The popularity of the mid-century contemporary interior design style started holding the corporate space for ransom after World War II (1939 to 1945). Thus, we can label this trend as a wave of modernism.
Mid-century office style became the first choice of most office and remote workers, especially when it was influenced by the International and Bauhaus design. This explains how technology, fluid, and sculptural elements got introduced into the style.
Modern homes were not left out in this transition either and different varieties of stylistic elements keep popping up every day. However, it is quite unfortunate that many people in this dispensation can barely differentiate between mid-century modern interior office design and other contemporary decor elements.
Hence, this article will show you the top characteristics of this unconventional trend, how it exhibits modern lifestyles, and how it promotes sustainability now found in most home office ideas.
The Origin of the Mid-century Modern Office Design
Do you remember that we said the mid-century office style gained popularity after the second world war? Yes, so it's no gainsaying that its exact origin can be pegged between the mid-1940s and the late 1960s.
This period also witnessed an incredible boom in North America's population and economy. While many young couples bought and decorated their first homes, rural areas also started experiencing new structures with contemporary building techniques.
The houses springing up were also in alignment with the general public's upbeat vision. However, most of these homes had lesser windows and spaces where family members can gather when compared to our current age.
Although that anomaly didn't affect the efficiency and usefulness of the houses, mid-century interior design was introduced to make life better for the people.
The style comes alongside the latest effects, textures, materials, and patterns through the advantages of science and tech. Therefore, the world followed and still follows this design with a contemporary aesthetic touch.
Some Unique Features that Distinguish Mid-century Modern Style
If one doesn't pay rapt attention, you may easily confuse mid-century modern style with many of the bland offices and home decor ideas found online these days.
Hence, we need you to read between the lines for this section because this determines to what extent you can set up an office or home office using the mid-century interior design.
Below is a collection of characteristics that resonate with the spirit of elegance and simplicity you've been craving right in your workstation. Let's get started!
Minimalism
Thanks to advancements in science and tech, there is no aesthetic element or ornamentation that doesn't perform some constructive purposes.
So you should easily be on the lookout for features such as smooth and clean lines, geometric shapes, and elements with the appearance of living organisms. In other words, we can call the mid-century interior design a shift from artistic or pragmatic ideals.
Flowing from above, there's a surge of mid-century interior office furniture that'll enhance the elegance of your home office.
With this feature, they have maintained their uniqueness for decades.
Preference for Wood Over Metal
Ideally, mid-century contemporary furniture is made of wood except in certain instances where the legs of the tables are made from metal.
You should note that the type of wood used for mid-century interior design is typically lighter in color. This includes birch, maple, and teak. Darker colors such as rosewood are seldomly used as well.
Therefore, if you're ready to adopt the mid-century interior design for your office or home office, all your office furniture, including the ergonomic office tables, should be made from wood.
Special Consideration on Durability
Mid-century contemporary office style uses different varieties of materials that include memory foam, leather, wood, synthetic upholstery, and fabrics that have been tested to be highly efficient.
These materials are also popular due to the high level of durability they share. The icing on the cake here is that you can easily move the furniture made of these materials from one part of the office to another, even without causing or sustaining dents or marks.
Ergonomic Solutions
Whether or not your line of work is completely sedentary, we'll advise that you go for mid-century interior design furniture. Or you don't want to live a life free of body aches and pain?
All the pieces are built to reduce the rate at which you're exposed to skeletal discomfort, muscular pain, orthopedic conditions, and any other health complications associated with sitting for long hours.
Simple Silhouettes
Clean lines are one of the core peculiarities of mid-century modern office design furniture, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the trend also uses simple silhouettes.
All its pieces of furniture are designed using a minimalistic aesthetic and without superfluous ornamentations. Hence, you can incorporate the furniture with other modern decor ideas, like Scandinavian, that'll benefit from the simple silhouettes,
Going further, the mid-century contemporary design is built with its sole focus on functionality while the aesthetics follow as the secondary focus.
Even with the simple design and outlook, this trend will make your look feel more spacious. That's the magic invoked by its abridged nature!
Portable and More Compact Design
Apart from the silhouettes, the pieces of furniture under the mid-century modern office design often appear lighter without unnecessary dimension.
This is not unconnected to the usual tapered and slim legs which makes the weight of whatever you put on the furniture rest and be evenly distributed across many pieces. This includes the coffee table, ergonomic office chairs, height-adjustable standing desks, credenzas, and consoles
Another significant feature is that the consoles or coffee tables are lower in terms of height. This will give your office a more relaxed and warm aura.
Apart from that, the edges of the tapered legs make them look larger and more spacious.
Adoption of Lighter Tones for Ethereal but Amazing Effects
If you could decorate your home office or workplace with enough furniture made of lighter woods, your space will enjoy a more lightweight materialization.
Another glaring difference between mid-century interior design and other contemporary office decor ideas is that the former offers an intensive feeling of lightness through the heights, shapes, and colors.
Highly Practical
As we earlier noted that mid-century interior design focuses on functionality, it's also a strict adherent of comfort and practicality. This is evident in the dynamics exhibited in its designs.
With a very striking resemblance to Beton brut, wood grain, and striated marble used by the top architects of the time, the mid-century interior style also provides a somewhat biomorphic vibe to otherwise rigid layouts.
Clean Lines
The mid-century contemporary style was designed as an innovative way to reshape and reintroduce traditional design styles into our corporate space and home life. That's why clean and sleek lines are its top features.
The trend also includes both organic and geometric shapes.
Indoor/Outdoor Bond
The mixture of outdoor and indoor elements is one of the most popular features of mid-century modern design. Meanwhile, plants are the easiest way you can use to create this magic.
We'll recommend that you go for dragon trees, snake plants, monstera, umbrella plants, ZZ trees prayer-plants, or the fiddle leaf fig. No doubt, any of these suggestions will help you blur the line of distinction between the two worlds of indoor and outdoor space
You can also expand the interior design of the home office to the outdoor space. This will give the entire house a more uniform atmosphere and harmonious visual flow.
Going further, why not add clerestory windows, skylights, or open floor plans to your planning table? This will help your workspace stay illuminated with natural lights.
Meanwhile, going for a ranch-style setup with sliding glass doors will draw in more natural lights and watch over the greenery outside as you work.
Mixture of Materials and Texture
Like many other modern decor tips, mid-century design tends to use colors, materials, and textures that would be seen as somewhat contradicting and unconventional.
This is the logic behind the introduction of different textures and materials, so you shouldn't be afraid to test the waters using different pieces.
For instance, wood resonates deeply with mid-century interior design but you can also pair it up with formica and acrylic, plastic, or any organic and synthetic materials.
This style also allows you to unleash creativity in you. So there's no particular formula you have to follow - mix all the pieces as you're inspired to.
Like George Nakashima, you can use organic materials and designs for the mixture. You can also follow the path of Eero Saarinen who adopted synthetic materials for most of his works
Makes the Entire Room Look More Spacious
The typical mid-century office desk chair design often has thin and tapered legs. And they are present in almost every piece of furniture that needs support
Even the couches, are made of short and tapered legs that elevate them some inches above the floor. This feature not only makes the room look more classy and modern but also gives the impression of a much bigger room.
Do you get the inspiration behind it now? Since almost every piece in the room is raised, seeing the floor conveniently makes the space look enlarged. And that's a whopping plus for this design idea.
Colors
Since mid-century office interior design aims at bringing us back to the traditional styles and deepening the bond between indoor and outdoor spaces, why not use colors to achieve that?
Colors are a vital component of mid-century modern design. And ideally, it uses a combo of neutral and muted tones. This includes white, black, and wood tones. It also uses a blend of vibrant colors such as brown, green, mustard yellow, ochre, and orange.
And if you want to bring the outdoor world into your workspace, we'll suggest that you consider yellow, fall orange, and earthy green to bring the dream to life.
Conclusion
The above-discussed points are a few of the many top features that make mid-century office style the go-to choice for most interior designers. However, using these keys above will help you build a mid-century modern workstation of your choice.
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