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RE-12 - The Canadien Champion, Wednesday, October 29, 2008 How to make your home warm and inviting The time is near for good tidings, great cheer and happy holidays. In an effort to prepare for entertaining during this joyful time, Sally Morse, director of creative serv- ices for Hunter Douglas, provides the fol- lowing tips on how to decorate the home in preparation for visiting friends and fam- ily • Go for a simple way of decorating in the living area and use wide ribbon to "gift wrap" throw pillows like packages to give your couch a festive feel. Adom your walls with indoor wreaths created from scarves and a little boxwood. • At the dinner table, dress up dining room chairs while also protecting them by attaching gold tassels to colourful fabric and draping it over the seat. Create a fes- tive centerpiece by filling a crystal bowl with fresh cranberries, adding one aspirin per bag, and topping it with fresh flowers with cut stems. For place cards, use holi- day cards in small gilded frames. If your dining room features a chandelier, deco- rate it with ornaments to round out the holiday look. • Windows are really the focal point of any decorative scheme. Whatever you do, be it simple or grand, they draw attention to a beautiful view, the holiday treasures you've lined up on the sill or, at night, reflect the mirrors and artwork on opposite walls to create, in effect, a masterpiece all their own. To add just the nght touch for the holidays and a soft look at the window that is beautiful year-round, use Silhouette window shadings. Featuring soft fabric vanes suspended between two sheer fac- ings, this line of window shadings trans- forms the look of a room by changing the quality of exterior light - from harsh and unyielding to gentle and controllable. It also protects against the suns harmful U.V rays while still revealing the view of the outdoors. • To add warmth at the window as well as soft, diffused light control, consider using Duette Architella, honeycomb shades, which, with their highly energy- efficient honeycomb-within-a-honeycomb design, can reduce heat loss at the window by up to 50 percent to stay warm during the holiday season. In the spirit of the season, Hunter Douglas is offering a "Wrap Your Windows for the Holidays" promotion from October 15 to December 15, 2008, during which consumers can obtain rebates on a variety of its most stylish window fashions. More information is available online at wwwhunterdouglas.ca or toll-free at 1- 800-265-8000. - News Canada A do-it-yourselfers guide to creating a home theatre By Ryan Hubers When some people think of a home theatre what comes to mind is a large room with a giant projection screen, tiered seating with oversized chairs, lights on dimmers, possibly a hand-paint- ed mural on the ceiling, and expensive acoustic equipment. These high-end theatre rooms are impressive but unrealistic unless you have a large budget to work with, and a room you don't mind sacrificing for the single purpose of watching movies. The good news is creating a home theatre is a lot easier than most people think and affordable on a smaller scale. Many modern home theatre systems are versa- tile enough to be used in a fami- ly room or any place where any number of daily activities takes place. Oftentimes, vou can find all the elements you need to create a home theatre from the same manufacturer. This makes shop- ping easy because you can do it all online and have the products shipped to you. One company that offers a complete home the- atre solution is mount and fumi- turc manufacturer Sanus Systems. Sanus offers TV mounts for virtually every flat-panel TV, and even offers an online mount finder to help you determine which mounts are compatible with your TV "One of the hottest new trends in home theatre design is to combine a wall-mounted flat- panel TV with a wall-mountable furniture unit," says Jim Wohlford, general manager for Sanus. On-wall furniture units such as the Foundations Vertical series attach to the wall directly beneath your mounted TV for a seamless look. This is a great solution for people who have more electronics than they know what to do with. With on-wall fumiture, DVD players, video games, cable boxes and speakers can be placed on the wall, up and out of the way Placing every- thing on the wall also saves valu- able floor space, and the unob- trusive design of the Vertical units let them blend in with any home decor. You might consider adding some additional products to your system, such as side and center- channel speaker mounts that attach ta the wall mount so the sound moves with the direction of the TV as you change the viewing angle; speaker pedestals that can be placed around the room for the ultimate surround sound experience; and Click Fit accessories such as surge sup- pressors and electrical boxes that easily snap onto select Sanus mounts and remain hidden behind the TV All of these prod- ucts can be found online at www.sanus.com or at audio/video and consumer elec- tronics stores. With a little bit of planning, you'll have a versatile home the- atre system that won't cost you a fortune. Even better yet, all of them are fairly easy to install and you can do so yourself with a few household tools. - News Canada vï-ia1r! M ïiw ~DWW ~ ~!DJJU33 ~$4t~ÙN1 s.m BNACKFUS1OL MOE SIDE,81i11xil, STAMABMBSTOCK Please contact your sales representative, diane wolstenhome at 905-878-2341, ext 212 FAX 905-876-2364 or email d ianew@m ilIton ca nad ian champion. com