Glorify A Mixture Of Materials in your Contemporary Home

Sadly, we are living in an age where there is no certainty of design. The contemporary world of interior design is trying to find its legs. Shame then, because at the moment it can feel like a baby deer wobbling on spindly legs. The thing is, contemporary designers have taken too much inspiration from modern, midcentury and of course postmodern styling. This means that whenever you pop your head into your local sofa shop or kitchen store you’ll see the same pattern emerging.

Long, straight and sharp lines met with a volley of neutral shades and of course a love of simplicity in home life. This has been done before, in fact, there are 50 years of this kind of thinking that has come and gone. Unfortunately, some contemporary designs are just replicating these shapes and philosophies. But wait, it’s not all bad. One of the best things to have been encouraged by the contemporary lovers is the use of various materials.

The use of multiple materials throughout each room has spread because civilization has simply evolved to become greater than what it once was. With such access to glass and metals, wood has taken a back seat for the time being. The mark of a truly contemporary home is a glorifying of such a complex relationship.

A touch of class

Through the classical period, marble was a showing of extreme wealth. This marvellous stone was not easy to come by, nor cut and shape. It took many people with much care and attention to carve out a fine piece of marble furniture. And yet, in this day and age marble has become a normal material in the home, particularly in the form of marble floor tiles. In fact, it should be used in such a way that doesn’t make it normal, for its beauty would be wasted otherwise.

When you dine, what better material to join you than a marble dining table? Cut as one flat sheet, the marble is unfazed by heat or cold. Perhaps this is why it is loved by the wealthy as it is stoic yet handsome. The complex stone structure and the uniqueness of each cut is to be admired for its timeless suave.

A smooth piece of marble brings a touch of class and luxury to your home and yet, because of the way it is presented it can be soundly claimed to be contemporary. If it were to be cut into an ornate shape then you could say it belongs in a traditional home. However, a Gatsby marble dining table is a clean and crisp rectangle, and it supported by brushed gold metal legs.

A lighter weight

Little known to the majority of the public, where the contemporary interior style has shined the most has been in the design of lamps. Here, the challenge of making shapes that would seem unbalanced has been fully accepted by designers. With the use of modern materials such as stainless steel and even see-through plastic, lamps have become interesting and relevant once again.

The contemporary style is, of course, taking inspiration from the modern era, therefore you will see lamps that are thin but strong, boxy yet light, curvy yet spindly and many more styles. This is because one way to show your creativity and skill is to create opposites existing together. Therefore you have thin stems, yet they are heavy so the lamp can’t be knocked over easily. By that same token, there are thick and curvaceous lamp heads, but they don’t weigh a lot and can be moved around easily.

One example is the Possini Euro Calvin dome table lamp. The base is circular and flat, while the stem is thin and curved. It bends back and extends the dome lamp out a little from the base. Then there are the box lamps, that are usually standing on a complex frame as to add a little creativity to their suspension.

These are as you would imagine them, with coloured glass sheets and often opaque glass to give the light more body. The stands for such lamps are going to usually be heavy and broad, but make good use of metals to show some craftsmanship. Floor lamps have perhaps had the least transformation.

However, they are also thin, sleek and they take up a lot less room. These sorts of lamps are placed in the corners of rooms and become useful for when you want to sit and read a book while keeping the main light turned off. An opal lamp is great as it doesn’t just point the light downward, but all around.

Slim, tall and lots of room

The contemporary bathroom has achieved what perhaps a modern or midcentury bathroom style could not. The most spacious room can be achieved by having a slim and tall bathroom. All the features, such as the toilet itself, the cabinets and indeed the sink can be made to be slim and focussed on giving you a lot of room to move around freely.

If you are someone that would like more room in your bathroom, then you will need a reliable bathroom installer. This is because you’ll have to move the current decor you have out, and completely redesign it. Thankfully, however, such a company will have a high rating such as 4.7 out of 5-stars. They will also manage the entire design, plan and building of the bathroom, by creating the plan and getting the correct permissions and warrants to conduct work.

Pearl white is by far the most popular colour in the bathroom as it looks clean, and allows the natural light to provide as much vision as possible. Although some darker tones might look nice at first, if you are someone that bathes or showers early in the morning, it will become a pain to see without having a white bulb light on.

Since this is a contemporary bathroom, you can get fancy and quirky. Put an LED light inside the faucet so when you are using cold or hot water, the water can glow red or blue. Obviously, the tap would be made out of metal, but you don’t have to have stainless steel. Experiment with brass, copper, and zinc. Different materials of the same nature can feel and react differently to what is occurring to them.

Sleeping wider and lower

Our beds are perhaps our most treasured decor piece. The warmth and comfort they provide, is appreciated deeper than any sofa or chair. Our body weight is fully supported, our necks and heads are given ample rest and we often have some wonderful experiences of love and lust in them.

The contemporary bed has gone somewhat of the way of a contemporary sofa. Standing lower than any other style, the bed has gotten closer to the floor. This means that the bed is sturdier, doesn’t move around as much no matter how hard you toss and turn. Equally, this means that mattresses are not as thick as the normal or modern bed might be. Instead, both the bed and mattress are wider, therefore, providing much more room than most other styles.

For your bedroom, consider getting a bed in this style if you would like more space to yourself during the night. However, to make up for this taking up of more space, contemporary beds have done away with footboards and some styles have done away with headboards too. Your feet can hang over the edge, and also not hit the corners anymore. Expect your bed to be made out of metal, however, as the legs will be cylindrical but hollow.

This means a high-quality metal is used to support your weight but keep the bed transportable. However, the most common design is a large flat sheet of wood and sat on top is the mattress. You may have a simple metal stump for a leg support. A strong but flexible wood like yew is often used as the base so as to not snap or crack under pressures.

Is there method?

Don’t think that the contemporary style designers are just using different materials because they can. The reason why more metals are being used than wood is that metal is stronger and lighter. Tempered glass allows a much more open feeling to a room, but keeps a room bright and airy also.

Wood is taking a backseat in the contemporary age, but this is to be expected as stronger, lighter and more aesthetically pleasing materials become available and affordable. To complement the so far, neo-postmodern look that contemporary styles are going with, slim and complex shapes are being created for all parts of the home. To contrast the clean lines of a modern cabinet, the contemporary lamp can have a metal spiral base and spherical lamp shade.

Maybe the shapes of contemporary furniture and fittings have left a lot to be desired. However, the materials used should be applauded as this is where the present day is headed. Glass, metal and synthetic materials such as plastics and even carbon fibre are working their way into our homes. We feel several different textures in our rooms without thinking twice whereas previous interior design periods, left a lot to be desired in this manner.