When I think of the decorative styles “country” and “urban”, a tiny battle ensues between them in my mind. On the one hand, you have quilts, baskets, and weathered wood. On the other, grids, pipes, and white, lots of white. And not only are the objects battling each other but their owners, the sweet suburban mom or touch-minded farmer verses the dandyish art critic or the sullen musician. But a new book, Urban Country Style has found an interesting way to bring the two together, smartening up the country and warming the urban.

This richly photographed coffee table book follows a six-sided design hexagon called F.U.S.I.O.N (Functional, Unexpected, Simple, Integrated, Old, and New). Your not going to find anything about quilt-making here, but you will find New and Unexpected ways to Integrate, Simple, objects in Functional ways. How do you place that beautiful hand-me-down chair with your new cubed halogen-lights? Going beyond the design answer of “make it eclectic”, this book finds new approaches to modernize the old and bring character to the new. Think antique farm sinks with stainless steel shelving, or galvanized pipe and your mother’s antiques. One overall tip that is striking: for more country homes try adding commercial windows or doors rather than the residential varieties, while for more urban homes, elements from a farm supply store may add a new creative edge.  Lots of great, unconventional ideas in a beautifully photographed  hardcover edition.

Urban Country Style, Elizabeth Betts Hickman and Nancy Gent, Gibbs Smith, $29.95