-century modern furniture. Rugs and decor is one area where mid-century modern interiors offer a lot of flexibility.

5.  Lighting Tips & Ideas

Mid-century modern floor lamps typically feature geometric lines combined with round, curved contour. The contrasting angles offer the lamps both elegance and boldness. Material-wise, mid-century modern lamps are constructed from brushed steel in silver, copper or gold tones. For example, the common starburst lamp features exposed bulbs on straight rods radiating out of a center.

6. Leave Plenty of Space Between Furniture

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that mid-century modern interiors require plenty of spacing between furniture pieces. As a modern and minimalist school of design, the style necessitates visual cleanliness. Though this might mean that your MCM-inspired rooms may look more bare or lifeless (after all, no one wants their home to look like a corporate office), you can mitigate this with creative decorating. For example, hand oversized artwork that bring more vibrance into your room, throw large books and ethnic set pieces on your tables, place succulents and other plants around, and more.

7.  Stores To Buy Mid-Century Modern Pieces

Given the versatility of mid-century modern furniture and decor, it’s no wonder that there are abundant shopping options. As mentioned before, our store Froy has a dedicated collection for mid-century modern furniture. Many of the pieces you find there are inspired by famous designers, so you can gather some inspiration even if you don’t plan on making any purchases. Design Within Reach is the classic high-end store if you’re looking for original Eames and Noguchi items. West Elm also has a lot of modern furniture designs inspired by the 50s and 60s.

      

If you’re interested in any products included in this post, leave a comment and I’ll provide details! Remember that mid-century modern is largely a minimalist movement, so try to give ample space between your furniture pieces.

That’s all for today! Hopefully, this guide was helpful in realizing your ideal mid-century modern home. I wrote this guide because of a noticeable shortage in practical guides out on the internet. Subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss out on upcoming how-to guides on nautical, bohemian, industrial, and more!