Modern vs. Contemporary Interior Design
By: Marissa Goldston
Often times, there is confusion between modern interior design and contemporary interior design. So the question is, what’s the difference? The answer may strike some as confusing since the two are often used interchangeably and being one in the same. The reality is, they aren’t. The difference comes down to, a specific time period, minor style differences, and surprisingly, home listing pricing.
Modern interior designers are referring to a period of time. Depending on whom you ask, modern interior design was created and established between the 1920s and 1950s. This design style doesn’t change, it doesn’t evolve, and it will stay the way it is forever. Interior designs during this time-period are generally referred to as “mid-century modern”.
On the other hand, contemporary design does change. Simply put, contemporary interior design is all about what is popular and being used right now. The reason contemporary and modern are confused by a lot of people is because the style can oftentimes overlap. Contemporary design is a combination of different aspects of styles and eras and combines them to create the current trends.
Since modern interior designs are a bit easier to define, let’s clarify some key modern elements. Modern interior design is generally stripped of most aesthetics. Key modern elements include flat rooftops, cube- shaped furniture, monochromatic and neutral colors instead of bright colors, exposures of concrete, and exposure of steel. It’s also not uncommon to see wood used in the modern design and bare floors.
As previously stated, contemporary styles change as time goes on. Current contemporary styles may be completely different 20 years from now. One of the main reasons there is current confusion between modern and contemporary designs is because a lot of the current elements in modern design currently fit in with contemporary styles. While some of the elements and styles are similar, current contemporary interior designs incorporate a larger variety of colors and materials. It is also common to see elements of “indoor-outdoor” living. This may explain why blues, browns, and even green color schemes are growing in popularity.
Design and time period aren’t the only differences between these two. According to Realtor.com, luxury homes listed as “modern” had a median price approximately $274,000 higher than the median price of a home listed as “contemporary”. On average, these contemporary homes spent more time on the market averaging 109 days vs. 81 days of a modern home. Now, why is that? One would think the more “popular” contemporary style would be pricier because that is the fashionable style.
These days, the lines between contemporary and modern are blurred. Because of this, many people still don’t understand the difference. Could this be why there isn’t a consistency between the home prices or is there another reason?
This is by far the best written short article on the subject. There are literally TWO other Google results from supposed “experts” that are completely wrong, they literally have the two confused, and it makes my blood boil. I think 95% of people, including experts, have no clue what the difference is. The article even goes so far as to point out why — because at this moment in time, contemporary is borrowing more heavily from modern styling than usual, thus people suddenly don’t know the difference. I also think the word “modern” confuses people, especially if they’ve never studied art, because they think “modern” just automatically means now. In film history, “Modern American Cinema” actually started in the 1970s, or arguably 1968, with the end of the Production Code and the arrival of edgier movies, the Blockbuster Era, etc. It will eventually come to an end, but the point is each field has its own accepted definition of “modern” and in the case of architectural styles, modern remains modern throughout time. In my neighborhood, it’s apparent that most of the neighbors are unaware of the difference and who can blame them? The builder couldn’t figure it out either! Every house is clean lines, minimalist straight-edge architecture, no frills, obviously modern home design (if it were concrete and steel, it would be more clear, I guess), and about 75% of the houses have neutral colors. The problem? Some of the houses, like mine, they insisted on adding a splash of color like forest green to the garage door (which I’m replacing with a modern glass and aluminum door), other times they added an orange door, etc. The neighbors thus have mostly decided to ignore the modern architecture and turn their modern homes into contemporary homes, which isn’t a tough transformation because again, they painted the interior walls tan / beige or something. We immediately repainted it white. The “default” option for free is carpet upstairs, so unless you upgrade that to something like we did, gray / silver luxury vinyl, then you end up with this modern architecture home with contemporary finishes inside. It’s almost like the builder put half the houses in the neighborhood at least into this contemporary styling nose dive, where they handed control of the plane over to you as it’s about to hit the mountain, and either you decide, eh, nothing I can do now, or you have to yank it out of the nose dive by repainting the interior, selecting the correct floorings, and the right furniture.
It has created a really bizarre situation where since most people don’t know better, our house will be one of the few that’s modern inside and out, while the neighbors have either 1) A mix of a modern architectural shell with contemporary paint jobs, or 2) Entirely modern exteriors with entirely contemporary interiors. It’s just so strange.