Known for its uncomplicated, clean aesthetic mid-century modern style still looks as fresh today as it did 50 years ago. Organic shapes, tapered legs, and natural materials combine to create designs that are both stylish and comfortable.
Dating back to the period between the mid-1930s and the mid-1960s, mid-century modern style emerged as a popular design aesthetic after WWII. More than just interior design and décor, the term refers to architecture, art, literature, furniture and accessories.
Nowadays, as an interior design and decorating style, mid-century modern encompasses everything from an Arne Jacobsen’s Egg chair to a gold and wood Starburst wall clock. It can regularly be seen filtering through the work of 21st-century designers and has achieved cult-like status with design-lovers everywhere. If you want to embrace mid-century modern style in your home, these are the most common elements to consider.
Furniture
You will know mid-century furniture when you see it – it’s sleek, with clean lines and sophisticated curves that make it instantly recognisable. Seating For a sofa that boasts a vintage yet glamourous look, explore the Mistral sofa range.
These large visual pieces have beautiful upholstery, with matching piping and strong symmetrical lines. Its tapered feet are classic features of modernist design and the sofa can easily be accessorised with mid-century-inspired patterned scatter cushions.
The Mistral sofa
If you’re looking to invest in something with a smaller footprint, consider a statement chair. Although there are many designer chairs available today, there are two mid-century modern designers who stand out from the competition: Eero Saarinen and Charles & Ray Eames. Eero Saarinen's designs employ modern materials in graceful, organic shapes that create perfectly-curved chairs such as the famous Womb and Tulip chairs.
These ground-breaking pieces were designed to support countless lounging positions providing ultimate comfort. Another staple of mid-century design is the Ottoman lounge chair by Charles and Ray Eames.
It’s the ideal way to combine comfort, sophistication and functionality in your home - perfect as a standalone feature or paired with a wooden table. These chairs are conveniently available in a variety of colours to suit every mid-century style home.
Charles & Ray Eames, 1956
Style notes: Mid-century modern interiors rely on the use of fewer choice pieces. The aim is to not clutter your space. It’s about adopting a minimalist style in open plan rooms to draw attention to each piece of furniture. Organic Forms Mid-century design is often free-form, unpredictable and flowing in appearance. Fortunately, the modernist design approach hasn’t changed much over the centuries.
We can incorporate fascinating pieces, such as the organic glass coffee table from Isamu Noguchi, into our homes. The Noguchi table has a solid wood base consisting of two identical pieces that create symmetry and stability. It’s the perfect centrepiece for a mid-century style living room.
The Noguchi table
Style notes: Mid-century modern homes embrace the sensibility of clean, easy to maintain and functional living spaces. You should keep your look simple and unique. Wood Mid-20th-century designers commonly used natural materials in their designs. Using wood can give even the most contemporary space a mid-century modern look.
To create a nature-inspired style, consider using a wooden dining room table, chest of drawers, television AV unit or wardrobe. The Romana dining table by Ercol is one of those rare designs that never dates ensuring stylish practicality for years to come.
The Romana dining table by Ercol
Ercol emerged in the post-war era with a passion for creating furniture that was both well-designed and well-made. Nearly 70 years later the brand’s design icons are still as stylish today as they were in the 1950s and its long-lasting reputation for creating pieces that stand the test of time is what sets it apart from other modern-day furniture makers.
A staple part of the Heal’s offering, Ercol embodies everything that we love about good design: expert craftsmanship, quality materials, and a beautiful mid-century aesthetic that captures the optimism that Britain felt about its design potential at the time.
Wood cabinets, ceiling details and doors can also be used to add warmth to your space. Whichever way you choose to use timber, investing in carved wood furnishings will bring everything together nicely.
The Butterfly Chair by Ercol
Style notes: When working wood into your space, be sure to utilise one range of colours and avoid using contrasting hues. Finding pieces with similar undertones – warm yellows, reds and oranges, cool greys, or neutral beiges – will help to keep a room unified.
Home Accessories
Lighting When it comes to lighting, there’s no need to be modest and using unique and eye-catching fixtures are encouraged. For lighting inspiration, explore the collection of highly sought-after pendant lights, and table and floor lamps in unique shapes from American modernism designer George Nelson.
Colour and Pattern
For your interior, be sure to explore earthy hues of orange, mustard yellow, olive green, soft blue and brown. Consider George Nelson’s iconic atomic and sunburst clock designs, which are ideal for hanging alongside modern art and sculptures in a living room.
Or you can simply decorate your space with an amber vase, yellow velvet cushions or a vintage desk lamp to give it a mid-century modern feel. Use asymmetrical and abstract patterned cushions and throws for an effective way to add interest to a mid-century modern style home.
With a strong affinity for the aesthetics and philosophy of mid-century design, Eleanor Pritchard’s textile collections and rectangular cushions reinterpret such iconic styles for a modern day audience. Using understated geometric patterns, calm greys and blues are mixed with shots of yellow and green to bring a modern twist to British heritage.
The Charlock Throw by Eleanor Pritchard
Style notes: Home accessories are the place to add creativity, texture and pizzazz to mid-century modern style. Reject the minimalist approach here in favour of pieces that pack a punch.
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Tips & advice
With Christmas party season in full swing, the competition for best-dressed dinner table is on.
We've put together three Christmas table settings to help you gather ideas and inspiration for this year's festive feast.
Modern Greenery
Our first look focuses on a traditional Christmas colour - green - but with a modern update. We chose a mixture of dinnerware from Mervyn Gers to set the scene and layered in fairy lights and illuminating decorations to create a cosy atmosphere.
The Green Glaze dinnerware is only partially glazed with a glossy, forest green whilst the rest is left as exposed stoneware. We then paired it with the simpler Natural Bronze collection.
With a subtle nod to this year's metallic trend, the plates feature a subtle bronze edging that adds a touch of luxury. Characterful crackers from Nancy and Betty's Studio add a fun finishing touch.
Contemporary Copper
Metallics needn’t feel cold and austere like the winter weather as this contemporary Christmas table setting shows. Whether it’s a candlestick or the finish on a glass, the warmth of copper and rose gold looks beautiful in a low-lit dining room.
Dim the chandelier, light some candles and lay out some fairy lights to get the desired effect - a midnight blue tablecloth will help further accentuate the metallic lustres.
We wanted the copper accessories to really pop so opted for timeless white dinnerware that can be used all year long.
Classic Simplicity
This elegant Christmas table setting is all about subtle finishes and embellishments. A minimal palette of white and grey abounds with marble and polished metal accessories providing accents to the table - not to mention a scattering of glass baubles from The Original Winters Tale for good measure.
The concrete finish of the candleholders and Cooks tabletop provide a textural contrast to clean bone china tableware while the pearlescent finish of LSA glassware adds that extra bit of sparkle.
When it comes to gathering ideas for your home, there’s an almost overwhelming wealth of information out there.
From blogs to magazines, Instagram to Pinterest, imagery and inspiration are endless. If you’re wanting to cut through the noise consider buying a beautifully curated and informative interior design book.
With everything in one place furnishing, styling and coordinating your home becomes much easier. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best interior books for every type of design lover. Read on to find out more.
For the Beginner
The beginning of a design journey is an exciting time for any first-time buyer. The world is truly your oyster, and your home a blank canvas. But where do you start when it comes to putting your style stamp on your new abode?
Styled by Emily Henderson is a great first port of call. Helping you find your style with a ‘style diagnostic’, Emily then takes you through what you should be buying and how to arrange it, helping you create a home that reflects your personality.
Styled by Emily Henderson
Another great read is How to Decorate from Farrow and Ball. Demystifying the use of paint and paper in the home, expert colour consultant Joa Studholme and other members of the F&B creative team share their expertise on the process of home decoration, from the creative potential of floor paint to how light can affect colour.
How To Decorate by Farrow & Ball, Joa Studholme and Charlotte Cosby
For the Renter
More people are renting now than ever before, but the rental market remains surprisingly inflexible. Many tenants are banned from making even the simplest alterations, such as hanging a picture or painting a wall.
Home For Now by Joanna Thornhill acts as a bible for renters, providing a blend of both inspiration and practical advice. This interior design book showcases some of the best rental properties where tenants have managed to transform their temporary abodes into stylish spaces.
Home For Now by Joanna Thornhuill
For the Trend Setter
For those that are always up to speed on the latest fads and trends, an interior design book may not seem necessary. But even the most a-la-mode of homeowners can take inspiration from others, especially when it comes to interiors.
Creative Living London by Emily Wheeler, showcases some of the most imaginative homes across the capital, from Shoreditch to Shepherd’s Bush, London Fields to Hampstead Heath. Thirty-four houses are featured, giving readers an exclusive peek into the personal spaces of some of London’s most ingenious talents.
Creative Living London by Emily Wheeler
For the Colour Lover
As any colour lover will tell you, colour can be completely transformative. But many suffer from colour paralysis, a crippling fear of choosing the wrong shade or not being brave enough to go for something they really love.
Colour by Abigail Ahern is a great antidote to colour procrastination, giving many the confidence to take risks and experiment with hues they may never have considered. Known for her signature dark and moody palette, Abigail reveals how to build a room through colour, showing us how to up the ante with accents and play around with paint, fabric and pattern.
Colour by Abigail Ahern
For admirers of the slightly more bright and bold is A Colorful Home by Susan Habel. Habel shows us how to discover colour in the every day, create dynamic palettes, and translate them into stunning interior spaces using bright and bold hues in a fun and informative way.
A Colourful Home by Susan Hable
For the Minimalist
Colour, pattern and lavish furnishings aren’t for everyone. For the minimalists amongst us, clean lines, simple colour schemes and beautiful finishes are what sets hearts aflutter. But unfortunately, there’s nothing simple about simplicity.
Minimalist living is rooted in the belief that by ridding yourself of life’s excesses you can focus on what’s important helping you find happiness, fulfilment and freedom. Nancy Braithwaite’s Simplicity is a guide to bringing that ideology into the home, staying away from superfluous styling and focusing on the authentic.
Simplicity by Nancy Braithwaite
And whilst minimalism tends to focus on creating a monochrome home, grey is just as popular amongst interior stylists. Despite its popularity, grey is actually one of the hardest colours to get right.
Luckily Kate Watson-Smyth’s Shades of Grey is on hand to help. Full of expert advice and essential information, this interior design book will guide you through the minefield that is choosing the perfect shade of grey paint.
Shades Of Grey by Kate Watson-Smythe
For the Rule Breaker
Sometimes you have to break a few rules to create something unique. Following the whimsy and practicality of your personal space often creates an imperfectly perfect home that can evolve with your tastes and interests.
Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux champions a fresh, unconventional approach to creating a beautiful and comfortable home, emboldening readers to push aside stuffy, professionally-designed décor, showing them, instead, how to infuse their own personality into their home. Expect to see a number of different styles of home, from quirky, rustic log houses to vast, industrial lofts.
Undecorate by Christiane Lemieux
If you’re after something slightly more practical, have a read of Life Unstyled by Emily Henson. This book is about taking inspiration from real homes that are beautiful, creative and inspiring but at the same time a little rough around the edges, with signs of everyday life evident throughout.
Life Unstyled by Emily Henson
For the Classicist
Finally, we have our pick for the best interior design book for, what we call, the classicist – an admirer of great design with a penchant for furniture icons both past and present. Eames: Beautiful Details by Demetrios Eames and Steve Crist ‘celebrates the seamlessness and fluidity in which Charles and Ray Eames operated as both a husband and wife team and as designers unrestricted by traditionally professional boundaries.
Select details of their life and work, from their refined designs to their innovative experiments, and even including images depicting the everyday poetic moments of their lives, and are shared here in this exhibit within a book.’
Eames: Beautiful Details by Demetrios Eames and Steve Crist
Looking for a lamp like no other? Let us enlighten you with our new Mix & Match lighting collection.
Handmade in Suffolk for Heal’s, our bespoke collection of Shades & Bases are designed to be personalised letting you create a unique light that is truly tailored to your interior style.
First, choose your shade from over 130 designer styles by a host of leading fabric houses including Designers Guild, Harlequin, Olicana, Colefax & Fowler, Scion, Sanderson and Morris & Co. plus exclusive collaborations with British print house Étoile Home and textile designer Eleanor Pritchard.
Next, combine with one of our exclusively designed lamp bases including the mid-century Bertie, the mixed material Freja, the industrial-chic Simple Stick base or the contemporary three-legged Baxter, which is available as either a table or floor lamp.
Each of the shades is also available to purchase as a stand-alone ceiling pendant in a choice of four different sizes (20x25cm, 33x20cm, 46x30cm, 60x30cm) with or without a diffuser and ceiling cord.
Talk about being spoilt for choice. To help you get a feel for all the fabrics available, we've picked out a few of our favourite designs from the Mix & Match collection. Launched by Shani Beadle in 2006, Étoile fabrics design fresh takes on retro prints that sing with statement colours.
Pictured below, Betty fabric features an illustrative botanical pattern that is hand screen printed onto a linen and cotton blend.
Founded in 1970 by Tricia Guild, Designers Guild is home to some 9,000 fabrics all of which are made from the finest quality cloth following ethical and sustainable practices. Delahaye fabric, pictured below in cobalt, features a marbled endpaper style design printed onto soft, scoured linen and cotton blend.
British fabric house Harlequin is internationally renowned for its premier fabric collection, which boasts an eclectic fusion of classic and contemporary design. Printed onto a linen and viscose blend, Flores fabric, shown below in ruby and nordic blue, features an overblown abstract interpretation of watercolour flowers.
Founded in the 1930s by interior decorators Sibyl Colefax and John Fowler, Colefax and Fowler is a British design institution renowned for its sophisticated elegance and low-key luxury. Designed by Jane Churchill and shown below in pink and orange, the Lottie is made up of intricate multi-coloured embroidery in a playful swirling shape.
Known for its innovative, stylish and playful approach, British fabric house Scion provides a refreshing take on traditionally woven textiles. Pictured below in rose and mist, the graphic triangular pattern of Modul is printed onto a soft cotton and linen blend.
Founded by Arthur Sanderson in 1860, the quality and quintessentially English character of Sanderson has maintained the fabric houses Royal Warrant since 1923. Shown below in powder blue and pink, Larksong fabric features chain stitch embroidered larks set against a backdrop of abstract forest print.
Founded by William Morris in 1861, Morris & Co. continues the Arts & Crafts designer’s legacy through their faithful reproductions of his iconic patterns. Designed in 1883, Pure Strawberry Thief is a traditional botanical pattern printed onto a soft linen and cotton blend.
The timeless, contemporary design of Eleanor Pritchard’s fabric range is woven by a specialist upholstery mill on the Isle of Bute off the west coast of Scotland. Made from pure wool, Grounds fabric features a subtle zigzag weave and is pictured below in aerial petrol green.
Like nothing else on the market, discover our unique Mix & Match lighting concept in store or shop the full collection of Shades & Bases online.
Forget the January blues, the only way to freshen up your home this season is by going green.
So say shade specialists Pantone, who recently unveiled Greenery as their Colour of the Year 2017. Described as ‘nature’s neutral,’ the new tone is designed to evoke ‘the first days of spring when nature’s greens revive, restore and renew.’ Providing a welcome burst of colour that won’t overwhelm a space, green is also a recurring theme in our new spring/summer 17 upholstery collections.
“Rich fabrics in zesty hues can be seen throughout the collection from cushions to sofas. Staying on the botanical trail, statement prints are a favourite,” says Heal’s head of buying, Sabina Miller. Leatrice Eisenman, Director of the Pantone Colour Institute and the one responsible for selecting the shade, also points to the wider trend for bringing the outdoors in: “Greenery symbolises the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.”
If there’s the one piece from our SS17 collection that’s bound to grab your attention it’s our new Wallis Sofa. The fresh tone and comforting feel of Emerald green varese velvet by Designers Guild seemed the perfect fit for this contemporary sofa, which is available in a wide range of fabrics.
As Russell Pinch, designer of the Wallis, comments: “Naturally occurring green tones are popular among our clients, from sage to forest to even chartreuse colours.” Designed in collaboration with Heal’s, the brief was to create a sofa that is both grand yet compact, echoing the feminine flair of a 19th century settee.
From this Pinch has introduced mid-century proportions, designing a roomy sofa that is ideal for pairing with your selection of modern soft furnishings.
From the moment we launched our Balmoral Sofa we knew we were onto a winner. The bright yellow upholstery went down a storm with the press in AW16 with many commenting that the one thing missing was a place to perch one’s feet.
“Greenery symbolises the reconnection we seek with nature, one another and a larger purpose.”
This season we introduce a footstool to the range, upholstered once again in Varese Velvet but this time in a revitalising emerald green. Perfect as an accompaniment to a sofa or an occasional piece set against the wall, the deep button cushioning of the Balmoral has never looked so enticing.
Named after Winston Churchill's country house, where there are still Heal’s upholstered pieces on display, the Chartwell dining chair is designed for those occasions when you just don’t want the evening to end.
For our new SS17 collection we’ve gone for a gradient of greens plus a dash of yellow to reflect the blossoming shades of spring. You can, however, choose from a spectrum of colours with each high-back chair made to order by masterful Italian upholsterers.
Can't wait to see the new collection? Take a sneak peak by clicking here or discover our curated collections Living with Colour.
In need of a little “me time”? Whether it's for curling up with a good book or just setting the mood for your nightcap, transform your space into a place of sanctuary with these 3 different Floor lamp ideas.
Set in stone
Hitting the perfect note when it comes to the mixed-material trend in floor standing lighting, the Line Two Floor Lamp by NORR11 mixes a solid marble base, hand anodised shade and industrial elements to create a striking silhouette.
Glamorous glow
The mid-century Gilda Armchair by Zanotta deserves an equally glamorous lighting concept. We've paired with two very different designs - the beautifully crafted Skipper Floor Light by Tom Raffield for a modern floor lamp look and Petite Friture's resplendent Mediterranea Floor Lamp - to show the effect mixing up your floor standing lighting can have on a room setting.
Spotlight style
These two unique takes on spotlighting are certain to provide a statement to your floor standing lighting. The first is an original industrial spotlight used on the aeroplane runaways of American military bases that has been reconditioned by Skinflint and is available at Heal's Tottenham Court Road store.
This is followed by TedWood's Hang Up Leather Plug-In Lamp, a multi-functional lighting design that can be hung, draped and placed around the home.
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