How can I Create an Art Deco Living Room?

Creating an Art Deco living room is as easy as allowing your imagination to carry you back to an old Hollywood movie. Modern and classic lines blended with eclectic pieces of furniture and art define the Art Deco living room. Your Art Deco living room can be achieved by mixing streamlined furniture with geometric patterns and muted walls with splashes of shocking color. Art Deco is all about finding that balance between classic and modern design and making it your own in a way that celebrates both styles.

Arrange a sectional sofa in your Art Deco living room. It not only provides an area for conversation but also represents modern comfort. Place it against the backdrop of subdued wall tones, such as gray, ecru or pale green, so that the sofa is the star of the room. Choose a sofa in a bold, brash color or sprinkle it with throw pillows featuring geometric shapes.

The walls of an Art Deco living room should never be crowded. Choose one or two unusual pieces of art that really pop against the muted background and work with the other splashes of color that you have placed in the room. A simple black shelf with three bowling pins painted bright red, an old stop light or a colorful painting of a 1920s-era woman are good examples of the kind of art that adds character to an Art Deco living room.

Some styles of design call for mix-and-match fabrics, but Art Deco is much simpler. Choose one fabric and stick to it. If you want wild geometric shapes in an area rug or the drapes, make sure to use the same pattern for the throw pillows. If you choose a primary color such as red to tie the room together, stay true to that color throughout your Art Deco living room.

If you're lucky enough to have an Art Deco living room with oak paneling, stick with it. The classic simplicity of the oak is a great foundation upon which to build the rest of the room. To add a little architectural interest to bare walls, use wood molding to create rectangles around the room. Create some Hollywood glamor in your Art Deco living room by adding glass and chrome lighting fixtures, lights to highlight your art, mirrors to reflect light and antiques to tie the design back to history.

Art Deco style can be traced to the 1925 World's Fair in Paris, when it was featured during the exhibition. Coming on the heels of the decorative excesses of the Victorian era, Art Deco celebrated minimalism with touches of whimsy. Its popularity has fluctuated through the years, but its influence can be seen in many other styles and in architecture.