40 Contemporary Living Room Ideas

When it comes to small scale renovations, the living room is a space that should be prioritised as it becomes a home's focal room, hosting entertainment, relaxation and family time. Prominent trends seen in contemporary living spaces include minimalist, monochrome and functional designs and features. Thankfully, we've moved on from thick carpets, eclectic colours, excessive florals and ornamental clutter.

If you are looking for living room ideas and inspiration for your new home, or need new concepts for your living room renovations, look no further, as we've compiled 40 of our favourite contemporary living room ideas.

1. Stripped Floors

One of our favourite trends seen in modern living room interiors are stripped floors. Enhance your pristine, high quality timber flooring, or hardwoord laminate with neutral accent rugs or ceramic tiles.

2. Shades of White

White living rooms are classic, current, and still preferred by many. Consider a white colour scheme when repainting this room, or perhaps introduce white with your leather upholstery.

3. Bigger Windows

Modern living rooms are made more spacious with larger, wider windows. Focusing on clean lines and clear panes will create a timeless and classic appeal.

4. Rustic Inspiration

Adding a rustic feature to your living room decor will hint on a country chic aesthetic. We love the modern feel of this unique and rustic chandelier, a welcomed change to crystal alternatives.

5. Tamed Chandeliers

Chandeliers are still popular for living rooms, however intricate teardrops, curls and crystals are a thing of the past. Modern day chandeliers are simpler, concise, and functional, like this delicate lantern esque feature.

6. Greys and Blues

The muted tones of blue and grey are very popular when it comes to modern interior design. Versatile in nature, a cool colour palette compliments the themes of industrial and minimalist spaces.

7. Repurposed Pieces

Give your living room character by adding one or two repurposed items.

8. Dark Walls

Create a dramatic statement with a darker feature wall like charcoal, navy, grey or black.

9. DressedUp ceilings

Floors and walls are not the only ways to create striking statements, why not create a sensational ceiling feature.

10. A Green Corner

We've seen a real trend of indoor gardens especially throughout living spaces to lift monochrome colour themes and freshen the airflow.

11. Frameless Gallery

Heavy frames are out and frameless galleries are in. Bring the focus back to your photo with a setup similar to this.

12. Something Old

Pieces with history and character will give depth and personality to your contemporary living space.

13. Muted Art

Conversational art pieces make great decor choices throughout the living room. We recommend selecting pieces that are interpretative and calming, think styles like abstract, monochrome and pieces with hushed colours.

14. Splashes of Red

Red is a colour that is both loud and strong. Adding red accents to provide a pop of colour to the overall cool interior helps create a little drama without going over the top.

15. Industrial Lighting

A more masculine and structured lighting will create that industrial aesthetic.

16. Shelved Wall

Walls doubling as storage space are popular in apartments and smaller homes. Keep the lines clean and the clutter out.

17. Horizontal Lines

Create a more spacious looking living room by highlighting horizontal lines.

18. Orange Delight

Corals, apricots, and poppies are cheerful shades of orange that compliment neutral tones within your living room.

19. Natural Lighting and Skylights

Open up your living space by introducing soft and natural light with wide windows and skylights. Perfection!

20. Bare Walls

Proving you don't need to dress up a wall to create a statement.

21. Print Clash

When it comes to soft furnishings, a clash of prints in similar colour palettes creates a visually interesting statement.

22. Bursts of Lemon

Charming lemon accents save the room from looking dull and dreary. Keep remaining decor muted and neutral to get the best effect.

23. Writings on the Wall

Let your walls speak with a printed message.

24. Minimalist Shelving

The less, the better. Floating shelves are often painted to disappear into the wall to create that minimalist statement.

25. Neutral Curtains

Solid and muted colours are the theme of modern living room curtains.

26. Charcoal Themes

The most prevalent colour scheme of today’s living rooms is grey and charcoal – often complement by white, blue, or green.

27. Neutral Rugs

Bare floors and neutral rugs make a great combination, when paired in modern living spaces. Choose thinner rugs with muted designs and neutral colours.

28. Comfortable Sofas

Huge leather sofas and French settees are taken over by the more sensible and comfortable modular sofa. Popular colours include white, black, greys, blues, and charcoal shades.

29. Wall Decals

Wall decals offer a great alternative to wall paper and feature walls and are easy to remove and change.

30. Recessed Lighting

Let your lighting highlight different interest spots by implementing recessed lighting.

31. Fresh Centrepieces

Fresh blooms or a leafy plants in the centre of the room injects a bright spot of colour and lifts up the overall mode of the room.

32. Glass Walls

Open up your space with a glass wall window display.

33. Sleek Modern Fireplaces

Large cumbersome fireplaces are replaced with sleek and clean modern fireplaces.

34. Earthy Tones

You can rely on earthy tones to transcend the trends. Incorporate whites, greys, browns, blues, and greens throughout your interior design.

35. A Bit of the Sea

Touches of teals, marine, and turquoise bring in refreshing ocean tones.

36. Natural Elements

Stay away from unnatural decors and accents. Natural elements like coppers, silver, wood, stone, and gold are elegant and classy.

37. A Touch of Purple

The colour purple adds an opulent and regal touch to a neutral room.

38. A Bricked Wall

Create an industrial, loft feel with a brick feature wall. The red tone seen in household bricks will bring warmth to your living room.

39. Black Accents

Black accents create a dramatic statement throughout a room, whilst providing an elegant and timeless appeal.

40. Contemporary Wall Features

A geometric inbuilt feature wall will create a modern focal point within your living space.

Have you decided on your living room inspiration? Do you have any amazing contemporary living room idea that we haven't covered? Why not discuss it on our RenoForum!