We all love classic 20th-century furniture designs for their sleek functionality, their honesty about the materials from which they’re made and their low-level, decidedly cool appearance. But maybe you also want to bring something a little more stylish into your home, where accessorising is essential!
Accessories are a huge part of mid-century design and cover many materials, sizes, and purposes. After all, it’s all in the details! In this article, we’re covering what modern home accessories entail while offering you some exquisite examples to gain inspiration from.
What Are Mid-Century Modern Home Accessories?
Modern home accessories are often vibrant, abstracted and, above all, fun!
They contrast with the mid-century modern furniture with which they’re frequently matched to bring a splash of colourful atomic age confidence and wit, the slice of lime in the gin and tonic!
The most popular features of modern home accessories are pillows, cushions and art that feature graphic patterns and designs which echo the shapes seen in furniture and lighting. In the meantime, more functional items like trays, decanters, wall hooks and coat hangers demonstrate how mid-century design brings together form and function. Also, ceramic vases and planters with modern shapes are some of the most popular pieces in this style, loved by many homeowners and interior designers.
And now, let’s take a closer look at some of our favourite mid-century modern accessories for the home.
Funky Pillows
The most common modern home accessories are funky pillows with geometric patterns, floral designs, colour blocking, tweed fabrics, heathered weave fabrics (interwoven yarns of different colours), embroidery and tufting.
And what we can ensure that you won’t get to see are fringes, embellishments, beading, plaids or ticking stripes! Mid-century textiles and patterns often pull from the shapes you find elsewhere in your home style. For example, our favourites are oblong circles, hard lines, and graphic patterns. In contrast, you’ll find many bold colours used in the textiles in this style, but we like to keep it as neutral and tonal as possible so you can mix and match with ease. For more colour tips, check out our blog on How To Create A Complementary Colour Scheme In Interior Design!
Unique Accessories Materials
Mid-century modern design is all about accessorising with a “light” or “refined” hand. Rather than purchasing a huge collection of modern home accessories, instead, you’ll find that having one or two well-placed items that, in time, become statement pieces is much more satisfying and visually appealing.
Some of our favourite materials to look out for in accessories are tonal materials such as wood, glass, brass, and black, all of which allow you to truly mix and match as your heart desires!
Some popular accessories with unique materials to consider are wood trays, bookends, brass bowls and candle holders, metal and wood sculptures, wood magazine racks, animal figurines and sculptures and brutalist forms. On the other hand, you’ll surely not see any accessories made out of plastic, overly detailed or elaborate designs, and aged or antiqued metal.
Ceramics
Ceramics are a huge part of mid-century design, and we’ve always been in awe of the difference they can make in a room.
Unlike the refined and honed lines of furniture and lighting, the ceramics used in mid-century homes feel handmade, organic and almost brutalist. They’re a mix of the hard and the soft, and any true mid-century space will have at least one collection of pottery or ceramics. Here are some of our favourites:
- “Handmade” and organic shapes
- Speckled and earthy glazes
- Multiple glazes on one piece
- Volcanic glazes
- Ribbed designs
- Low, squatty shapes
- Tall, long necks
- Geometric patterns and designs
- Playful designs
- Planters with wood and metal bases
On the other hand, you’ll surely not see any fine porcelain, delicate or elaborate designs, terra cotta and square shapes.
Clocks
One of the most suitable modern home accessories to have in any mid-century modern living room, bedroom, office, dining room, or den!
With their unmatched style and timeless designs, modern clocks are a timepiece that you and your decor don’t want to miss on. In the words of an iconic designer, “the details are not the details; they make the design.”
And, out of all the accessories we see and sell, our favourite are George Nelson’s fabulous clocks. People see them, fall in love with them, check out the very reasonable price tags, and just have to buy them for their lounge or kitchen!
Nelson originally designed his clocks for the Howard Miller Clock Company, mainly in the 1950s, and produced nearly 300 different versions, many of which have become recognised classics, including The Ball Clock, The Sunburst Clock, The Eye Clock, and The Asterisk Clock, all available to purchase at Pash Classics.
They all add a smile to the simple action of glancing up at the wall to check the time, but there is also a rightness to them that makes more sense when you find out that their designer attracted some of the biggest design names of all time to his design practice. The shapes, colours and forms of these timepieces came from the sharpest minds at the time.
The designer’s associates also produced a wide range of other designs for the home, ranging from planters to room dividers and from spice cabinets to hanging bubble lamps. Many of these are wonderfully made, and it’s totally worth spending a little time looking them up. In the future, we hope to add more items to our modern home accessories range, but in the meantime, happy browsing!
Final Thoughts
Even though the mid-century modern style is over seventy years old, it is still very much loved. Many of the pieces designed then are still being manufactured today!
If you’re looking for more inspiration on how you can add a mid-century modern touch to your home, check out our blogs on:
