How to Create a Modern and Contemporary Home

Having a modern house is all the rage now, it’s not only stylish and functional but it’s also a necessity. When was the last time you used the internet by plugging your laptop in to the phone socket? It’s all about wireless networks, home hubs, cloud computing and wirelessly sharing files between different connected devices.

What’s the point you may say, well if you’ve never streamed the cricket out in your sunny garden, checked your email from the comfort of your own bed or tweeted a picture of your latest culinary creation from your kitchen, then you’re missing out.

But it’s not just about the gadgets, it’s about style and functionality as well as practicality. The modern home should fit around you around your lifestyle rather than your lifestyle having to adapt to the place that you live. The technology and design that goes into making the modern home is now not out of reach for families and sharers alike. In terms of a financial spend it’s perfectly affordable to bring your house out of the dark ages and into the modern era, and here’s how you can do it.

A wireless home is a happy home, okay maybe it won’t make you happy but it will sure make your life a whole lot easier. Getting hold of a decent wireless router is pretty easy these days, you could ask your internet provider to supply you with one or you can buy one online.

Some of them will be more complicated than others, but what you need to bear in mind when looking for a wireless router is the size of your house and the position of your phone line. If you want to get wireless everywhere in your home it’s best to place the router at the centre of your home in order to get a strong signal throughout your home.

Wireless isn’t restricted to the internet these days though, as our homes become smarter other industries have taken advantage of the wireless connection between appliances, and some of them are stranger than you might think, take the wireless boiler for example. With a wireless remote with an inbuilt thermometer it reads the temperature of the room you leave the remote in and adjusts the temperature according to your pre-set temperature. Not only is this very nerdy, but it’s also very sensible. As soon as the room reaches that temperature the remote turns the boiler off. Saving you money and saving the environment.

Creating a stylish and modern home often comes down to the way you furnish it. Contemporary furniture designers have been fiddling round with furniture for years now, and some of their creations are truly stunning. But they are also stunningly expensive. These one off pieces of modern contemporary furniture are more like pieces of artwork rather than something that you can slob out on and demolish a whole packet of digestive biscuits on, but there are ways of getting this modern look without spending a fortune on one off pieces.

The trick is to wait. As with fashion, designer trends make their way from to the high street over time. Shapes, colours, materials and textures will eventually filter down to the high street store as high street brands imitate and provide their own reading on catwalk clothing. The same happens in the furniture world.

Pieces to look out for are corner couches; these are brilliant for big families and can really make use of a large living room. Place a nice thick, warm rug underneath and couple this with a sleek coffee table and you’re well on your way to creating a modern home.

Lighting plays a pretty important role in our lives and shouldn’t be left as an afterthought when you’re looking to redecorate. Not only does it provide a practical and basic necessity, but it’s also functional and, if you have an eye for design, beautiful.

Think about the areas of you house that you want to light up, play with shadow and look at different types of lighting techniques. Bare industrial bulbs are all the rage at the moment, and while the do look striking they can also be quite harsh.

It’s often the little things that can pull a room together, so don’t ignore them. Everything from candles sticks, desk lamps, pictures and the frames that house them. All these things can help give a modern and contemporary style and feel to a home that can really carry through the room and the house. Stick to clean and bold colours as well as simple black and white and you can’t go wrong.

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