For more than 25 years, Robert and Carolyn Juett lived in a traditional-style home, decorated with traditional-style furniture from familiar — and, yes, traditional — names, such as Ethan Allen and Thomasville.

        Then the kids moved out, Mr. Juett retired and Mrs. Juett decided to return to college to study graphic design. Suddenly, the couple's traditional home, crammed with possessions collected over a quarter-century, wasn't right for them anymore.

Robert and Carolyn Juett's modernist living room. (Ernest Coleman photo) | ZOOM |

        “We just came to the point where we both looked at each other and said, "Hey, let's go in a different direction,' ” Mr. Juett says. “We wanted something simpler.”

        For the Juetts, simpler meant sleek, clean, modern, minimalist decor — with the emphasis on minimalist.

        Last summer, the couple sold all of their furnishings, along with their 61-year-old home in College Hill. They built a home in Richwood (Boone County) with a wide-open floor plan that resembles a New York loft. They filled the new home with sofas, tables and chairs by contemporary designers, such as B&B Italia and Philippe Starck.

        Though Greater Cincinnati has a reputation for traditional thinking in most everything, interest in modern decor seems to be growing. One indicator is that Voltage, a high-end contemporary and modern furnishings store, expanded this summer from a 2,400-square-foot space in Hyde Park to a 14,000-square-foot showroom in a renovated warehouse in Oakley.

        Cutting-edge furniture sells here, particularly classic pieces with up-to-date — but timeless — looks, says Voltage owner Jeff Hinkel.

        “People here want to hold on to whatever they buy for a longer time,” he says. “It's not quite as trendy.”

        Paolo, in Clifton at Ludlow Garage, a more moderately priced modern furnishings store, also has expanded — from 2,000 to 3,000 square feet.

The bedroom of the Juett home is sparcely furnished. | ZOOM |

        “People are interested in getting away from the cluttered, traditional American style,” says Paolo owner Paul Salamone.“They seem to be more interested in the European simplicity of modern design.”

        Simplicity is key to the Juetts' home. Most of the rooms have just one major piece of furniture. In the living room, that piece is a white, two-piece sectional sofa by B&B Italia.

        In the breakfast room, it's a metal-base table with glass top, a design from Le Corbusier in the 1920s, accompanied by Philippe Starck metal chrome chairs.

        The couple was slightly more extravagant in the dining room, combining a black Steinway grand piano with a sleek, black chair by B&B Italia.

        In the master bedroom, the platform-style bed stands almost alone. There are two tiny nightstands in the corners. But there's no dresser or chest of drawers. Clothes and other belongings are hidden in an ample walk-in closet.

        The Juetts find the modern, minimalist approach quite comfortable.

        “I like the cleanness of it, the simplicity and the sensuousness of it,” Mrs. Juett says. “It's spoiled me. I have to really concentrate when I go to an art exhibit of something baroque or romantic now. It seems so complicated. The more you get used to a modern look, the more open you become to even more modern things.”

        Another convert to modern design is Janice Goldstein of Mount Adams.

        “I came from a house in Wyoming called a dipsy doodle,” she says. It was stuffed with an eclectic array of antiques and lots of clutter. “I used to say, "You don't have to dust, just blow on it.' I needed to clean up my life and just get better organized.”

        When she and her husband, Sidney, bought a house in Mount Adams, they tore it down to the foundation and had architect John Senhauser design a house with as few walls as possible, no hallways and no closets other than a walk-in for the bedrooms. She furnished it with modern styles, including many from Paolo and Voltage.

        “Houses like this function,” she says. “Other houses are stupid with hallways and junk. You can't have clutter in a house like this.”

Ron Pies in the living room of his Newport home. | ZOOM |

        Ron Pies of Newport fell for modern design when he spied a 6-foot-tall orbital lamp by Foscarini in the Paolo display at a home and garden show. The light, made of oddly shaped pieces of glass in a rainbow of colors, looks like something from outer space, Mr. Pies concedes. “But it's something I started with and I never stopped after that.”

        Now his entire home, which overlooks the Ohio River and the Cincinnati skyline, is a mix of classic modern furnishings; the vivid, primary colors of the furniture and accessories give the rooms a funky, youthful appeal.

        But beyond the look, the furnishings also are practical and comfortable, Mr. Pies says.

        “Really, the concept behind modern design is form follows function, what we learned in school.” he says. “Something that has been well thought out winds up being very functional.”

        Adds Mr. Juett: “A lot of this furniture you have to experience. You have to sit on it or touch it; that's when it comes alive.

        “Some of it, when you sit in it, it's simple but elegant, and some of it is actually quite sensual. ... To me it's quite functional. If you select it well, select what you like, it does exactly what you want it to do.”

        Most of the furnishings at Voltage tend to be lower to the ground than traditional furniture, Mr. Hinkel says.

        “It's a concept of being more grounded and relaxed because you're closer to the floor,” he says.

        Modern-style chairs and sofas also tend to sit deeper than traditional styles.

        “This, too, is the whole notion of becoming relaxed on your sofa and not sitting like you are at a bus stop,” Mr. Hinkel says.

        Many modern furnishings serve double functions. For instance, most of the time Mr. Pies uses a white, question mark-shaped piece in his living room as a cocktail table. But if he's entertaining and needs another seat, he can turn the table upright and it quickly becomes a (“nice, comfortable”) chair.

        “Your body fits perfectly inside the question mark,” he says.

        The purposeful design makes people think about the designers' intentions for its use, Mr. Pies says. “There seems to be a reason for everything I have and where I put it. There's thought behind everything in my house.”

        Like the Juetts, Mr. Pies has found truth in the rule that less is more. He topped his fireplace, which has a 9-foot mantel, with a 1/2-inch piece of glass. On top of that, he placed one swirl-shaped, lime green glass vase containing one flower.

        That minimalist style draws attention to the one simple piece, he says.

        “When you have so much stuff in your house, you get lost with everything and don't look at anything.”

        One of the most common complaints about contemporary decor is that it's too cold and stark. Sean Chmura's home in Mason is proof that doesn't have to be true.

        Mr. Chmura appreciates the clean lines of contemporary furnishings, and most of his furniture is from the Maxalta and B&B Italia lines at Voltage. But he also wanted to incorporate the warm feeling of wood tones and natural stone into his home, which sits on 2 1/2 wooded acres in a country club-style development.

        He's achieved that look through an extensive use of wood flooring, slate countertops and other natural elements.

        “People who like traditional homes have enjoyed this home because the natural elements are very prominent,” he says. “My mom, who lives in Florida, just saw it for the first time. She's not a contemporary person, but after spending a few days in the house, she said, "Everything kind of grows on you the more time you spend in it.' ”

        Deborah Kurak, a designer for Contemporary Galleries on Fourth Street, downtown, says clients are starting to feel free to mix and match different styles.

        “They've been put off by the cold, stark nature of contemporary,” she says. “Now they realize you can put one or two pieces with just about any type of setting.”

        Many modern homes use a variety of dark, rich colors, Mr. Hinkel says.

        “The trend in Europe the last few years has been dark browns, dark grays, very warm colors. The fabrics tend to be more textured, like chenille. Then you kind of play that off something very crisp and clean, like a glass table or something that might be all white.”

        Combinations of contemporary and traditional elements also are popular, Mr. Hinkel says.

        “It makes a more exciting environment. It makes the traditional things seem more important.

        “We're definitely proponents of mixing a beautiful antique chest in with some very clean chairs. Sometimes I walk into spaces that are just so much the same thing, whether all contemporary or traditional, that it's no big deal. But when you walk into a space that's an eclectic mix of styles, I find that to be much more appealing.”

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