City chic: Incorporate city style into your Main Street home

<h2 style="margin: 10pt 0in 0pt">City chic: Incorporate city style into your Main Street home</h2>(ARA) – When you look out your window, what do you see: the cool gray steel of high-rise buildings… or vast, open expanses of green land? You don’t have to stick to an interior style that mimics your surroundings; especially if it doesn’t suit your taste.Whether you live in a penthouse or a farmhouse, you can create rooms that make you feel as if you’re a city-dweller as soon as you step inside. Open floor plan The first step to thinking like an urbanite is coming up with creative ways to make small spaces appear larger. An open floor plan is a great way to achieve this. Take a look at your main living areas to determine where improvements can take place. Is there a room that is being under-utilized? Consider removing a dividing wall to connect it with the adjoining space. Do you have narrow doorways between rooms? Expand these openings and remove doors, creating wider passageways. Is there untouched wall space? Take a cue from new glass-exterior loft spaces, like Werner Aisslinger’s LoftCube, and add more windows on exterior walls, or even create window-like openings between rooms to join spaces and create a sense of community. <div style="text-align: center"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="425" height="282"><param name="movie" value="../images/banners/2b.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="menu" value="false" /><param name="wmode" value="" /><embed src="../images/banners/2b.swf" wmode="" quality="high" menu="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="282"></embed></object></div> "Contemporary urban design is all about connectivity," says Judy Riley, vice president of design at Moen Incorporated. "In today’s modern home, we want to connect with our family, our surroundings and the outside world. To achieve this, we are knocking down walls and breaking the barriers built by earlier generations." If you don’t have the time – or budget – for more construction-intense projects, there are steps you can take to create the illusion of larger rooms. Choose smaller furniture and position it in a way that leaves as much floor space open as possible. Forgo large, heavy curtains and go for more airy fabrics or light-emitting shades to create a sense of illumination and openness. Choose lighter colors in a similar palette for your furniture, walls and floors. Modern elements To take your place from dreary and dated to city chic, incorporate contemporary elements into your decor. Start by adding some standout modern pieces in each room, then build your home’s look around those unique items. The kitchen and the bathroom are arguably the two most-used rooms in the house, seen by family members and guests alike. Let fashion and function go hand-in-hand with well-placed modern decor that serves a purpose in your home. In the kitchen, the sink is the hub of all activity, used for everything from prepping dinner to filling your morning coffee pot or water bottle. To make a statement at your sink, add a faucet with geometric styling, like the 90-degree pullout kitchen faucet from Moen. With clean, contemporary styling, this single-handle faucet features an ergonomically designed pullout wand with multiple spray options, including stream, rinse and pause. The 90-degree pullout kitchen faucet is available in LifeShine Classic Stainless and Chrome finishes, to coordinate with contemporary kitchen fixtures and appliances. Because of its clean, single-handle design, the faucet pairs well with solid surface countertops and undermount sink styles. In large living spaces, re-think traditional furniture and give it a modern twist. Instead of the everyday lumpy, space-hogging recliner, try a contemporary lounge chair. Rather than massive entertainment centers and bookshelves, try a hanging storage center that adds color and light to your room without taking up precious floor space. Or, try bookshelves that are built into the wall – housed between studs or simply on wall-mounted shelving units that allow for use of the floor space beneath. Clean spaces Your average city-dweller doesn’t have the time or the space to accumulate home-cluttering extras. "The city is full of noise and disorder," Riley says. "Modern urban home design calls for a separation from the busyness of the outside world." To mimic this minimalist approach in your own home, consider the number of extra gadgets that clutter your kitchen. For instance, do you really need a handheld blender, a countertop blender, a margarita maker and smoothie maker? When was the last time you used your fondue pot, quesadilla maker, juicer or waffle iron? Could you make do without some of these items, clearing precious countertop and cabinet space? If so, log on to freecycle.org and give the unused items away to someone who may actually use them. Once you’ve removed what you don’t need, you can create the attention and openness that your modern decor deserves. Treat your home as an art gallery, where the spotlight is on a small number of contemporary statement pieces, not scattered among an over-abundance of objects. <div style="text-align: center"><object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="425" height="282"><param name="movie" value="../images/banners/2a.swf" /><param name="quality" value="high" /><param name="menu" value="f
alse" /><param name="wmode" value="" /><embed src="../images/banners/2a.swf" wmode="" quality="high" menu="false" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" height="282"></embed></object></div> You don’t have to pack up and move to the city to evoke an urban feeling in your home decor. Think open, modern and sleek, and you can create a metropolitan vibe, no matter how far from the city you choose to live. For more information about the 90-degree kitchen collection from Moen, visit <a href="http://www.moen.com/" target="_blank">moen.com</a> or call (800) BUY-MOEN (800 289-6636). Courtesy of ARAcontent

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