Modern Contemporary Furniture

If clean lines and streamlined styling is your thing, then you have a lot of choice when it comes to shopping for modern contemporary furniture. Whatever your budget, you can create a fabulous space with a few key pieces. Modern design eschewed unnecessary adornment and placed its focus on clean, architectural lines. Placed in a simple white room, these classic pieces will shine. Here is a roundup of sofas, side chairs and coffee tables in different price points to get you started.

Contemporary Sofas

Modest: CB2’s sleek Parlour Sofa is priced just right at about $1,000. Slim lined with barrel curved arms, this simple, modern contemporary furniture design is based on furniture from 20th century Denmark.

Moderate: Design Within Reach offers the Raleigh Sofa, also influenced by Danish design. The solid walnut exterior frame wraps around the back to add support to the comfortable seat back. The slim profile is perfect for smaller, less pompous spaces.

Mega: This vintage 1940s Finn Juhl sofa is the ultimate in luxury mid-century living. Finn Juhl was born in Denmark in 1912 and his pieces are among those that still influence interior design even now. The simple, clean lines of this furniture are tailored to perfection and means that these pieces work well with other pieces from mid-century and before.

Modern Side Chairs

Modest: The Ikea Karlstad chair is as comfortable as it is stylish. The chair comes with replaceable slip covers, which is great for cleaning it.

Moderate: The Bantam armchair is based on the 1930s designs of Edward Wormley. With clean, comfortable lines, these are modern contemporary furniture designs at their height of sophistication.

Mega: Designed in the 1920s, the Le Corbusier L-2 armchair was an international hit as soon as it debuted and has been influencing modern furniture since.

Contemporary Cocktail Tables

Modest: This modern coffee table in espresso-stained hardwood is sleek and contemporary at a great price. The simple round form of this table works well with straight-lined chairs and sofas and makes for a great focal piece in a space. 

Moderate: The Ully coffee table from Crate & Barrel has a modern hourglass silhouette that is both contemporary and exotic. The larger top over the narrower base provides a distinctly architectural flair -- an important element in contemporary design styles.

Mega: This Edward Wormley table showcases a modern hourglass shape and incorporates a travertine marble top. Made in Italy in the 1950s, this table would work in any setting or design style. But as part of a modern design plan, it would be the showstopper of the space.

The influences on modern furniture design of Danish designer Finn Juhl, France’s Le Corbusier and American Edward Wormley were far-ranging and deep. Developing an understanding of the players in the field and the iconic furniture they produced will help anyone put together a fantastic design scheme on any budget.