If you like contemporary (current) living room designs and want some inspiration, check out these hand-selected contemporary living room ideas.
Welcome to our contemporary style living room design photo gallery where you can search for living rooms designed in the contemporary style.
Contemporary means “current” in design. It’s not a modern living room design, although many people use the terms interchangeably.
Scroll through our hand-selected, carefully chosen collection of current living room designs.
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Related: All Contemporary-style homes
Contemporary living room with inset niche walls and a stunning tray ceiling lined with dark wood beams. Ambient lighting sets a cozy ambiance to the room.
Contemporary living room with a sleek fireplace and a gray sofa supported by glass legs. It includes oversized sliding doors that extend the living space onto a spacious deck.
A sleek tray ceiling along with a modern fireplace brings class to this bright living room.
Plenty of windows along with sliding doors that open to a deck bring in an abundant amount of natural light to this living room. It includes a modern fireplace, gray sectionals, and blue armchairs that add a pop of color to the room.
A combination of leather and fabric sofas and chairs create interest in this white contemporary living room.
Light and airy living room with tufted seats, a glass top table over a large area rug, and a fireplace topped with a framed mirror.
Oversized windows and a collapsible wall flood this living room with natural light. It has beige seats and dark wood tables supported by unique brass seats.
A stone accent wall mounted with a TV adds texture to this contemporary living room with a neutral scheme.
Minimalist living room with gray seats, marble top coffee table, and a wall-mounted TV hanging above a modern console table.
The beige walls of this spacious living room are adorned with large stone pillars that match the stone mantle of the fireplace across from the beige sofa set. These are then topped with an indoor balcony with black metal railings.
This is a bright living room augmented by the natural lights coming in from the wide glass window behind the black velvet sofa. This wide glass window also provides a nice lush green scenery for the beige walls and beige tray ceiling.
Light and airy living room with a fireplace and modern white sectionals flanking a pair of wooden coffee tables over a beige rug. The room is decorated with a round mirror and candle chandelier that hung from the tray ceiling.
A sleek living room features a white L-shaped sectional sofa and a modern black geometric center table over a white huge rug. It also has a gray accent wall where a digital screen is mounted and is lighted by a scattered recessed ceiling.
Charming living room with orange sectional sofa paired with blue throw pillows and a throw blanket over a blue abstract rug. It has a ceiling fan and an eye-catcher industrial pendant lighting fixture.
A cozy living room with a brick accent wall and hardwood flooring. It features a hanging statement decor and floating shelves. It also has a built-in wooden sofa with midnight blue cover and throw pillows contrasting the orange and gray chairs.
Well-lit room features glass walls that invite natural lights, huge rectangular gold mirror, gray sofa set with a rug over a hardwood flooring, and a striking wooden wall panel with a digital fireplace.
Classic room with a touch of wood elements. It includes beige and black sofas with white pillows complementing each other, hardwood flooring, wooden walls on white painted walls, and a large glass-paneled window that brings in the natural light.
This Contemporary-style living room has a dark gray patterned area rug that blends with the gray velvet couch. This is a nice setup to be paired with the fireplace that is embedded into a large gray stone column with a textured finish at the bottom and gray at the upper part contrasting the white coffered ceiling.
This is a spacious and airy Contemporary-style living room with a white arched ceiling that is paired with wide gray flooring. Only a small space of this wide space is used with a large dark gray sofa, a couple of bean bags and a rocking chair surrounding the small wooden coffee table that is warmed by the dark freestanding fireplace.
A living room that gives you warmth and a rustic feel. It features a huge statement chandelier hanging on a light-colored wooden ceiling, a gray L-shaped sectional sofa with a wooden center table over a gray shaggy rug, and two large indoor plants that add life to the room.
A modern living room covered with a wood panel ceiling. It is surrounded by glass walls and a gray concrete wall with built-in shelves and a wood-burning fireplace. It features three orange caged pendant lights hung over two leather lounge chairs and a gray sofa on a tiled floor.
Built-in shelves and a leather tufted high back sofa paired with a trunk tree coffee table and twin round knitted ottomans over a light-colored hardwood flooring. A modern white chaise lounge contrasts with wood and brown furniture. Beside it is a picture window that helps brighten the space.
Living room with transparent glazed patio entry that lets you enjoy the peace and tranquility of the forest. It features a black accent wall mounted with a digital fireplace against a gray L-shaped sofa with a black throw blanket and pillows. A wooden coffee table sits on a rustic rug over a tiled floor.
Rustic wooden trunk coffee table topped with industrial decors and surrounded by three modern lounge chairs. This room also features a high ceiling with glass walls that brings a lot of natural light and hardwood flooring to soften the modern look.
Beautiful wooden themed living room with a touch of blue. It features built-in shelves, white LCD panel, wooden coffee table, an L-shaped sectional blue sofa, and a brown leather lounge over a hardwood flooring.
A pair of chrome arc floor lamp with a white marble base complements the gray sofa set and the marble flooring. Dark hardwood roller coffee table over a brown odd shaped rug adds warmth to the minimalist look of the living room.
An attractive concrete block facade complemented by a long wooden center table and a wooden TV cabinet over a rustic marble tile flooring make this unique and stylish living room stands out. It is completed by a white sectional sofa and a pair of black lounge chairs.
A sleek living room features an L-shaped sectional white sofa paired with a comfy white lounge chair and a glass top coffee table over a cream shaggy rug. Glass walls make the room appear bigger and brighter.
A small but cozy living room because of its wooden elements. It features custom built-in shelves, a dark wooden, glass top coffee table over a brown rug, white sofa, a pair of black lounge chairs and a huge floor lamp that creates a soft, cozy atmosphere to the room.
An airy living room with its high ceiling and tall glass windows. It features a V-shaped pink velvet sofa with dark violet throw pillows which makes the room appear livelier.
A simple living room with a black round rattan lounge chair paired with a smaller aqua blue chair lighted by a black floor lamp. It also features an arched brick ceiling with exposed wood beams that provides an interesting look to this small room.
Green and gray look good together in this fresh living room. It has tall glass windows covered with sheer curtains, white built-in shelves, and an L-shaped gray sofa paired with a coffee table with a green cover and a wooden side chest over a hardwood flooring.
A modern living room with an elegant accent wall composed of the walnut panel, gray painted wall, and a black tiled wall where a fireplace is mounted. Gray couches and a black recliner lounge chair paired with round coffee table sit on a gray rug. Recessed lighting and a lovely floor lamp add warmth to the room.
A spectacular contemporary living room with rustic touches. It features a long black sofa with back pillows facing two gray single couches over a black rug. On its side is a beautiful drum lampshade that completes the look.
Curved living room highlighted by a salmon pink U-shaped sectional sofa paired with a round wooden side table over a bare concrete floor. Industrial clear glass globe pendant light hanging over a distressed white ceiling complements the glass wall.
A red V-shaped sofa with back pillows stands out from the spacious white and gray tone living room. It is decorated with contemporary pieces of furniture and hanging ornaments.
Peeking from the dining table, we can see a sophisticated dining room with a mixture of wood and stone elements. It features a black sofa and a recliner over a hardwood flooring facing the stone accent wall where a TV is mounted.
An eye-catching vertical green wall with real living plants accentuates this Eco-friendly living room. It includes an L-shaped beige sectional sofa paired with an elegant tree stump coffee table over a zigzag patterned rug.
A clearer view of the Eco-friendly living room with glass windows and dark-colored wood panel wall over a hardwood flooring.
A high ceiling living room with exposed wooden beams complemented by a large industrial ceiling fan. It features glass walls with a lovely lake view, a pair of two sectional gray sofas facing each other, and blue reclining lounge chairs over a stained concrete floor.
A clean all-white living room highlighted with a floral wallpaper that’s lined with purple LED lights. It has a huge white sofa wrapped around a glass coffee table over a gray shaggy rug.
Covered with a striking zigzag patterned rug where white sofa set and wooden oval coffee sit, the living room provides a clean, fresh look. It features a concrete planter box that divides the living room from the dining room and a white flower on a black canvass that adds sophistication to the area.
A classic living room that shares the same space with the dining area. It has an interesting three-piece coffee table that sits on a white and black patterned rug paired with a brown sofa and a cuddle chair.
Single glazed frameless glass partitions provide a great view of the stunning pool in this modern living room. A gray sofa with a chaise lounge faces the black built-in cabinet with shelves.
A closer look where you can see the black glossy wall with a flat panel television mounted on it which adds elegance to this modern living room.
A minimalist living room covered with wooden panels from the ceiling to the walls and the flooring, accentuated by white modern chairs and a round coffee table and brightened by the natural light coming from the glass walls and recessed lighting.
The circular concave ceiling with recessed lighting is making a statement on this stylish modern living room. A long purple sofa with a pop of yellow back pillows and printed rug contrasts the neutral color of the wall, cabinets, and floor.
The contemporary living room is popular, and we’ve got plenty of contemporary living room design ideas to share with you. Contemporary living room designs are easy to implement and easy to make look good in practically any physical space. The main appeal of the contemporary living room is that it’s easy to populate with appliances like TVs without making anything seem out of place.
Newness Is Smoothness
Part of the contemporary living room design aesthetic is smoothness. Large surfaces should be smooth, having minimal variation in texture and only a single color. The great thing about this concept is that you can combine some large smooth surfaces with single colors to make a very colorful living room very easily.
This means that in your choice of a coffee table, art, couch, and other furniture, opt for smooth textures with a single hue of color. Avoid anything remotely kitschy that contains corduroy or plaid, and tread very carefully with woods and leathers. Woods and leathers can work in a contemporary living room, but it’s all dependent on how the light hits them.
Let Natural Light Be your Guide
Light has a major role to play in any contemporary living room design. In general, the smoothness of contemporary living rooms looks the best when they can receive a ton of natural light from large windows—perhaps as large as a wall.
The flow of natural light into the living room should determine how everything else is set up. You want the light to illuminate the area in front of where you’ll be spending most of your time, on the couch or chairs.
Plan Artificial Light To Be Warm
You’ll need to supplement your natural light with artificial light sources in a contemporary living room. You’re going to have a lot of choices for artificial light, and many of them will be workable. The main concern is that artificial light sources should seem warm. No harsh fluorescent light.
Additionally, artificial light in a contemporary themed living room should probably be colorless aside from its warmth. If you’re looking for a crazy living room where you can install red lighting or change the mood instantly, contemporary living rooms aren’t going to fit the bill—they rely too much on the contrast between the light source and the flat spaces.
If these ideas don’t appeal to you, check out our larger gallery of living room design ideas.
