Interior design, like fashion, tends to come full circle eventually. What was old is new, what was retro is reclaimed as modern. Take a look at some of these images from the 60s- and 70- era drama Mad Men for some old school inspiration for your modern home. And if you really have some time to kill, check out an episode or two for some stylish entertainment!

The original Mad Men office is a stunning example of updated retro – minimalism, clean lines and lots of light. We love its sleek look – how about you?

Wood paneling is difficult to pull off, but take a look at the paneling alongside those blocky retro chairs. It doesn’t get any better!

The Draper residence is opulent and, in our opinion, has just a bit more “Betty” and a bit less “Don”. The feminine peach accent pillows, floral chair and peach-toned wood is calming and sophisticated.

Helen Bishop’s mustard yellow couch, ornate lamp and tree branch wall decor comes together in a welcome throwback that would look great in any modern home.

We don’t want to ruin the plot for anyone who isn’t caught up in the clandestine Madison Avenue drama on Mad Men, but we think it’s safe to say that the makeshift office that Draper and the others move into temporarily in the third season is full of patterns, rich colors, and lots of inspiration.

If you’re low on space but need a home office, there are several ways to make it fit into your home without sacrificing style. You can create a hidden home office with a few simple tricks and a bit of creativity.

For starters, the desk. This is often the largest part of a home office, which is great if you’ve got room to spare. But for those of us who need to save space, a large executive desk is a pain. So how do you fit the desk into a small home office?

You can try affixing a board with two fold out legs to your wall. Using hinges, you will be able to fold up the desk when not in use to give the appearance of more space.

Or, you can use a small student desk on wheels. This will allow you to push it against the wall when you’re not using it, and pull it out in front of a window when you need to work.

Painting your office white will also give the illusion of space. White reflects light, so light from a window or lamp will seem all the more bright and fill the room.

And instead of buying that bulky, thick shelving unit, you might want to consider affixing shelves to the wall. This way you can go floor to ceiling – increasing your storage capacity, always a good thing in a small space – and you won’t have an overly large back or side to deal with, only the shelves.

When creating space within your home office, also look into wireless internet to help with the tackiness of cluttered cords or wires.

If you’re struggling to find a color palate for a particular room, you don’t necessarily have to reach for the beiges, taupes and off-whites. These can be great starting-points, but they tend to be a little boring, especially if your home relies too much on their unassuming neutrality.

Instead, why don’t you go grey?

Grey is a wonderful neutral color that can be combined with almost any color to fabulous effect. Take a look at the image above: the purple pops, because of the dark but not overpowering grey.

Grey also looks fantastic with yellows, greens, blues, reds, oranges, pinks… you get the idea.

As a base, grey is much more powerful than traditional neutrals. It has the intensity of black without the severity. And with grey, you can explore the whole spectrum: light grey with a pastel pink, or dark grey with a glossy canary yellow.

Grey is a monochrome, and you can try experimenting with the options it provides. Different rooms can feature different shades of grey and a complimentary (read: any) color.

Your home will experience a boost of energy and your guests will ooh and ahh if you have a grey neutral rather than a bland beige. Try it out in a small room like a powder room first, but we guarantee, you’ll love its pop!

cheungvogl is a creative partnership of two abstract thinkers in the architecture and design world. Judy Cheung hails from Hong Kong and has experience designing world-class buildings internationally. Her partner, Christoph Vogl, is from Cologne, Germany, and also has design and architectural experience that traverses many countries. Together, the two founded Cheung Vogl in 2008.

The pair believes in harmony found through the ambiguity of art and memory. What is truly a memory? Can memory be artful? And when does art blend seamlessly into our memories? These are the questions that drive these creative minds to build architectural wonders.

Their style is spare and airy. They have designed a variety of landscape and architectural structures, including an outdoor ecosystem known as Senjuku Gardens in Japan that is currently under construction. Utilizing space as part of the creative process, the designer duo has create something beautifully natural amidst a sea of skyscrapers and concrete.

They have also designed a space-conscious house in New York that asks the question: “how do you inject NY into NY?” It focuses on secondary spaces – rooftops, gardens, balconies – and creates a new way of seeing space in a bustling, active city.

The above pictured Umarmung chair updates the traditional idea of sitting on the floor in Japan, creating a soft pocket around someone resting on the ground.

The design team behind cheungvogl is a talented pair, and one to watch in the future of cutting-edge architectural innovation.

The modern home can be dressed up in nearly infinite ways, but one of our favorites here at Padstyle is by using flowers. Floral interiors are naturally more bright, organic and fresh in their appeal. We’ve compiled a list of four ways you can incorporate floral into your home, but there are hundreds more – so why not get a little creative?

You can add a floral touch to your home by choosing floral wallpaper. Just be sure that the design is modern and updated, or that it matches its surroundings. There is nothing worse than falling in love with a pattern at the store only to find that it clashes with your couches!

Floral patterns on furniture is another option. Although you probably want to avoid dated patterns, there are some modern geometrical florals out there that are simply stunning. Think thick lines, geometric shapes and lots of color.

Wall decals can also add that floral appeal. There are many types of black and white or colored wall decals that will give a blank wall some character. Wall decals are especially popular in small doses, as a subtle border of roses along the bottom of your wall or a single bird in a tree beside your sofa.

And finally, add a touch of floral with the real deal: flowers. Bunches, bouquets, vases, or pots – flowers look fabulous in almost any container. Don’t be afraid to choose hot pink posies or looming yellow sunflowers, as the color will be a welcome splash of life in almost any modern home.
patterns on furniture wall decals etc

It can be tough to strike a balance when it comes to your children’s rooms. On one hand, you want them to be happy – on the other, you’ve got to remember that they’ll outgrow their obsession with nailing posters into the wall but your walls might not so easily recover.

When redecorating your children’s rooms, you can maintain the overall modern look of your home while giving them the colors, vibrancy and fun they’re looking for.

Things to keep in mind:

• Safety. Whether your child is five or fifteen, you can’t have too many potentially breakable items in their room, or you might end up with more of a mess than a redecoration on your hands
• Storage. Kids have toys, books, CDs and loads of other things they tend to hoard in their room. While their closet is a good space for this, you might want to think about extra storage under the bed or by installing hooks in the wall.
• Comfort. Although your children might want black walls or a small but stylish desk, you’ve got to remember that they’ll be using the room to play with friends, study and sleep.
• Style. The big one for all of us interior aficionados. Any color scheme can be incorporated into your children’s rooms, but be sure that it is something they won’t grow out of within a year or two. And you can minimize costs while maintaining style if you renovate only the linens, bedspread, curtains and the like – keep the basics (the bed, the desk) as they are, and just dress them up!

If you can balance your desire for a modern home with some (but not all!) of the requests your children make of you, you’ll have a versatile, pleasing child’s bedroom that they will hopefully love for years to come – saving you on having to do another redecoration a year down the road!

Your bedroom is your safe place, your private abode – and it’s all about the details when it comes to decorating this sacred space. Although guests won’t be visiting your bedroom often, you can dress it up to be a modern testament to style by paying attention to the accents.

How about trying out a few throw pillows to add a splash of color? Decorative pillows can dress up a bedroom bench, your bed itself, and they can even look stunning placed nonchalantly in the corner.

You can also introduce color into your bedroom in a more subtle way. Sateen sheets come in a variety of muted colors, like eggshell blue and goldenrod yellow. When your bed is made up with the corner pulled down, this delicate touch of color will warm up its surroundings.

Wall decals are another option for a bedroom accent. Available in white, black and a variety of colors, these can add a tasteful but flirty and fun element to your room.

Patterned curtains can also brighten up a bedroom. You can get dragonflies buzzing around a sheer backdrop, or flowers weaving in and out of your window. If you do decide to get patterned curtains, try matching the main colors with your bedspread or accent pillows.

And finally, a flower vase can go a long way in dressing up a bedroom. You can incorporate a bright blue vase with pink flowers for a lovely splash of fresh scent and color.

What do you use to brighten up your bedroom?

Electrical outlets are necessary to power all of our modern appliances, but they often power-down when it comes to style. The plain white, flat electrical outlet is fine for some, but for the modern home designer who is fanatic about details, it’s just not up to snuff. Here are three ways you can upgrade your electrical outlets to spark some more style.

If you have a whimsical air to your modern home, you can surround your electrical outlets with fun and fresh decals. Frame them with flowers or surround them with swirls. Decals are cute and will make your electrical outlet look as if it was part of the design plan all along.

Image courtesy of Ziemowit Maj

Covering an electrical outlet with a modern plate is a tasteful and cost-effective way to make them appear as part of the design – or disappear altogether. You can purchase outlet plates that will blend in with your paint or wallpaper, or get zany or sophisticated patterns to make them pop.

Image courtesy of Kyle Designs

Covering electrical outlets altogether is also an option. You might have to do a little hunting to find the right approach, but many designers today have responded to the need to upgrade electrical outlets. They have produced covers like the one pictured above, that make an outlet stand out not for its blandness but rather for its modern style.

Image courtesy of Design Spotter, designer: Johann Aumaitre

Today’s Friday Fun post is meant to inspire you to do something with those boring rectangular windows you’ve got. It is so important to have sunlight flooding into your home, but that’s just half of the equation: the other half is the portal through which it floods. So enjoy these three stunning windows that you can use for inspiration, and get renovating!

Arches have been part of modern architecture since the days of Julius Caesar, but that doesn’t make them ancient. There is something timeless about their sweeping curve and their tall form. Arched windows are a stately and bold item, and they will make your home feel like a castle. You can flank a large arched window with two smaller arches on either side, or convert all of your windows to the arched look for royal effect.

Image courtesy of 601 Dolores Street

Stained glass isn’t just for church windows anymore. It can be a modern approach to window treatment as well. Not only does it look stunning as-is, but when the light comes through, it casts a rainbow of colors onto the interior. To avoid a dated look, go for geometric patterns as opposed to floral.

Image courtesy of Just Glass Online

You can completely ditch your rectangular windows in favor of circles if you want to. Circle windows have not fully caught on yet, but just take a look at the image above: the inlaid circle increases the design of the whole room, giving the impression of an upgraded porthole. Circles should be used with caution, but they can definitely create a unique look.

Image courtesy of designShrine

You’ve invested a fair bit of time and money into your home theater, so you no doubt want it to look its best. While simply having that gorgeous black flat screen TV mounted to the wall or on a black glass shelf is stylish enough, you’ve also got to pay attention to the details if you want the room to maintain its clean, organized look. And that means gathering up those bundles of audio and video cables.

Hiding your home theater cables is not as complex as it might seem when you first stare despondently at that mess at the back of your TV. It just takes a few small tools, a little effort, and an eye towards the moment when your home theater is complete.

You can get cable ties from your local electronics store, in black or white, and use these to tie your cables in a bundle. You’ll want to tie them every few feet, and then run the bundle along your baseboard. You can tack it to the corner, but be sure you don’t pierce any of the cables themselves.

For the more daring (and for an even more concealed look), try hiding the cables under the carpet. Lift up the carpet at the edges, and tack the cables down underneath, just along the baseboard.

Or, if you aren’t really a do-it-yourselfer, you can get a professional to hide your cables inside your walls and along the floor.

It just takes a few small tools, a little effort, and an eye towards the moment when your home theater sound systems are complete.

It might seem like a lot of work, but trust us: an organized, clean home theater will be a much better environment for your next family movie night.

Clifford Furnitureis a youthful designer who isn’t afraid to experiment. He started in design by working with wood at the young age of 15, and hasn’t looked back since. With a relatively small number of designs under his belt, Clifford still has to prove himself – but his beginnings are definitely promising.

Check out the Conversation Seating above. There is nothing better than having an in-depth conversation that piques your interest and stimulates your mind, and Clifford pounces on this idea with gusto. The two chairs are joined near the base, facing each other, at a comfortable distance for either couples or strangers to make eye contact and have a deep discussion.

The image below shows Clifford’s Rocket Table. It features a retro-modern design that is a bit space-agey – hence the name Rocket Table. We love its mix of wood and glass, and the texture in the stripes that circle around the base. This would look wonderful paired with a low platform white leather sofa.

Clifford’s designs use simple lines and show a willingness to experiment with material and style. He is still finding his footing as a designer, and we look forward to seeing what he has in store for us in the future.

Looking for a way to add some oomph to your home? Try strategically placing mirrors where art would go, and watch your room appear to grow. Mirrors are stylish, functional, and have the extra benefit of making a space look larger.

There are plenty of options when it comes to modern mirrors. You can go for the traditional rectangular mirror with or without a frame, and hang it slightly higher than the center of a wall. However, many designers have created mirrors that break out of the status quo and shine as works of art.

Textured mirrors are something you could consider. You can find leather frames that feature snakeskin texture, or go straight for the eye-catching textured glass itself. Mirrors don’t have to provide a true-to-life reflection to be useful, and mirrors that are textured like the oddly shaped mirror pictured above will be more stunning than their flat counterparts.

Playing with shapes is also an option with incorporating a mirror into your home. They come in the traditional rectangle, of course, but you can also find circular, square, triangular and irregular shaped mirrors that will add a little spice.

Consider the placement of your mirror – is it centered? Does it compliment its surroundings? You can place a mirror on a blank wall to give it some character, or hang one above a couch for good measure.

Mirrors offer endless customization and intrigue, so start reflecting on which type is best for your home today.

Image courtesy of Toxel, designer: Hemlock Design