Six Urban Living Styling Rules

The keen city dweller tends to revel in the cut and thrust of life in the thick of it. Whether for work, play or a combination of both, living in the heart of a metropolis has many perks, but also some very specific considerations. So, when it comes to building your comfortable retreat, don’t start planning your urban décor until you’ve read our essential guide:

1. Embrace the Style of Your Home

Personal style isn’t defined by where you live as much as what you like. Depending on the type of urban space in which you live, work with rather than against, its quirks for maximum impact. An old factory, for example, is the ideal backdrop for industrial interior design. Modern home decoration pulls in elements from both old and new, like oversize factory lights over a modern blond wood table. This mix gives a scheme both depth and a story to tell.

2. Sociable Living Is Possible

Central city living spaces are also often short on space but even very small apartments need to foster a social life. Make sure you have a place to entertain: this may be just be a butcher’s block on wheels that can be pulled into the centre of your kitchen and used with stools around it for nibbles; it could even be a sitting room with floor cushions that slip under the sofa when not in use. Serve tapas instead of grand dinner parties to feed into the laidback approach.

3. Keep Your Privacy

A big consideration in urban living is window privacy. Ideally, the best blinds for privacy, whether for standard bathroom window privacy or large picture widows in your sitting room, combine discretion with light giving properties.

At Luxaflex® we’ve designed several options including Top Down – Bottom up blinds, sometimes called privacy blinds. This lets you open your blinds from the top, bottom or somewhere in between to get the right balance of light and privacy - as you want it.

Choose classic Venetian top down bottom up blinds or consider our Day and Night Plisse® Shades which combine room darkening and light filtering fabrics in one blind. See all our stylish privacy blind options.

4. External Noise

City living needs considered sound insulation to keep the 24/7 culture at bay. Window treatments can help hugely even if you don’t have the luxury of modern triple glazing. Our faux wooden shutters can cut noise and make your home feel snug and secure. For a layered look and more sound insulation, combine heavy lined curtains with a blind like our Twist® Shades that can manage the light and your privacy subtly.

5. Internal Noise

Soundproofing from the noise created within your apartment is important to manage too. New builds often have wooden flooring which is great for improving the sense of airiness, but can create lots of cold-sounding echoes. Adding in rugs or carpets will deliver warmth and absorb noise. Choose wisely and you can pull a scheme together in an instant with texture and colour.

6. Make it Yours

Fight the magnolia – new builds or small spaces are often painted white or beige by default. When decorating a flat, break with the blandness and opt for some arresting design details. Urban home décor should have some edge like geometric pattern or colour to express your individuality. Try a rich, deep paint and some carefully curated collections of favourite possessions to make your design feel luxurious rather than plain and practical. Very city slicker.

Looking for more inspiration? Visit our inspiration gallery for more ideas and tips.

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