A two-story midcentury house by Richard Neutra features Desert Modern elements including boulders, rough stone walls, vertical slats, and bleached natural colors. The landscape is spare, with poured concrete, gravel, and cacti.
Design 101

The Origins of Palm Springs Architecture & Design

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Palm Springs has had an outsized influence on midcentury modern (MCM) architecture and design.

Four squares containing bright and busy textile patterns designed in the 1950s and 1960s by textile designer Lucienne Day. The upper left design has a taupe background with black, white, yellow, and red half moon shapes of different sizes and patterns aligned along straight lines like stylized flowers on stems. At upper right are white outlines of leaves overlaid on squares of varying shades of green. At lower left is a grey background overlaid with roughly rectangular faded coral, faded blue, and white shapes with tiny black characters (stars, squares, leaves) overlaid above the colors in lines. At lower right is a goldenrod covered square with many square and triangular lines and dots overlaid in black.
Design 101

Midcentury Modern Colors

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Don’t let the grey and beige midcentury furniture reproductions in home furnishing stores fool you. Actual midcentury home colors were often vivid and varied!

Six bent plywood midcentury modern chairs are displayed inside glossy white square cells at the Danish Museum of Art & Design. Three chairs are on the top row, and three more are below. Arne Jacobsen's Series 7 chair is at upper right. None of the chairs is labeled.
Design 101

When Danish Modern Style Ruled

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In the 1940s, during World War II, Danish designers were prominent leaders in the movement to design and make affordable, functional, elegant furniture. Danish designer Kaare Klint (1888–1954) is today considered the father of modern Danish design. He helped establish the Department of Furniture Design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and taught […]

Design 101

The Birth of Midcentury Modernism

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Midcentury modernism of the 1950s and 1960s is based on innovations of architects and designers of the 1920s and 1930s. Explore what led to the style’s creation and eventual massive popularity.

A Midcentury Modern minimalist rush-seated wooden dining chair in pale wood sits on a light-wood floor with a white bare wall behind. To the left of the chair is a pair of small MCM cabinets in a mid-toned wood (perhaps walnut) with a prominent grain. It has two sliding doors across a cabinet on the top, and a wooden shelf below, all on a metal frame. It is about as tall as the back of the chair. Resting on the cabinet is a minimalist line drawing of a face in simple black lines on a white background. Books rest on top of and below the cabinet with spines facing away from the camera.
Design 101 Feature

Sustainable Interior Design

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Sustainable design (also known as green design) protects and conserves natural resources and supports life.

A large loft apartment with exposed beams, ducts and brick is decorated with midcentury modern (MCM) dining furniture, a Persian carpet, and a dark leather sofa, mixing industrial and MCM styles
Design 101

Decorating with Texture

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Texture is one of the elements of design that does the most to make a room feel welcoming and comfortable. We notice and remember colors and patterns, but textures really make a room feel interesting. They invite us to let our eyes and hands explore a space. Decorating with texture and three-dimensionality can bring warmth, […]

A Sikh man wearing turban and a curled mustache sits on the floor in front of a chair in a living room. On the coffee table in front of him are a laptop and a calculator. He looks down at the calculator, a pen in his hand. A woman, probably his wife, leans on his shoulder and looks down with him.
Accessibility Design 101

Home Remodeling for Accessibility: Financing Your Remodel

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This is the last of three articles on how to remodel your home for greater accessibility. The first article focuses on the first stage—how to plan an accessible renovation. The second article features a renovation success story about a real-life remodel undertaken by Jody and Drew Yarborough, a Californian couple who renovated their Silicon Valley […]

A man and a woman wearing work clothes review something on a tablet while standing in a room undergoing renovation. A bare bulb hangs from the ceiling over their heads.
Accessibility Design 101

Home Remodeling for Accessibility: A Success Story

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This is the second of three articles on how to remodel your home for greater accessibility. The first article in this series focuses on the first stage—how to plan accessible renovations. This second article features a renovation success story about a real-life remodel undertaken by Jody and Drew Yarborough, a Californian couple who renovated their […]

A woman sits in a wheelchair in front of a computer sitting on a counter. Her smiling young daughter stands next to her pointing at something on the screen. A son sits in a chair behind her facing away from her toward a window.
Accessibility Design 101

Home Remodeling for Accessibility: The Planning Stage

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This is the first of three articles on how to remodel your home for greater accessibility. This one focuses on the first stage: planning an accessible renovation. Article two features a success story about a real-life renovation undertaken by Jody and Drew Yarborough, a Californian couple who renovated their Silicon Valley home to make it […]

A close-up of a cluster of swirling decorative art glass pieces by glass artist Dale Chihuly. The glass vessels have uneven shapes and swirls of color mixed into the glass and creating patterns that look much like large jellyfish, but in bright colors—orange, green, yellow, brown, and black.
Design 101

2023 Interior Design Color Trends

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After nearly a decade of grey upholstery, pale woods, and all-white kitchens, color and warmth are returning to home interiors in a big way. We’ve reviewed the color forecasts of dozens of interior designers, style journalists, paint retailers, color consultancies, and furniture companies to learn about the big color trends of 2023 (as well as […]