1. Modern is a clean and uncluttered style in which form is a primary decorative consideration. Glass, metal, leather, and microfiber are quintessential materials. Form and material combine to create interiors that are fluid and open, with strong lines, crisp textures, and gleaming surfaces.
2. Because this is a minimalist style, individual decorative accessories have greater visibility and impact. As you shop for home decor pieces, be mindful of how their shapes will interact with the room's furniture forms.
3. Color is of fundamental importance when choosing modern decor pieces. This tends toward the monochromatic — white, black, brown, and related earth tones, as well as bright primary colors such as red and blue. Give yourself a chance to create a bolder or more layered palette with vibrant prints and two-tone motifs.
4. Modern clocks are a terrific way to introduce strong shapes into a room's visual mix, especially if its furniture is starkly linear. Circles are the timepiece standard, but our clock selection also includes straight or sinuous spindles, octagons, and sharply vertical lines.
5. Mirrors are a decor essential. They emphasize the style's penchant for openness and light, and subtly prompt a focus on form, which is the style's strength. Modern mirrors also enhance a room's interplay of shapes with their oval, floral, and star-like frames.
6. Pillows are what paint balls want to be when they graduate from design school. While some decorators prefer accent pillows with neutral tones, pastels, or muted prints, throw pillows are often vibrant bursts of color or showy art prints that offset the furniture tendency toward form over color.
7. Asian-inspired minimalism has helped shape the modern aesthetic, which is one reason why room dividers are such a natural fit within modern-oriented homes. Another is their usefulness — a room divider orients multi-purpose rooms with minimal obstruction.
8. Don't ignore the floor, and more specifically, rugs. A printed rug can anchor a linear or sinuous formal arrangement, or, with the right color combination, set the tone — pun intended — for an entire room.
9. If you want to set your decor in a specific era, modern wall art is a great place to start. One popular option is to go retro using decorative wall panels, vintage signs, or mid-20th century realist photography.
10. Modern is a cool and abstract aesthetic. Ground it in a warmly elemental force with clean-burning gel fireplaces.
