What’s Modern Decor These Days? Whatever Fits the Modern Lifestyle
What’s modern today has nothing to do with empty rooms or minimalist, hard-edged furniture shapes, according to Marian McEvoy, editor in chief of Elle Decor.
“Modern doesn’t mean the Jetsons,” said McEvoy, whose career in the world of style has included jobs at the International Herald Tribune, Vogue and Harpers Bazaar. “We’re over that period of intense concern about modernism with a capital M and contemporary-ism.”
McEvoy spoke in January at the Washington Design Center as a kickoff to the center’s annual Modern Fair. We caught her on the phone as she contemplated post-millennial changes in her New York apartment: shedding sisal (maybe for something furry); adding red, orange and pink to her living room; and painting her bedroom jade green “to goose it up a bit.”
We asked her about what’s modern for the new century.
Question: Just what is modern?
Answer: It’s OK to have stuff again. Stuff is good! To be modern is not to be what we formerly thought of as modern. But the good thing about coming out of a super-modern and super-streamlined time is that we’ve learned how to edit. It cleaned our palette, cleansed it.
Putting our character in our homes is modern. Don’t forget: There are a zillion American women working. We have less and less time, and we are thrilled to be in our home when we are there. We spend so much time away from our homes that our houses are our havens.
Q: What is “so over”?
A: Being stark and cold. [Modern is] not rooms with two pieces of furniture in them or rooms with no color. That sort of scary, intimidating, perfect modernism has had its day.
It’s not rooms that intimidate rather than seduce or furniture that isn’t comfortable. If a room doesn’t have a mix of things you love, you ought to rethink that room. Bad lighting is a real turnoff. You feel bad, and everybody looks bad. You look bad too. Is there anything worse than a room with no reading lights?
The all-cement floor is gone. It’s so much nicer to sit on a rug than a slab of concrete.
Q: What’s the mark of a good room?
A: Rooms should be versatile and be able to make a lot of groups happy. Let’s face it: That’s what rooms are supposed to do. Can you sit comfortably in a room? Can you comfortably break open a bottle of champagne in it? If three kids walk into it, are you going to think, “Oh, this room isn’t going to make it!”? Is there something touching in the room? Are there cards from friends, a stack of magazines, family photos? And are there books?
Q: What are some simple things you can do to make your home look more modern?
A: Get rid of those pillows that have a thousand different prints and go for some solid pillows. How about a fresh paint job? Have your curtains cleaned. Make sure the tops of your picture frames are dusted. Have something living in a room. That shows that you really live there. For some, that might mean a parakeet; plants make a room really welcoming.
There is no one way to decorate. Some people love lots of color, and others can’t live with it. Both are great.
Being modern is having your house keep up with your own life. That is a very good point to have come to in the year 2000. It’s intelligent, and it works.