Mid-century Modern Decor Ideas for Men

So how do you furnish a mid-century modern living space for men? Trying to describe exactly what a mid-century modern living space is, is a bit of a challenge. In general, it’s a style that was popular in the middle of the last century (obviously) which is characterized by ‘organic lines’ ‘simplicity’ ‘brightness’ even retro looking (to us it will be anyway). It’s an extremely popular look today and will leave you with a fresh and modern living space. Below we describe some of the design tropes and furniture you can use to achieve the mid century modern look. Hopefully throughout the article will begin to understand exactly what kind of attributes the mid-century modern living space uses, and how you can apply it to you masculine living space.

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#1 Sofa

Mid-Century Modern Velvet Bench Loveseat Sofa

Get a sofa with legs and ‘organic lines’ which allows circulation of air and a brighter room …Apparently. No but seriously, organic lines are those that are found in nature, ones which flow naturally. The above sofa is a mid century green velvet sofa. Honestly, I’m struggling to see where the organic lines are but it’s a pretty cool sofa none the less. The sofa also comes with the prestige Amazon’s choice sticker, ooo lala.

#2  Chair

Rivet Sloane Mid-Century Modern Armchair

Okay okay so we’re starting to see some similarities now, the dulcet natural tones, the legs, I still can’t see the ‘organic lines’ but we’re getting there. This hardwood framed chair with solid beech wood legs would be the perfectly mid-century accompaniment to the above sofa. But why stick to these boring natural tones just because an IKEA advertisement has it? Try our color guide to spice things up.

#3 Side Table

Mid century Modern Side Table

The legs! The legs are there again. Okay we’re really getting the hang of this mid century modern thing now. This simplistic bamboo table would suit a nice lightly colored room. An nice little mid mod table for your bedroom indeed.

Rivet King Street Industrial Floating Side Table Night Stand

The above coffee table is pretty cool as well, pair with this awesome table lamp by Rivet for a doubly cool mid-century modern effect.

#4 Arc Lamps

Arc Floor Lamp by Archiology

This black and gold mid century modern arc floor lamp by ‘Archiology’…Arc-chiology? We’re not sure if that is a pun or not but this lamp is the perfect example of mid-century modern decor. It’s futuristic looking? Is that what mid century modern is? Ah, I know…it’s futuristic looking to somebody from the middle of the last century? Now we’re getting somewhere!

Brightech Logan LED Arc Floor Lamp with Marble Base

Another arc floor lamp style which is popular with mid-century modern living spaces. Gold and white for lighter living spaces, for a room with darker walls and flooring you can go with black lamps. You could also check out these awesome tripod lamps which also would suit a men’s mid-century modern room.

#5 Coffee Table

Christopher Knight Home Elam Wood Coffee Table, Walnut

The mid-century modern coffee table has to be pretty funky looking, or have a minimalist appeal it seems. A lot of other mid century modern coffee tables on the market seem to meet these criteria. They typically also follow the ‘organic lines’ rules, with a lot of them, as above, being irregular round-ish shapes. Actually, I think I’m beginning to understand, all of the coffee tables and side tables look like they could legit start walking away…

#6 Rugs

Well, there doesn’t seem to be any particular rug-rule which you need to follow for a mid century modern living space, but these colorful geometric ones seem to pop up a lot in furnishing designs. Distressed carpets also seem to be all the rage. Here’s some inspiration below.

 

#7 Bookshelf

Rivet Mid-Century Modern Wood and Metal Bookcase

The mid-century modern bookshelf tend to be minimalist but interesting in some subtle ways, like the above shelf. Another popular bookshelf style that would work in a men’s mid-century modern decor would be some cool ladder bookshelves – check out our article on some.

Modway Transmit Mid-Century Offset Cube Wood Bookcase in Walnut

Again, following from the ‘interesting in a subtle way’ theme from the above cool bookshelf, this mid-century bookshelf with the two-three-two cube storage areas has a really nice modern effect. And look! The legs are there again.

#8 Modern Art

Okay, I understand if you’re not a fan of modern abstract art, but you don’t have to be a bearded sandal wearing progressive, who flocks to the scent of the avant-garde like flies to a dead cat (I stole half of that phrase from Orwell, by the way). But, modern art isn’t just for those kinds of people; especially if its a mid-century modern décor – unless it’s Renoir! Why not paint one yourself?! It’s easily done, take the above …. Ah fine, okay I painted that one as an example of how easy it is, grab a cheap canvas and some paint, use my handy color guide to match it to your living space here. Actually, I even have tutorial on how to paint an abstract painting.

#9 Side Cabinets/Credenza

These side cabinets, are typically found in hallways or dinning rooms, anywhere where there is some spare wall space and a need for extra storage – not to be confused with a media stand.

Okay now I’m really starting to get the mid-century modern look. It’s something which errs from the clichés, instead of a perfectly symmetrical bookshelf, or side cabinet/credenza it will have a quirk, or an asymmetrical feature which breaks up the straight lines – that is why they say ‘organic lines’! Voila, we’re really getting there now.

#10 Media/TV Stand

WAMPAT Mid-Century Modern TV Stand

Well, there we have it, we now know, unequivocally that a distinguishing feature of mid-century modern decor is the leg thing. Most TV stands are pretty neutral colors so they blend into the background.

By James