The Indie on Main
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News for Your Home and Lifestyle


The Chandelier Bar

Enjoy the Show
The Midland’s indoor theater, first built in 1927 and known for its live concerts and events, is finally back in business, opening its doors with a performance by Melissa Etheridge on September 9.

In July 2005, the theater was renovated as part of the $85-million, eight-block Power & Light District entertainment project in downtown, Kansas City, Mo. Improvements include state-of-the-art sound, lighting and amenities; flexible seating; and the ability to hold 1,300-3,000 patrons. The Indie on Main, at ground level, offers a bar, appetizers and lounge-style seating with musical acts, while Windows on Main, located on the fifth floor, features a banquet room, full kitchen and views of the city. The Chandelier Bar on the top floor flaunts a full-circle bar, four large LCD TVs and cabaret-style seating, while the balcony has new stadium seating.

The new and improved Midland by AMC is operated by AEG Live. 816.931.3330 or www.midlandkc.com

New: HBA Remodelers Council Program
The remodeling industry has taken off in the last couple years, especially since people are now staying in their homes for a longer period of time rather than selling. To help provide the remodeling industry with information and educational and networking opportunities, the Home Builders Association of Greater Kansas City approved the formation of the Remodelers Council in May 2008.

The newly appointed council will serve as the local arm of the national council of NAHBR. The council, affiliated with the National Association of Home Builders, was renamed to reflect the changes taking place in the building and remodeling industry. The HBA’s Remodelers Council is led by two of the NAHB Remodelers’ 25 trustees: Dan Norburg, chairman, and Travis Graham, vice chair. Membership is $35 for each individual. 816.733.2227 or www.nahb.org/remodelers    

Selling Sustainability
Gerould Sabin represented EnviroGLAS products (countertops and flooring made of recycled glass) for the past three years. When the company went through a restructuring phase, Gerould decided to change his plans also.

With his knowledge and passion for sustainable products in the building and remodeling industry, he created Elements of Green in June 2008. Located in the historic Crossroads Arts District at 1919 Wyandotte, it offers a variety of green products, including EnviroGLAS, Vetrazzo and PaperStone countertops; bamboo, palm wood, cork, Marmoleum and a new stand of woven mulberry flooring; sheet goods like bamboo, palm plywood and wheat board; and recycled glass, natural stone tiles, and natural wool, linen, sisal, reed and coir carpeting, which comes from a local vendor — adding to the green factor by reducing embodied energy. The store also carries tankless water heaters, PET plastic roofing and natural cleaning products.

“We’ve been passionately involved in the personal remodeling of many homes and cognitive of what comes out as well as goes in during the process,” Gerould says. “I feel it’s something we all need to pay more attention to. There are just things we need to do that make sense.” 816.842.0500 or www.elements-of-green.com

Come on in
Stephanie Starks and Liz Reid recently decided to change their career paths, from nurse and office manager, respectively. In May 2008, they opened the fifth location of Keeping Good Company, which originally started 12 years ago in Osage Beach, Mo.

Located in southern Johnson County at 160th Street and Metcalf, the shop offers a variety of furnishings and accessories, including area rugs, hand-made linens and towels, botanicals, candles, baby items, kitchen items, desks, lamps, chairs, sofas, armoires, tables and cabinets. You’ll also find works by local artists and manufacturers.

“I just loved her [the founder’s] original store and wanted to get into the business,” Stephanie says. A sixth location was opened in St. Joseph, Mo., in June. 913.685.4300 or www.keepinggoodcompany.com


West Elm
Just What You Want
Fully furnished vignettes that display modern and relaxed looks are just what you’ll find when browsing the new Leawood-based West Elm, a youthful and moderately priced home design store.

A member of Williams-Sonoma’s portfolio of brands, the new store at The Shops at 119th Street, which opened in July 2008, is the company’s 32nd retail location and Kansas City’s first. The 12,500-square-foot space offers decor with strong global and natural influences. With each season, the decor and colors change. The Leawood location is only the second in the country to unveil the fall 2008 collection of modern, rustic aesthetics, strong lines, and vintage and Shaker-inspired details. www.westelm.com
       
A Taste of Hollywood
Johnson County is home to a new boutique known for carrying brands, styles and fashions from the West Coast.

Mission-based Riviere Tatters Boutique, or ‘casual elegance’ as the name implies, was founded in January 2008 by Jennifer Jenkins Schmidt, owner and jewelry designer for about six years. Her sister by marriage, Ashley Vanderhagen Jenkins, is the store’s chief buyer as well as a jewelry designer. The store carries custom jewelry, lingerie and clothing, designer jeans and accessories. Customers also will find ‘green’ clothing and accessory lines, with a few brands that donate a percentage of proceeds to humanitarian efforts. Some clothing brands you’ll find in the store are Frankie B Jeans, SuperLuckyCat, 7 for all Mankind and Velvet, while Jennifer’s Jewelry Box, Gianesso and BlueStem cover the jewelry lines. 913.789.6466 or www.rivieretatters.com

Fabulous Four
Gina Thornton, Roseann Pitts, Angela Wagner and Dana Huston are friends who wanted a career change, something that was more flexible and incorporated a hobby they all had in common: shopping.

In January 2008, they created Four Inside Design, a company that specializes in reasonably priced home decor accessories and giftables. “We’re trying to keep it light, airy and new,” says Gina, who has an interior design background. “We want to bring some color back, and we’re always looking for unique items.” The women are also conscious about the environment. They pay attention to the packaging and carry green accessories, such as lunchboxes that look like patent-leather purses. All items range from $5 to $200.

Four Inside Design can be found at home shows and events around town. Be sure to look for the name this month at the Blue Valley Education Foundation event and at the Holiday Mart in October. 913.522.6673 or www.fourinside.com

Staging from the South
Samantha Bush worked with builders to help them design homes from the ground up as the residential and commercial development manager and the merchandising manager for Havertys Furniture in Savannah, Ga., and Hilton Head, S.C. That experience helped her launch her own design business.

“I received great feedback and a few job offers, so I decided to move home to Kansas City and open my own design store in a town I love,” she says. In March 2008, S Bush Designs opened in Kansas City, where Samantha works out of her home. She provides complete staging, full-service interior planning and decorating, whether it’s from scratch or with existing furniture pieces. 816.401.9090 or www.sbushdesigns.com

KC’s Newest Greens
In June 2002, FiveStar Lifestyles purchased the existing 18-hole golf course at The Village of Loch Lloyd, and starting this fall, it’s getting a professional makeover and then some.

Also owners of The National, which is the world’s first Tom Watson signature- designed golf course, FiveStar Lifestyles re-engaged Kansas City’s Hall of Fame golfer for the project at Loch Lloyd. With his love and talent of creating and shaping golf courses, Tom will add nine new holes on 400 open acres of existing land to Loch Lloyd then renovate the existing 18. “It’s going to be the golf story of the next decade,” says Chuck Campbell, director of marketing for FiveStar Lifestyle Communities. Golfers should be able to enjoy the new course by 2011, complete with dramatic elevation changes and water features.

Along with the golf course addition and renovation, The Village of Loch Lloyd is also adding 200-220 new home sites overlooking the new golf course; they’ll be available in 2009. www.lochlloyd.com

Dream Come True
Do you want a new outdoor living space without paying a price? Briggs & Stratton Corporation, producer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, along with numerous sponsors, is giving away dream backyards.

Through the end of this month, you can enter the Dream Backyard Giveaway to win one of six backyard packages: Nature’s Nook, Backyard Athlete, Kids’ Zone, Relaxation, Party Time or Gardener’s Paradise. Contest rules state that you can enter once a day each month during the contest, but there’s only one lucky monthly winner. Prizes for each backyard paradise, depending on the chosen theme, include an outdoor bar, swimming pool, trampoline, play set, lawn tractor, greenhouse, green products, hot tub, putting green or basketball goal. www.mydreambackyard.com

Worthy Applause
After a two-mile-wide, EF-5 tornado ripped through Greensburg, Kan., one year ago, residents were left to rebuild 95 percent of their city. Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius enlisted the help of Kansas City firm BNIM Architects to work with town leaders in not only rebuilding the city but developing a design plan based around energy efficiency, renewable energy and sustainable design. It’s this design, the Greensburg Sustainable Comprehensive Plan, that won the firm and the city the 2008 Sustainable Cities Award.

The award-winning plan consists of using 100-percent renewable supply of electricity, decreasing the town’s carbon footprint, increasing its economic vitality, rebuilding city projects to the LEED Platinum standards and maintaining the cultural heritage of the town’s citizens. This plan created the nation’s first model green community, an improved economic model for rural America. 816.783.1500 or www.bnim.com

Honorable Art
In April 2008, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art was honored for its “American Paintings to 1945” collections, receiving the Midwest Art History Society’s Award for Outstanding Exhibitions or Collection Catalogue for 2007.

The two-volume set, praised for its quality of writing and design, is a result of more than 20 years of research on American paintings at the Museum. According to its press release, volume one of the catalogue has 562 pages, 141 colorplates and 115 black-and-white comparative illustrations, while volume two includes 280 pages and 267 colorplates. This collection will be featured within the Museum’s new galleries in spring 2009 and grouped according to key dates in American and art history as well as five main regions across the country and parts of Europe. 816.751.1278 or www.nelson-atkins.org