What does contemporary design style mean?

“Typically I would define contemporary more as a blending of styles,” says Brad Ramsey, an interior designer based in Nashville. “It’s a little more eclectic, but it’s trend-forward, so contemporary is usually what’s on trend right now.” Ramsey grew up in a contemporary house outside of Atlanta that was often well-liked by visitors for its uniqueness. “It had tall pitched ceilings that are all cedar slats inside with skylights at the top,” he says. “And when I was growing up, everybody always loved coming over to my house.” Even though his parents purchased the home in the ’80s, it’s kept its contemporary status through thoughtful upgrades and changes throughout the years. “If it stays in the trends of when they bought it, then it no longer really stays in that contemporary feel; you have to keep updating it,” he says.

What is the difference between modern and contemporary interior design?

Though modern and contemporary styles have similar names—and their adjectives are synonyms according to most thesauruses—they manifest very differently in the design world. “Modern is a style that has already passed,” Ramsey says. “We continue to be attracted to it, and we replicate that in design over and over again.”

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