By RACHEL AHRNSEN/For the Reporter

BIRMINGHAM – Urban Home Market, a new furniture and décor store, will open early December in the Lee Branch shopping center on Highway 280. Owner Kathy McMahon, who also owns Renaissance Consignment and Marketplace in Birmingham, describes the store as “17,000 square feet of lovely and unexpected home furnishings, mixing the rustic with the elegant.”

McMahon felt inspired to create Urban Home Market after talking with fellow Shelby County residents about the lack of home décor options in the area.

“I think the time and place is right. Shelby County needs something like this. It’s going to be a nice thing to have on this side of town,” she said.

In addition to merchandise, the store will have decorating services and a design center. McMahon hopes the design center will be one-stop shopping for customers seeking to give new life to their home. Designers will work with customers to create custom home furnishings, from lighting to upholstery.

The design center will also have a program called, “Inspiration to Installation.” This unique service helps customers decorate their home, and then allows the customers to live in their newly decorated space for a day before they pay for it.

McMahon, an interior designer, believes that “decorating a home is like building a character.”

“You need texture, imperfections and unique, personal items. That’s what gives a relaxed feeling when you go into a home,” she said.

She took the same approach when designing the store itself, aiming to make shopping at Urban Home Market interesting and engaging.

“I’m very excited, it’s going to be quite an experience to enter the store. My specialty is making an interior people remember. It’s like la dolce vita, the store will invite people’s senses to come alive,” she said. “There will be lots of surprises, lots of things customers won’t see in other stores.”