Is your apartment up to date? Or would a designer scoff, “How passé!”? You’ll need more than throw pillows to keep up with Manhattan’s hottest design trends. Below are expert designers’ top ten trends for apartment living in the city.

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1. The Living/“Screening” Room
An unassuming living room transforms into a private movie theatre with large flat-screen monitors that disappear when not in use. Stephen Miller Siegel of Stephen Miller Siegel Architects has recently seen clients requesting this kind of double-duty. “As technology gets more compact, it’s easier to camouflage and become discreet,” said Siegel.

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2. The New Wood Floor
A hardwood floor is still par for the course (sorry, carpet salesmen), but their continued popularity has spurned the refinement of the ready-made floor. “Pre-finished, engineered wood floors have really grown in quality and popularity,” said Keith Steier, President of Knockout Renovation, an all-in-one design and remodeling service. They are significantly less expensive and much faster and easier to install. The boards snap in to place and don’t require the laborious process of staining and re-staining. Your guests will never know they are walking on laminate instead of solid oak.

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3. Living With “The Valuables”
Designers suggest that you don’t separate the objects you love from the rest of your living space. “There seems to be a return to the great design of the early seventies when one mixed great antiques with contemporary elements,” said New York interior designer and architect, Robert Couturier. “The newest trend I’m seeing is using furniture, even functional pieces like sofas, as art or sculptural elements.”

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4. Bye-Bye Bathtub
Designers are opting to install a full-size walk-in shower these days, in lieu of cramming in a too-small tub to narrow bathroom spaces. “Bathtubs have definitely fallen out of favor,” said Jennifer Melis, chief designer for Knockout Renovation. “There’s been a focus on updating bathrooms and kitchens, because you tend to get the best return for your investment in those rooms,” Melis added.

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5. New Granite Counter
Every home design show on TV has the decorator drooling over a new granite countertop. “People like the look and they’re durable,” explained Steier. As with hardwood, popularity has spawned more options, like fake granite, that allow you to upgrade without blowing your design budget. “Man-made products give you the look and require zero maintenance,” said Steier. Another plus: while it’s not possible to control the color and pattern distribution in a slab of naturally occurring granite or marble, man-made delivers a completely consistent result.

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6. Apartments Go Green
Designing using environmentally-friendly materials and renewable energy sources is a current trend. “There is definitely a new direction as far as using environmentally correct materials that did not seem to exist a couple of years ago,” said Couturier. Knockout Renovation has experienced a lot of demand. “Energy efficient appliances are quite popular,” said Steier. They’re easy on the conscience and the utility bills.

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7. Recessed Lighting
Who really wants to look at a fluorescent dome in the middle of their ceiling? Modern apartments have the lights tucked away and dimmable. “It creates a softer, nicer mood,” said Melis. “It’s a really clean look since nothing is hanging down from the ceiling.”

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8. Space-Saving Innovations
Designers are coming up with creative solutions to get your clutter out of sight and out of mind: from floor-to-ceiling shelving in bedroom and living rooms, to extra tall pantry closets, to roll-out bins. “Any idea that will get things off the counters and off the floors,” said Melis. New appliances are helping in the fight against clutter (and small spaces). “More manufacturers are offering drawer dishwashers and counter-depth refrigerators,” Steier said. Drawer dishwashers are the only way to offer the amenity in many tiny galley kitchens, and the new models are of a higher quality than leaky, breakage-prone early models. Counter-depth refrigerators give a small kitchen a sleeker look, since they sit flush with the line of the counter instead of protruding out into the middle of the room.

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9. Closet Pros
If you’re sick and tired of the weekly sweater-avalanche from the top of your closet, you are not alone. “Custom closet interiors continue to be a huge trend,” said Melis, “And people don’t mind putting a significant amount of money into it.” Be careful before you attempt to nail up some boards on your own. “We often refer clients to someone who specializes in making custom closets,” said Melis. “It’s a whole trade in itself.”

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10. Open Floor Plans
To make your apartment truly modern, consider using a sledgehammer. Melis and Steier agree that taking out extra walls is a huge trend for remodeling apartments. “Many clients have had us take out the wall between the kitchen and the adjacent dining or living room,” said Steier. “It visually opens up the space.”

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Source : New York Resident, Interior Design

A dull stainless steel sink can regain its former glory easily.

Do you wish your stainless steel sink looked as great as it did when you bought it? Before you dash out of the house to buy an overpriced cleaning product, simply take a look around your kitchen:

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The Materials

You probably already have the necessary items to clean your sink:

• Scrubber (non-abrasive, e.g. sponge or cloth)
• Vinegar
• Baking soda
• Olive oil

That’s all you need to clean your sink! You’re one step closer to restoring your sink.

Clean It

You may skip subsequent steps if your sink is cleaned to satisfaction, but they should all be done before shining it. There are only three steps to cleaning your sink:

1. The Presoak: Clean with soap (liquid detergent works well) and hot water
2. The Rub-down: Moisten a cloth with white vinegar and scrub the sink.
3. The Polish: Sprinkle baking soda and scrub with a damp sponge or cloth, then polish dry with a paper towel.

Grab that olive oil and get ready to shine.

Shine It

After the sink is clean, rub olive oil over the sink to shine it. You’ll notice the oil will take off any streaks that may still have. TipNut also recommends baby oil or Windex, as alternatives.

Enjoy

Now, you can have your stainless steel sink just like when you bought it. Future upkeep is now easier, because all you’ll need is a quick pre-soak and vinegar rub-down.

Source : Elegantcab

What makes a product Green? There are many considerations as discussed inGreen Building Resource Center explains it well.
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Green Home Guide suggests that you consider not just the materials themselves, but production, transport, use and maintenance, and end of life of the product. They also have a great overview of flooring products.

The products below are some ideas. Search for similar companies in your area to save on transport! Have any experience with green flooring and counters? Would love to hear your experiences with great products, so please send in a comment.

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Flooring 1. Reclaimed wood floors : Eco timber2.Carpet :Flor floor carpet tiles for indoor and outdoor. You can buy different patterns and colors so your design options are limitless. And if a tile gets stained, you can simply replace that tile as opposed to the whole carpet.

3. Linoleum floors : Forbo for flooring is made of linseed oil (from flax plants), pine rosin, wood flour, cork flour, limestone and pigments. It’s true linoleum (not vinyl which is what people often mean when they say linoleum)

4. Cork floors : Natural cork flooring

Cork is resilient, very warm, and soft underfoot. Unlike hard wood floors whose trees are cut down when harvested, only the bark of the cork oak tree is taken off. Renewable and sustainable, cork can be re-harvested every 9 years without replanting or damaging the tree. A cork tree can live 150-200 years. Some brands create cork flooring from the waste product from manufacturing cork for wine bottles, so it is actually a recycled product as well! Oh, and it looks nice, too.

5. Bamboo is growing in popularity now for flooring. I have seen it installed and maybe because it was stained light, every scratch showed. Maybe it was the quality of the bamboo, maybe it was the staining, but I am not yet sold. Others have commented that it’s the quality of the bamboo so look for a high end brand so as not to be disappointed

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Countertops can be a challenge to go green. Stone is all the rage, so look for materials that come a shorter distance. Other greener choices are listed below.

6. Greenhomeguide calls PaperStone products are designed to be the most, durable, eco friendly, cost effective & user friendly counter tops in the world. PaperStone was named one of Handy Magazine’s Ten Most Innovative products in 2006 for its sustainable and user friendly nature.

7. SmartWood Butcher Block Yes they are wood, but that doesn’t mean bad. These are considered green because of how their forests are sustainable and harvested.

8. Solid surface terrazzo countertops : Enviroglass solid surface counters made from recycled glass

Source : oninteriordesign