Blending Mediterranean and Modern Styles for a Living Room

Do you have a Mediterranean style home that you want to update with a more modern style? You don’t have to totally remove all the Mediterranean character to make it feel more current and less like the 2001 suburbs.

I received a question about this living room recently in my Instagram subscriber group regarding layout and possible changes that could be made. They have a nice, simple backdrop, but I think there are a few tweaks that can be made to the furnishings.

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I like the placement of the sofa, dividing this large living / dining room. That works.

Large living and dining room in a Mediterranean style.

I would move one of the chairs though, so that they sit as a pair over by the windows. They could add swivel upholstered chair of some kind on the other side of the sofa then, if desired, on down the road.

Mediterranean style fireplace in living room.

I like most of the furniture here, the sofa, coffee table and leather chairs. The end table is a little tall, but the style and rustic finish works in this room. I’d put this lamp on that table, something like this below.

I like the shape of the shade and it’s bulbous base. It’s rather short at 23” high with a 22” diam shade, but that works since the table is a bit tall.

Regarding the fireplace wall, I would look for another location in the home for the piano and the other wood piece. Maybe that’s a bar or a vintage record player?

I think this wall has such strong symmetry that it needs two identical pieces on each side. I like using black here too, for a bold statement.

I think this bookcase is perfect, 80” high x 40” wide in black with a wood interior. (Unfortunately it is out of stock right now.)

It feels made for these niches, IMO. I love the traditional look here and they would work well with the art above the fireplace.

I’m not too fond of the rug, it just looks too cool gray and rather nondescript. I think you need a rug with more color, pattern and personality.

Mediterranean living room with gray rug

I’d go for a more traditional look here with a rusty red color, like this rug, below. I’d definitely go big with this rug, get it under the front feet of the sofa and have it almost reach the fireplace hearth.

I think these items along with some pillows that bring in that rusty red and black on the sofa would all work well together. It still feels current and up to date, but has not ignored the overall style of the home.

If some remodeling was desired, then the fireplace could be done in a more clean style like this one from Materials Marketing. I think that would uplevel the overall look and I would love to see the combination of that with the black traditional cabinets.

Fireplace from Materials Marketing

Wouldn’t that look good? :-)

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This blogpost was thoughtfully written by me, Carla Aston, and not by AI, ghostwriters, or guest posters.