Tips for refreshing the rooms you entertain in

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We all want our homes to look their best when entertaining for the holidays or any time of year. Sally Morse, director of creative services for Hunter Douglas, Canada's leading manufacturer of custom window fashions, has the following tips for refreshing the rooms you entertain in:

Living Rooms – Refresh your living room with slipcovers. Morse suggests bringing standard slipcovers to a monogram shop where you can add your initials, a family crest or motto to give them a custom look. Brighten up that dark fireplace with the addition of some pale wood strung with lights and replace pictures with groupings of mirrors to add reflected light to a room.

Bring the outdoors in with Hunter Douglas Silhouette window shadings. Featuring soft fabric vanes suspended between two sheer facings, this window fashion allows you to have your view and even with the vanes open, filter out up to 88 percent of harmful UV rays. A new Bouclé fabric for this product features an organic-inspired, natural look in the three-inch and a four-inch vane size.

Dining Rooms – To dress up your dining room, get your silver, mercury glass and china out from the cupboard and put it on display. Add an area rug and change the shades on lamps and ceiling fixtures. Sheer shades will create a soft translucent light. Try a versatile window fashion like Silhouette window shadings, or Luminette Privacy Sheers, a product similar to Silhouette shadings but on the vertical. Put all lighting on dimmers so that you can be the movie director of your meals.

Media Rooms – These are now perhaps the most popular new room in the house. To make yours seem like a movie theater, take some tips from Morse and add movie posters (available on the Internet) and a popcorn machine. Be sure to have opaque window coverings. A good choice is newly updated Somner custom vertical blinds, the most complete collection of vinyl and fabric styles on the market with the rich look of hardwood offered as well. Motorization and specialty track systems make it possible to operate these blinds with a touch of a button for showtime.

Another excellent choice is Vignette Modern Roman shades, a dramatically improved innovation on the traditional Roman shade available in everything from seersucker to satin weaves, with PowerRise with Platinum Technology for remote control operation at the touch of a button. Duette Architella honeycomb shades in an opaque fabric with PowerRise with Platinum Technology are another option.

Kitchens – Don't be afraid of adding colour to your kitchen, Morse advises. She reports that the recent addition of a black glass backsplash to her counters sets off other colours and adds space by creating an optical illusion of infinity. Something as simple as changing your kitchen towels can add colour and "spice" to a kitchen.

With these tips, the most important rooms in your home will be ready to welcome guests.

More information is available online at www.hunterdouglas.ca

Photo caption: Shades can now be operated at the touch of button. One such treatment, Vignette Modern Roman Shades with PowerRise Platinum Technology from Hunter Douglas is featured in the media room.
 

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