Hunter Douglas, the number one manufacturer of window treatments and designs in the USA, came up with 10 window trends for any homemaker to use. Read on and make sure to apply the following tips to update your home’s look.

Sheer Fabrics– Soft and see-through fabrics are becoming popular nowadays. Credit goes to the popularity it enjoyed in Asia. Create a soft and undulating look to your windows with these fabrics.

Controlled day lighting– Many of Hunter Douglas products possess automation features for blinds, louvers, slats, panels and vanes that can control just how much light you want in a room or in what direction you would like it to go.

Window walls– Also called ‘open spaces’, it’s becoming popular for some rooms such as bathrooms to have window walls to create or vanish the sense of privacy and increase intimacy.

Complementing with rugs– Window treatments are used to complement a favorite area rug in terms of color, shade, material and even size.

Cornices– A window treatment will never be complete without the finishing touch, a cornice.

Window gadgets– Hunter Douglas has a wide array of controls and gadgets to control the performance of your window treatments as far as amount of lighting and direction of light is concerned.

Eco friendly design– The Duette product comes in a honeycomb within a honeycomb design that offers natural heat insulation and traps harmful UV rays, thus reducing energy costs.

Online support– One can upload a photo of her own room in the Hunter Douglas website and can see instant outcome by trying on any Hunter Douglas products.

Room darkening fabrics-Products that can darken the room efficiently, thus making a person relax more and sleep better.

New! Neutral colors– Color trends tend to go to neutral palettes and new colors such as pale pink, purple and green.

If you love this color, there’s good news for you this year. Pantone, the company that provides color palettes to manufacturers, graphic artists and designers has selected a pinkish red, called Honeysuckle, as its color of the year for 2011.

When Pantone highlights a color like this one, you will soon see it in a variety of consumer products. From fashion to furniture, designers and manufacturers focus on color trends and recommendations.

If you want to bring this color or any other light bright tones into your home, you can’t do better than a light wood floor such as this one as the foundation. You can see from the photo that light pinks and blues work beautifully with this floor.

This particular floor is a maple hardwood, but bamboo would also complement the colors. If you want your color options to change with the trends, the seasons or your own mood, this floor is a good start. Add in furniture with washable white slipcovers and other neutral shades, and then use pillows, throws, area rugs and accessories to focus your color choices. By changing out a handful of easily-replaced elements, you can create an entirely new feel for any space in your home. This is a perfect option if you love color but don’t want to settle for just one combination.

Light wood floors are a perfect choice for the changing needs and desires of children. Beautiful in a nursery, this wood floor grows as the child does, allowing for dramatic variations in color and style over time. Even a dramatic adolescent choice of black for the walls would be softened to some extent with the light floor.

If you’re looking for flexibility and durability, consider the advantages of a light wood, bamboo or laminate. It will provide the range you need to make décor changes over time.

Italian provincial furniture captures the rustic elegance of the Italian countryside. While it is often mistaken for the curvier and more decorative French provincial, this style boasts straight legs and classic lines with painted areas. It is often created in white or ivory with a pecan fruitwood finish. It looks lovely in either a formal or semi-formal setting with fine wood or travertine tile floors in a creamy white.

Here is a mini-glossary of key terms for Italian Provincial furniture:

Acanthus:  A type of leaf detailing seen in classic furniture. Look for it on carved wood furniture, metal bases and in mirror frames.

Armadio: A storage cupboard with doors, more commonly called by the French name, armoire. It works nicely for extra storage of linens, toys, sweaters or televisions and electronics.

Credenza: A buffet table with doors and shelves.  Traditionally used in a dining room, these work great in a living room or family room under a flat screen television.

Cassone: A low, usually wood, storage box.  It’s perfect for keeping blankets at the end of the bed or shoes in a mudroom.

Commode: A chest of drawers.  Think outside the bedroom for creative uses like in an entry with a mirror above or for storing games in the family room.

Console: A hall table, sometimes with a lower shelf.  Consider one for the entry with a mirror above it.

Gilt: Gilt refers to something being gilded with gold.  Look for giltwood mirrors to add sparkle and glamour to a bedroom, bathroom or foyer.

Gueridon: A small table with straight legs and often small medallions at the top.  Use these as a side table or even a bedside table.

Millefiori: Literally means “a thousand flowers” and is a pattern most commonly seen in Murano or Venetian glass works.  Millefiori bowls or vases make colorful accent pieces.

Pietra Dura: An inlaid stone table top.  Pietra Dura tables usually have metal bases, making them perfect for an outdoor living space or garden room.

This room from The Fairmont Orchid hotel in Hawaii demonstrates elements of a traditional style with a hint of its location in the floral elements. By taking a look at the design choices in this room, we can see how location shines in this space without losing the classic feel.

The strongly-defined molding supports a traditional look. This daylight photo doesn’t show it, but the design of the molding at the top of the wall would allow lighting to wash down the walls. Between the molding and chair-level wainscoting, simple grass cloth wallpaper creates an echo of the islands. The oil painting on the right is classically designed while adding still another floral element to the room.

The best melding of classic and island comes from the dramatic rug. Designed and sized to fit the room, the large flowers throughout are not something you would commonly see on the mainland. The colors are reflected in the furniture and the rug itself has a flexibility that allows room renovations and style updates without replacing it. This is definitely a case where the rug makes the room. Everything else comes a distant second to its attention-getting style.

Do you like a traditional approach yet want to find ways to reflect your region? Use decorative elements to bring your part of the country into your living room the way this space does.

This room, although clearly constructed of today’s materials, strongly echoes days of yore when a person’s home was his castle – literally.

Would you like to insert a medieval flavor to your décor? Take a few tips from this room to get started. Only a few of these touches will take your space back more than a few centuries.

To begin with, the slate floor helps to create the character of a castle while avoiding the problems associated with the reed floors popular at the time. Slate’s rich variety of color and texture adds a crafted mood to the floor that suits the Gothic mood of this room.

The window, doorway and fireplace surround echo a gothic mood with the classic arch shape. Although it is rarely seen, several window companies offer windows with this Gothic arch, and a number of companies offer window coverings that will work for this shape. The style certainly maintains the feel of another time.

Stone carvings and tapestries suit the space and keep to the medieval framework. Choosing tapestry throws to cover the upholstery and adding candles and greenery also complement the look. The balcony almost begs to see Shakespeare’s youngest heroine waiting for her Romeo.

While you may not want a room as strongly set in time as this one is, there are inviting elements for anyone who wants to echo another age while creating a unique space to suit their own tastes.

Would you like to take a break from the everyday priorities of life and plan for a bit of romance? Valentine’s Day is around the corner, but on a birthday, anniversary or just for the fun of it, it’s nice to let your honey know that he or she is still special to you.

To begin, take a look around your house to choose a location to create a romantic indoor picnic. If you have a fireplace, that’s a great choice. Other possibilities would be a window with a view, a corner of the family room, or the center of a den.

If the flooring is tile or wood, grab some area rugs from other parts of the house. If the room is carpeted, you can still put at least one rug down to anchor your romantic space. You may want to pile two or three on top of each other to create a cushioned spot that resembles the feel of a Moroccan or gypsy tent. Don’t be afraid to mix colors.  Add some pillows and position a small tablecloth or scarf in the middle for serving the food.

Complete your décor with the fresh flowers of your choice and candles. For the cushioned area, using the new LED lights that resemble votives such as the ones in the photo are much safer and worry free.

Choose favorite foods for your lunch or dinner. Finger foods are easier to manage when sitting on the floor. While it’s fun to make this event a surprise, you may want to ask your sweetie to bring some wine, just to provide a hint that a fun evening is planned.

Once you’re finished, take a step back and make sure everything looks inviting. Turn off the room’s lights, creating an island of warmth in the room. For a final touch, pull apart one of the flowers and sprinkle the petals around the area. Now you’ve created the right atmosphere for romance!

Not sure how or where to start when trying to coordinate patterns and prints? There are some basic guidelines that will help you create an interesting look without resulting in a “Matchy Matchy” look.

A well-put together scheme is successful in achieving variety, by including patterns and prints that create “Interest”, “Structure” and “Support”. Patterns and prints can fall under more than one category depending on the circumstances.

First lets start by classifying patterns and prints. All fabrics can fit into one of these types:

Large Print– used to add “Interest”.

Small Print– used to add “Support” to the dominant pattern or print.

Geometric– used to add “Structure”.

Stripe– used to add “Support” or “Structure”.

Solid– used to add “Support”.

Make sure your scheme meets all three requirements (Interest, Support & Structure); use color to further tie together your look. The combination of patterns and prints are endless. Below are some examples to give you a better idea.

1^st Example

*A large floral print (interest): Coral colored flowers with a turquoise background and cream highlights.

*A medium size geometric pattern (structure): Turquoise geometric circles on a cream background.

*A solid cream colored (support), textured fabric.

2^nd Example

*A large geometric pattern (interest): Coral background with cream colored geometric shapes.

*Medium sized stripes (structure): Wider turquoise stripe and smaller coral colored stripe.

*A small print, for example polka dots, (Support): Cream colored dots on a turquoise background.

As long as your scheme has variety by meeting required guidelines (interest, structure & support) you can’t go wrong. The possibilities are endless when you consider mixing and matching while meeting requirements. Have fun making your own combination!

Antique Roadshow on PBS allows people to share various items they either collected or inherited. Sometimes something that was only marginally valued becomes more important once people find out its value.

Do you have items tucked away in boxes and attics that are an important part of your heritage? Maybe it’s time to bring them into your life. One way to do that is by creating a vignette of pieces and photos from your family’s past. You can focus on one person or one theme, and end up actually telling a story.

This table display shows the history of a great grandfather who spent his life studying butterflies. Some of his old reference books stacked in one corner hold his hand-written notebooks and the magnifying glass he used for field study. A shadowbox with some of the butterflies he collected leans against a panel. The pride of his tools – the brass microscope – stands in the center of the display. If the family added a few photos, the vignette could be a complete story of one relative’s life.

When planning, choose a theme or person to focus on to make a story rather than an unconnected display. Did your grandmother quilt? How about one of her quilts under her old sewing basket with some unfinished quilt squares lying on top? Add in a photo of grandma in her spare room with one of her quilts on the bed and you’re on your way to another story.

Whatever your heritage, bring it into your own present by creating a vignette. Your family’s past is waiting for you to share it with others.

What makes this room work? It’s the study in contrasts that make a traditional design like this stay new and interesting.

The classic elements such as the design of all the furniture, the moldings and most of the accessories contrast with the contemporary approach to color and design.

Painting the walls this dark green grey provides the first leap from the standard. The fabric choice for the loveseats and drapes also depart from a traditional approach.

The carpet, while traditional in color, departs with its willingness to include pattern. Both the base pattern of the carpet and the overlay of a matching rug with a contrasting border take this room up a design notch. Both the colors and the carpet choices make this room stand out as a fresh take on an old look.

This room shows the power of contrast in design. Taking a chance on a dark wall tone, combining different patterns, and encouraging both very light and very dark elements to interact makes for an exciting room.

Does your home show your more daring side? How about challenging yourself to take some chances with your décor? Even if your taste is traditional, let your creative side experiment. You never know what may happen!

When decorating a room, it’s important to connect the design choices to the architecture of the space. When you don’t, you have a room like this one, where the style choices eliminate the charm and power of the space rather than support it.

What doesn’t work, and what needs to happen to make this room live up to its potential? Start with the easiest and most appalling decision – the valance. The bit of fabric cuts at a point that emphasizes the unfortunate delineation between the lower and upper windows, damaging the drama of the line and adding absolutely nothing to the potential charm of the room.

The black sofa has the power to live up to the space, but sitting alone in the middle of the room, it seems as if the movers set it down and no one has touched it since. It’s too far away from the other chairs to create a conversation center or support the fireplace as a focal point. It also needs some companion upholstered pieces to save it from looking bulky and overbearing compared to the other furniture in the room.

The other pieces of furniture seem to have been set to make it easy to vacuum. The plants feel like space fillers rather than an integral part of the design. The light walls and carpet increase the weakness of the look.

Let’s make some changes. Place a rich gold carpet in a slightly darker tone than the ceiling. Move the sofa within shouting distance of the fireplace, and add a couple of upholstered chairs to make a conversation space around the fire. Take the rockers and move them to the front of the room where their light weight will keep your eyes moving to the back of the space where the action is.

Finally, tear down that valance and consider replacing the ceiling fan with a darker and more significant light fixture. The addition of a rug or two would also anchor the space effectively. Suddenly you have a space that invites you in and makes you feel comfortable.