These Midcentury Modern Living Rooms Put Retro Back on the Map (2024)

In the living room of the Goldwyn house, an iconic residence in Los Angeles that’s now the home of the Future Perfect gallery, a jewel-toned lounge is swathed in velvet and overseen by a handwoven rattan chandelier by artist Chris Wolston. Though this scheme deftly mixes eras, the clean lines throughout and the dark stained wood feels distinctly midcentury.

Another spin on midcentury modern: this calming New York apartment that features subtle nods to the vintage look. Organic and geometric shapes punctuate the space through lighting fixtures and seating arrangements. All softened by a warm ivory color (Baby Fawn by Benjamin Moore) and parquet wood flooring. The designer, Augusta Hoffman, says that in such a small space, form over function was top of mind. “Every single surface needs to be usable, and every single chair needs to be really, really comfortable,” she told ELLE DECOR.

If you’re looking to mix styles and eras, this early Frank Gehry home is a study in harmonious contrast. Gehry’s signature Deconstructivist style and spare palette works with the neutral tones, luxurious materials, and rounded contours. Take, for examples, the living room’s lush Mario Bellini mohair sofa (an icon of 1970s design), the handwoven Scandinavian wool rug balancing out the concrete floors, and the concrete fireplace counteracted with a warm woodgrain patterns.

This sitting area in the same home is furnished with an array of vintage finds, like a 1955 Pierre Jeanneret office chair that pays homage to the modernist look—with lively additions like Robert Loughlin’s painting, which features his iconic, square-chinned, cigarette-smoking figure he called “the brute.”

Built in the 1950s, this Johannesburg gem was designed by Eyvind Finsen, a South African architect who was inspired by Richard Neutra. The homeowners (architects themselves), Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens, designed this with one question in mind. “We asked ourselves, ‘What would the natural progression of a Palm Springs bungalow be today?’” Rech says. The answer? This living room flaunts a leather sofa by Flexform, a vintage black leather chair (bottom left) by Joe Colombo, and a custom angular co*cktail table. Our favorite detail? A playful leaf chandelier by Xavier Clarisse. We’re taking a walk on the wild side now.

For Pamela Shamshiri, leaning into the midcentury aesthetic isn’t enough. In this Pacific Palisades home in Los Angeles designed by Paul László, Shamshiri looked to the famed designer’s quirky yet functional furniture for inspiration on several custom pieces, including a stripped-down, blocky burl-wood sofa in the living room that contrasts with a plush, unconventionally L-shaped sofa. Our favorite detail? The jewel-like custom tiled bar cabinet, which provides an ornamental focal point for the living room—and proof that both tile and wood don’t belong only on the floor.

In the same Pacific Palisades living room, two seating areas were created to flank the original midcentury freestanding fireplace. Floor-to-ceiling windows look out onto the Pacific, while tinted mirrors reflect garden views. If this studied interplay between historic and contemporary isn’t evidence that this design style can evolve, we don’t know what is.

Went a little midcentury-happy with the classic low-slung tufted couch? Repurposed objects, like this vintage Eames screen and tall floor lamps, help draw the eye upward, as they do in Sophia Bush’s stunning retro Hollywood home.

Designer Pamela Shamshiri is bringing back all the quintessentially midcentury green vibes in this Pacific Palisades den, which boasts shapely vintage furniture alongside contemporary artwork and light fixtures.

Whoever said midcentury consisted solely of earth tones? This colorful Long Island dig is sprinkled with graphic pops of bright green and bold yellow hues, which create an interplay between organic and splashy. “The house reminded me of a place that Joni Mitchell would have lived in in Laurel Canyon in the ’70s,” homeowner Linda Rodin told ELLE DECOR. “And that was my fantasy.”

Drumroll, please, for the crowning jewel of the midcentury look: the crescent-shaped couch. As charming as it is functional (nobody’s left hanging at the edge of the couch in this circular arrangement), this Lejeune sofa, upholstered in a Dedar velvet with Scalamandre’s Maquis Tapestry Agave on the back, is the true blue-eyed wonder in this stunning tropical retreat.

Indoor-outdoor living is all the rage right now, but of course it’s nothing new. In the formal family gathering spot of this soothing Malibu, California, home, sliding doors open to the backyard. Wooden oak accents and lush foliage further soften the space and create a seamless integration.

To say that this midcentury gem of a house has good bones is a massive understatement. Cynics, say your worst, we’d be hard pressed to find a naysayer of this three-bedroom located in Beverly Hills. With an arched lighting fixture that adds variation to the living room’s sleek architectural lines, the most difficult daily decision would be whether or not to take your breakfast in the light-filled living room or just beyond for some vitamin D.

If the final aesthetic feels utterly now, it is because midcentury architecture was ahead of its time, says the owner of this Beverly Hills home. “The proportions—low, hovering—are all about inserting into nature and being minimal,” he notes. “That’s so important as we think about sustainability. How do we insert ourselves into the landscape without taking over?” Mission accomplished in this living room, which features a marble co*cktail table by Antonio Citterio for B&B Italia and a quartzite wall above the home’s original brass fireplace.

For Kovac Design Studio, a discerning eye sometimes necessitates a streamlined approach. In the great room of Todd Feldman’s retreat in La Quinta, California, neutral furnishings are paired with Warren Platner chairs that echo the house’s wooden accents. The muted color scheme allows that attention be drawn, first, to the home’s fabulous roof line.

Nothing brings back midcentury nostalgia like a classic black-and-white flick. In this cinematic desert home, Jean-Luc Godard’s 1960 film, Breathless, is projected on a custom motorized screen in the great room, which features a floating theater with a glass railing over a curtained bar area—a seamless merging of old and new that harks back to the good old days without stepping too far out of the here and now.

This seven-bedroom, 9,200-square-foot vacation house at the private Madison Club in La Quinta, California, is Palm Springs pad as boutique hotel, with Mad Men flourishes, a bar ready for Out of Sight–level seduction, and a concession stand stocked for Fight Night. Designer Kovac Design Studio leaned into midcentury features like low-slung furniture and floor-to-ceiling wood paneling. Cue all the drama, on both sides of the screen!

Powerhouse set-design duo David Wasco and Sandy Reynolds-Wasco saved and restored a 1956 bungalow in Santa Barbara, California, and their interior composition is a contender for most stage sets. In this living room, a pair of lounge chairs by Milo Baughman surround an Eames co*cktail table covered in gold leaf. The walls and hearth are painted in a subtle Green Ground by Farrow & Ball, and the ceiling is lined with Douglas fir.

This midcentury Palm Springs house is going way beyond the design playbook, and we’re not complaining. Give that retro look a contemporary spin with chic all-black seating and juxtaposing loud-and-proud wall bling—red triptych by artist Ko Kirk Yamahira—that anchors the fireplace wall. Desert modern never looked so luxe.

In this living room, vintage Barcelona chairs, back-to-back sofas by William Haines, an Arco lamp by Achille Castiglioni, and a floor lamp by Dragonette; the wall is sheathed in Venetian plaster, the ceiling is cedar, and the floors are poured-in-place terrazzo.