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Contemporary Design 101

Contemporary and modern design are often used interchangeably. While some similarities are present, the two design styles aren’t the same. Modern design actually comes from a specific time period while contemporary design is ever-changing. Contemporary design often incorporates modern elements but also includes new and trendy pieces from “the now.”

Contemporary Living Room Remodel in Northern VA

Unlike modern design, which has stark straight lines, contemporary design often incorporates soft and rounded lines. In a contemporary living room, you see rounded lines particularly in the furniture and decor.

Our first favorite contemporary living room is from this remodel in Arlington, Virginia.

As noted above, you immediately see a living room full of rounded, soft lines. The furniture, center coffee table, and light fixture all play up the rounded lines in this remodel. The bold red and blue are used in this contemporary space, really creating a “wow” look.

The use of geometrical shapes is also a common element in contemporary design. This living room incorporates many geometrical shapes from the pattern on the chairs and pillows to the shape of the light fixture.

Contemporary Living Room Design

This gorgeous contemporary living room takes a much different approach than the remodel in Arlington, Virginia. The monochromatic scheme is very different from the bold pops of color in the first living room, but it’s still beautiful in its own way.

You notice the symmetry in this living room almost immediately. Modern elements in this space include the clean, straight lines, but they’re offset by the addition of rounded lines. The side tables and lamps all add softer lines to the design.

While this space is organized and clean, you notice a bit more decor here than what you typically find in modern design. A cozy element is in this space as opposed to the starkness that’s found in modern design.

Our Final Favorite Contemporary Living Room

Our final favorite contemporary living room incorporates natural elements and maintains a neutral color scheme. The fireplace, made from natural stone, goes from floor to ceiling and makes the room more dramatic.

If you look past the living room, you see that it’s not the only room in the home to use wood. From the hardwood floors to the sliding doors, many wooden elements are in this home. In addition to straight lines, rounded lines are also found in the decor on the shelves and table behind the sofa. The neutral color palette is very contemporary.

Home Remodeling with Contemporary Design

Contemporary design is tricky to spot since it’s an ever-changing design style, but, by process of elimination, you should be able to spot a contemporary room. Our design blog series is a resource for you to learn more about each design style:

• Traditional design
• Modern design
• Transitional design
• Farmhouse Chic design
• Contemporary Design

Unsure of which design style you prefer? Take our design quiz to find out!

If you’re considering changes to your home, give us a call. We’re happy to answer any questions that you have about design and home remodeling. Call 703-961-7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.

Farmhouse chic is everywhere you look these days: television shows, decorating and interior design magazines, and even at your local Target! It’s a warm, rustic, and inviting design style for anyone who loves feeling comfortable and cozy. Farmhouse chic design is best described in this blog by Moss Building & Design, Northern Virginia’s top remodeler.

So, what are some ways to really pinpoint the style and design? Here are our top ten farmhouse chic design elements for your home:

Farmhouse Sink

A farmhouse sink is one of the best ways to bring farmhouse chic design to your home. These sinks are reminiscent of “life on the farm”. They’re deep, functional, and accommodating! Here’s a gorgeous farmhouse sink from a Moss Building & Design remodel in Oakton, Virginia:

Shiplap

Shiplap is a way in which wooden boards are put together with by grooves, cut into the top and bottom, which allow the pieces to fit together and form a tight seal, giving a unique look with subtle reveals between boards. Made trendy by decorating duo Chip and Joanna Gaines, the design element gives a rustic feel to a room that might otherwise be more contemporary in design.

Open Storage Shelving

Open storage shelving (also known as floating shelves) constructed with reclaimed wood or metal is one of the best ways to showcase farmhouse chic design in your home. This Great Falls, Virginia, home’s kitchen shelves, combined with a stone wall and rustic decor, epitomize farmhouse chic design.

Wood Plank Floors 

Wood floors are popular across all design styles, but plank flooring lends itself well to farmhouse chic design. This home in Great Falls, Virginia, has wood plank flooring in its kitchen, which brings a warm feeling when combined with white cabinets, stainless appliances, and textured material for the island chairs.

Sliding Barn Doors

Sliding barn doors are the perfect way to add farmhouse chic design elements to your home. This Great Falls, Virginia, remodel features the addition of this sliding barn door, separating the foyer from the main floor living area. It’s rustic, repurposed, and brings charm and unique features! 

Vintage Decor

Burlap, Mason jars for storage and decor, vintage appliances, painted (yet slightly shabby and chipped) furniture, slipcovers, repurposed signage are all fun ways to implement farmhouse chic decor into your home.

Exposed Wooden Beams

Bringing the outdoors in is a major theme of farmhouse chic design, as seen in this farmhouse chic living room in Ashburn, Virginia. The exposed wooden ceiling beams in this remodel are a gorgeous way to create the warm and cozy feeling of farmhouse chic when combined with natural light and comfortable furniture.

Neutral Paint Colors

Farmhouse chic design paint colors really play off the calm and comfortable feeling of homes with this interior design style. Neutral, warm, and soft colors truly evoke what farmhouse chic design is all about. Greys, beiges, soft whites, and similar colors are truly reminiscent of farmhouse chic design.

Reclaimed Wood

You can’t complete your farmhouse chic interior design look without using reclaimed wood. From shelves, and wall decor to cabinetry, headboards, and floors — it’s everywhere. Repurposing is huge in farmhouse chic, and reclaimed wood elements are a perfect way to implement this!

Lighting 

You might assume that farmhouse chic lighting would be kerosene lamps or candlelight. While those can be used as sources of ambient lighting, farmhouse chic lighting is often described as clean, bright, and purposeful. Antique brass and oiled bronze are two popular metals used for pendant lamps and chandeliers often seen in farmhouse chic interior design.  

If you’re in the market for home remodeling or if you’d like to talk to a professional about a farmhouse chic home interior, call us at 703.961.7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.  Sources: 

• How To Decorate Farmhouse Style 
• What Is Shiplap, Anyway?

Northern VA Remodeling: Farmhouse Chic Design

Farmhouse chic (also known as farmhouse design) is a very popular design style right now. You can achieve a farmhouse chic look in any room of your home. Check out our blogs to see how you can make each room in your home more farmhouse chic.

Farmhouse chic is all about being comfortable and getting cozy, so snuggle up on the couch and get ready for our top five favorite farmhouse chic living rooms!

Shiplap In Living Rooms

Our first favorite farmhouse living room includes a staple of farmhouse chic design, and you can thank HGTV’s Joanna Gaines for this one. Yes, you guessed it — shiplap! Shiplap became really popular last year, as we saw several different ways to incorporate it into your home and various ways to dress it up. This year, it continues to increase in popularity.

Commonly used in bedrooms and bathrooms, shiplap can also be used in your living room to create a farmhouse chic vibe. This living room includes a painted shiplap wall, a nice touch that adds to farmhouse design style. I also love how they played up the home design look by including a chalkboard above the sofa. The neutral color palette and green plants also contribute to the farmhouse look in this cozy living room. 

Sliding Barn Doors In Great Falls, VA 

In addition to shiplap, another common element used in farmhouse chic home design is sliding barn doors. From pops of color to reclaimed wooden doors, sliding barn doors add character to any room in your home.

This remodel in Great Falls has a beautiful sliding barn door from the dining room to the living room. Although the door has been painted, it still maintains its weathered style, which plays up to the farmhouse design look.

Farmhouse Living Room In Leesburg, VA

This living room in Leesburg has many farmhouse design elements. First, a lot of wooden features exist. From the exposed beams and wall to the hardwood floors, this living room doesn’t fall short of chic. The stone wall and fireplace also add a nice, cozy touch to the living room. The neutral color palette tops off the design in this living room.

Reclaimed Wood In McLean, VA 

Reclaimed wood adds a farmhouse chic design component to your remodel. This renovation in McLean includes reclaimed wood throughout the home. In the living room, a strip of reclaimed wood runs across the top of the stone fireplace, which makes the space cozier and more comfortable.

Again, a neutral color palette in and the large window allows for natural light to shine through and light up the living area. The hardwood floors and decor make the space feel warm.

Farmhouse Chic Remodel in Reston, VA

Last but not least is a beautiful remodel in Reston. Many design elements exist in this living room, including the focal point: The white fireplace with the elegant woodworking detail. This element sets the stage for a farmhouse chic vibe.

The sconces that frame the fireplace are also a beautiful nod, and the greenery and sunflowers by the fireplace also play up the vibe. Minimum clutter, a neutral color palette, and hardwood flooring are all elements of this home design.

 Northern VA Contractors

If you’re looking for a farmhouse chic design style, we can help you! Keep the following farmhouse chic design elements in mind to create the perfect living room:

• Choose hardwood flooring
• Keep clutter to a minimum
• Maintain a neutral color palette
• Go green by adding plants to the space
• Let natural light in with large windows
• Add character with sliding barn doors
• Use a touch of reclaimed wood
• Add a shiplap wall

If you’d like to schedule a free design consultation, call us at 703-961-7707 or reach us by email at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com. We’d love to hear more about your project!

Shiplap. Rustic Decor. Deep, wide kitchen sinks. Reclaimed wood. Sliding barn doors. Large cozy furniture. 

These all describe farmhouse chic design elements, which are seemingly everywhere you look these days. From Chip and Joanna Gaines on HGTV’s “Fixer Upper” to dozens of pages of farmhouse home design on Houzz, Pinterest, and other inspirational interior design websites, it’s truly a design style that has taken the world by storm.

So, what exactly is farmhouse chic interior design?

Farmhouse chic home design became trendy after the popular modern and traditional design eras, ushering in a more relaxed style with comfortable design elements that carried a level of sophistication. It’s an American classic that evokes a warm and cozy feel.

Typical features of the style include the use of reclaimed wood, plank floors and a few tasteful country accent pieces that retain a level of sophistication.

How do I achieve a farmhouse style in my kitchen?

One of the most popular ways to showcase farmhouse decor in a kitchen is with a deep farmhouse sink. This Moss Building & Design remodel in Great Falls showcases a beautiful sink, gorgeous white kitchen cabinets, wood plank floors, and other rustic decor.

Open-storage shelving, wood plank floors, and other farmhouse design elements like burlap and large glass jars are reminiscent of the farmhouse home design in a kitchen. This Great Falls kitchen remodel features all of these elements as well as a stone accent wall.

Finally, this Oakton kitchen remodel showcases beautiful white cabinets, wood plank flooring, a deep farmhouse sink, and reclaimed wood accents to bring out the farmhouse chic design style.

How do I achieve a farmhouse style in my living room?

Farmhouses of past and present showcase a welcoming front porch, greeting visitors and leading them into the home’s living room. Once in the home, a sliding barn door (as seen below in this Moss Building & Design living room remodel in Great Falls) brings the feel of a country look with sophisticated results.

A farmhouse living room is meant to evoke a feeling of coziness and comfort. It’s typical to find exposed wooden beams, natural wood and stone, and comforting colors including greys, pinks, and neutrals. A stone fireplace and shabby-but-chic furniture complete the living room’s look.

You have no shortage of ways to make your home farmhouse chic. If you combine elements of vintage decor (including old-school kitchen appliances and metallic lighting fixtures throughout your home) with comfortable, cozy, natural colors and rustic decor, your home updates to a sophisticated and charming mecca.

The Best Remodelers in Northern VA

If you’re in the market for home remodeling or if you’d like to talk to a professional about a farmhouse chic home interior, call us at 703.961.7707 or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com.  

Sources:

• What Is Farmhouse Style and 10 Ways To Get It
• 45 Comfy Farmhouse Living Room Designs
• Guide To Farmhouse Chic Home Design

The living room is a great place for traditional and modern design elements to merge. Read this blog to discover Moss Building & Design’s five key essentials for transforming your living space into a transitional style living room.

For more information on how to design your ideal traditional or modern living rooms, check out these recent Moss Building & Design blogs, 6 Perfectly Modern Living Room Ideas and How To Create A Traditional Living Room.

Be A Minimalist

The key to a transitional space is choosing your design wisely. With that in mind, keep it simple. One of the prime components of modern design is minimalism, but it’s also a very important element of transitional design style.

Don’t overload your space with furniture and decor. If you choose more traditional elements like ornamentation, wainscotting, or crown moldings, don’t go overboard.

This living space in a basement remodel in Oakton, Virginia, exemplifies a blend of modern and traditional design in a very subdued way. The bar area toward the back features a modern, colorful backsplash with matching bar stools and cool, contemporary recessed lighting. The bar still complements the traditional arches and columns in the rest of the space.

Use Neutral Colors

Neutral colors like cream, taupe, gray, and black, are common in transitional living rooms. Gray, in particular, is a popular color for anything, from living and dining rooms to bedrooms. Explore the many shades of gray available in the Benjamin Moore color palette online here. 

Add A Pop Of Color Statement Art

A pop of color, such as a piece of artwork featuring bright blue, red, or orange colors, brings your room together. It also protects you from having a drab space only full of neutral colors. HGTV suggests using the 60-30-10 color rule when it comes to decorating with color. 

This means that 60 percent of your room’s color is on the walls, 30 percent is in the furniture upholstery, and 10 percent is in a piece of accent furniture, artwork, or floral arrangement.

Choose Furniture Wisely

Transitional home accents have a mix of simple lines and curves. This Reston, Virginia, living room remodel shows how mixing furniture of different shapes works particularly well. All furniture doesn’t necessarily need to match.

The Spruce advises that “a living room eclectically styled would have two different end tables anchoring the sofa with two different lamps. A transitional decor room would probably have matching accessories.”

The living room featured above also has large windows, bringing in natural light, which is a feature transitional design borrows from its modern counterpart. It also shows off a slightly embellished (yet clean, white) fireplace that’s a quick contemporary update to a traditional style.

Contrast Textures And Tones

Use fabrics, such as suede, chenille, or leather, in transitional living room furniture pieces or do a mix of all three!

Don’t be afraid to make a bold flooring choice, either. This living room MOSS remodel in McLean, Virginia, demonstrates a great blend of different textures and tones. See the very modern, leather lounge chair (a similar version of which you can find on Houzz here) paired with hardwood floors and floor-length curtains.

When incorporating traditional elements like trim, crown molding, wainscoting, and floor-length drapes in a transitional living room, balance those elements with modern qualities, such as a neutral color palette, textural variety, and furniture that contains a mix of curves and straight lines. This gives you an ideal living space decorated in the traditional design style!

Design A Transitional Home With Northern Virginia’s Best Contractor

If you’re thinking about redesigning your home, our talented designers know the latest transitional design tips and transform your space. Call us at 703-961-7707, or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com to get started. A transitional style living room is one of many options that we can provide you with. 

The living room is one of the most versatile rooms of your home. It’s a space that can be formal or casual; feature a large, big-screen TV or a fireplace; function as a family lounge where you relax on the couch or gather for games; or all of the above. Whatever the goal is for your living room, it should reflect your own personal style.

If you’re looking to make your living room more modern, think: Minimalist, clean, and organized without too much furniture or clutter. An open floor plan, neutral color scheme, and abundance of natural light add to modern design flair.

Here are six quick design upgrades that help turn your living room from drab to fab using your favorite modern interior design themes:

Add furniture with pops of color

Bold accents break up the uniformity of a modern, neutral color palette. Brightly colored accent walls and furniture with creative pops of color make a modern living room. These two images from Moss Building & Design remodels show how red, blue, and orange color choices help your living room really stand out.

Mixing geometric shapes is also ideal, such as the living room pictured above, where the sharp straight lines of the carpet contrast with the rounded corners of the living room chairs.

Opt for modern lighting fixtures

Dramatic light fixtures brighten up your modern space. This Oakton living room remodel, done by Moss Building & Design, pivots around the disco ball lighting fixture that serves as the centerpiece. Other modern lighting ideas include drum pendants, curved wall sconces, or pendant light chandeliers.

Use a lot of glass

Floor-to-ceiling windows connect you with nature and make your space look larger, an important concept in modern interior design. In fact, there are entire glass homes built in the modern and contemporary style.

If the idea of a glass house shatters your privacy, stick with a glass wall or oversized windows. Living rooms that bring in the outdoors through double-hung, bay, picture, or awning windows enable you to showcase a lot of natural light.

HGTV has a great overview of eight different types of windows to help you find which suits your needs and style.

Swap ornate furniture with simple, clear pieces

See-through furniture can have the same effect as large windows. Instead of erring toward the large, stately, and clunky traditional furniture, modern furniture emphasizes the function of the piece. It lets you enjoy the room or space instead the furniture itself.

It can also help make a smaller room appear bigger by streamlining your view. There is actually an entire market of clear furniture, such as Overstock nesting end tables, Decoist acrylic trunks, Bellacor coffee tables, and Amazon chairs.

Consider an accent fireplace

If bright color accents aren’t your style, employ a different accent style element, such as an artfully crafted fireplace. This showcases modern design in a less colorful way, but no less bold. In this Arlington remodel, a beautiful built-in fireplace is surrounded by wood shelves for books.

The Spruce, in its article about modern living room design ideas, features a modern living room focal wall with a bold fireplace accent. Instead of a typical fireplace and mantle setup, this wall is completely built of metal panels that give it a more mechanical, modern look.

Go with neutral wall colors

Aside from accents, stick with neutral colors like cream, gray, brown, and white. Gray walls with black, leather furniture bring out a particularly modern, masculine look. 

Design A Modern Home With Northern Virginia’s Best Contractor

If you’re thinking about redesigning your home, our talented designers can help transform your space. Call us at 703-961-7707, or email us at Hello@MossBuildingandDesign.com to get started.

Create A Traditional Living Room Your Family Will Love

Aside from the kitchen, the living room is a common place to socialize with your family and binge watch Stranger Things together. A living room with a traditional design style is more formal with lots of decor and detailed woodwork.

A traditional living room is also very symmetric. Often times, you’ll find pairs of sconces, candles, and windows on each side of a fireplace to add balance, according to The Spruce.

Symmetry in a traditional living room centers around a focal point, whether it’s a fireplace or built-ins with a television. You’ll also find many arches in a traditional living room, whether it’s furniture curvature, an arch in the fireplace design, or slight bends in the cabinets.

To learn more about traditional interior design, check out our blog, What Is Traditional Interior Design?

Paint Colors

Choosing the right paint color is important to achieve a traditional design style. Warm, neutral colors and cream palettes are very common with jewel-toned pieces throughout the space. There’s many articles on the psychology of color, and you want to pick a tone that you’re going to enjoy while simultaneously completing the traditional feel of your space.

“Poised Taupe” by Sherwin Williams

Poised Taupe is Sherwin Williams’ 2017 Color Of The Year. This color would look great in a traditional living room, as Sherwin Williams describes the color as “a timeless neutral with a beautiful balance of warm and cool…The earthen brown combines with conservative grey, and the result is a weathered, woodsy, and complex neutral that celebrates the imperfections and authenticity of a well-lived life.”

“Shale 861” by Benjamin Moore

If “Poised Taupe” is a little too dark for your taste, consider Shale 861 by Benjamin Moore to create a traditional design in your living room. It’s not surprising that Shale is a part of Benjamin Moore’s Classic Collection, as the company describes the colors in this palette “as timeless as they are forward.”

“Calm” by Benjamin Moore

Looking for a lighter color to brighten up your living room? Calm by Benjamin Moore is a classic color used to create a traditional look.

Window Treatments

Make your living room more traditional by pairing drapes with tall windows.

If you went with a darker paint color, consider selecting drapes in a lighter color, as you don’t want the space to be too dark. For solid-colored drapes, consider cream colors, beiges, and taupe like this Antique Beige Grommet Blackout Faux Silk Taffeta Curtain from Houzz.

You can also consider drapes that have a paisley or floral design, because both create a traditional look. This Clara Window Panel Set from Houzz is a lighter option with a paisley print.

Fixtures, Furniture & Home Décor

To achieve a traditional design in your living room, add tufted pieces of furniture like this Barryknoll Settee from Wayfair. If you’re looking for an even more traditional look, consider furniture in dark, rich brown tones, like this Ansel Park Brown five-piece set from Rooms To Go.

When it comes to flooring, if your living room floor isn’t carpeted and you have hardwood floors, use a large area rug, like this Wayfair Charlton Home Coleraine Red Area Rug, to create a traditional interior design.

There are many different pieces you can use to decorate your living room. When designing this type of living room, consider adding some of these pieces:

• This hand-carved Sakandi Cabinet from Pier 1 Imports
• Mirrors with lots and lots of detail, like this Design Toscano Royal Baroque Mirror from Jet
• These Thirstystone Old World Passages Coasters from Wayfair
• This lovely Turquoise Mosiac Platter from Pier 1 Imports

Check out this traditional before-and-after home makeover from HGTV for more design inspiration. 

Traditional Design With Northern VA’s Best Remodelers

If you’re looking to transform your home into a traditional space or if you have questions about an upcoming remodel, contact us. Our experts love hearing and talking about your project ideas. Call or email us at 703-961-7707 or Sales@MossBuildingandDesign.com, respectively.