The term modern can mean so many things, and if you think about it, so can a living room. In this day and age, open-floor plans inhabit the space that smaller, self-defined rooms once did and house living rooms that serve many functions. Here, you read your books, watch your Netflix, eat your meals, entertain your guests…you live. And such modes of living modern life require a similarly multifaceted design scheme.

Admittedly, a living room and the modern aesthetic don’t seem like a particularly compatible duo. As Cochineal Design principal and cofounder Sarah Sargeant points out, simply hearing about a modern living room might conjure a look that’s “sterile, austere, and one-note.” But in reality? Modern living rooms can deftly bridge the gap between the welcoming and well appointed. “Modernity has a streamlined tone that balances historic forms with a fresh sensibility,” New York–based designer Augusta Hoffman explains.

In fact, a modern look can mean incorporating anything from minimal to midcentury, natty to neutral, chrome to concrete. But where to start when you want to find your own version of modern? “I think that the most successful modern spaces find beauty in practicality, while using rich materials to soften the minimalism,” Hoffman adds. Sargeant agrees. “For us, modern means it achieves lifestyle needs while also being minimal leaning,” she tells us. “We believe mixing time periods, tones, and textures can achieve a current look.”

To help, we’ve combed through our favorite living rooms from the ELLE DECOR archives to find the sleek spaces that push modernity into its furthest reaches. Think of the list below—with its can’t-miss light fixtures and clever layout ideas—as your 2024 design bucket list.

This Hollywood Hills home, designed by Studio Mellone, proves you don’t need particularly modern furniture to create a living room; colorful artwork will do just the trick. This artwork by Doug Aitken gives the rest of the neutral space a modern twist that creates contrast in the surrounding wood architecture.

Interior designer Nicole Hollis knows living rooms. In this minimal Indian Wells, California, desert retreat, a curved Vladimir Kagan sofa and puff lounge chairs make for a sophisticated living space. Whether you’re coming here for a much-needed meditation moment or throwing a raucous dinner party, there’s something for everyone.

For Parisian architect and interior designer Hugo Toro, a tastefully curated home environment is everything, and this pied-à-terre in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district is no exception. We especially love the green-as-green Cassina chaise longue, which is begging for a sleepy resident to take up some space on it.

If you love her movies, you’ll probably love her living room too. Academy Award–winning actress Marisa Tomei showcases her passion for beautiful objects throughout her New York City apartment—and her living room is its crown jewel. It features a maximalist sofa upholstered in a Kuba textile, an amorphic floor lamp, and floor cushions in a Dedar velvet. Take a seat? Why, don’t mind if we do.

A clean and delicate room will always be a timeless aesthetic. For Andrea and John Stark’s Hamptons home, this Azura marble fireplace wall, flanked by a pair of facing sofas, sets the scene for fabulous face-to-face time with loved ones.

This late 1970s house in Venice, California, designed by Frank Gehry and redecorated by owner Florian Marquardt, features a living room with harmonious contrasts. With a vintage sofa by Mario Bellini beside a wonderfully blobby cocktail table by Mike Ruiz Serra, we’d wager even Gehry himself would feel right at home here.

If you have a statement art piece in your collection, framing it in the living room is probably the best way to showcase it. Architect Lee Mindel took on the role of decorating Darren Starr’s New York City loft, and this spheric artwork by Jose Dávila makes the room stand out.

Mixing and matching is the style of this outré oasis in Yucca Valley, California. Crafted by Another Human’s Leah Ring, neutrals and simple patterns were thrown out the door, and color was the main character.

Interior designer Cliff Fong decorated this 1927 Mediterranean-style mansion in Los Angeles with a sartorial eye. For this modern living room, a loud and proud Stanley Whitney artwork became the starting point around which everything else fell into place.

If you’re asking Parisian-based interior design firm Uchronia, statement motifs, bright colors, patterns, and undulating lines are the bread and butter of a great room. In this Haussmannian apartment in the city’s eighth arrondissement, the goal was to create a space that looked like the inside of a jewel box, without any frills. Ombré walls were a great place to start.

Modern design needn’t be confined to right angles alone. In a sitting area of this California retreat, designed by Noz Nozawa, the asymmetry of the room is enhanced by a Casey McCafferty cocktail table that looks like it could come alive at any moment. The curvy rug underneath it by François Dumas further enlivens the room—both tonally and texturally—encouraging informal living that is as refined as it is comfortable