The style, shape and function of a home’s windows can underscore a home’s elegance, coziness or cutting-edge style. The following are some of today’s most exciting formats and treatments:

Adding Elegance

Palladian or arched windows are graceful and elegant, but hard to cover. Fortunately, Hunter Douglas offers a variety of styles to cover unusually shaped windows. For instance, Duette® honeycomb shades come in an arch shape, designed to lift and lower smoothly from top to bottom on “perfect” and “imperfect” arches, allowing for privacy, light control and easy window cleaning.
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Power tools are indispensable for professionals and those who tackle DIY home improvement jobs. They are favored as they help users to save time and they also make the job easier. However, they need to be handled carefully otherwise they can lead to injury. Mishaps usually occur due to negligence, boredom, and overconfidence. By keeping the following 10 safety issues in mind, it is possible to work satisfactorily and safely with power tools.

1. Safety glasses: These prevent dust, debris, wood shavings, shards from fiberglass, etc from getting into the eyes. Safety glasses are one of the most basic pieces of safety equipment that must be used when working with power tools.

2. Protection for the ears: Power tools can generate a lot of noise, which may sound louder in the cloistered environment of a workshop; in order to minimize damage to the ears, it is advisable to wear earplugs.
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Past honorees have been pioneers in print, radio and television. Their names have graced campus buildings and public gardens. For a dairy farmer’s grandson from Maine, the news that he was to receive the Ameri-can Horticultural Society’s 2006 Horticultural Communication Award was the most humbling of his career.

“To be included among the past recipients of AHS awards is the highest honor of my professional life, and nothing I could ever have dreamed of receiving,” said Paul Tukey, who founded People, Places & Plants magazine in 1995, along with a television show of the same name in 2002. “It is something I share with an incredibly dedicated staff at People, Places & Plants and my friends and family, who have supported me through all the trials and tribulations of an running an independently-owned publishing company in this day and age. Honestly, to win this was stunning.”
Founded in 1922, the American Horticultural Society is one of the oldest gardening organizations in the nation. Its awards program, started in 1952, is considered to be the most prestigious in the field of horticulture.

“The American Horticultural Society recognizes American horticultural heroes in a wide variety of professions through the annual Great American Gardeners Awards,” said AHS President Katy Moss Warner. “These awards celebrate the best and brightest in our nation, from scientists who develop tough plants for our gardens, to public garden professionals who promote earth-friendly gardening practices, to journalists who popularize gardening throughout America. This year, Paul Tukey is receiving the AHS Horticultural Communication Award in recognition of the extraordinary work he has done to encourage gardening through his dynamic talks, his presence on HGTV, and his People, Places & Plants magazine.”
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There are so many options available to today’s homeowner when it comes to choosing alternatives to traditional flat paint. There’s absolutely no reason to hang onto that boring tried-and-true white (or taupe, taupe, taupe) painted in every room throughout your home.

Explore the alternatives. Look in magazines for rooms that appeal to you. Architectural Digest, Southern Accents, Veranda and others all regularly feature homes that have faux finishes on everything from walls to furniture. Designers love to change the feel of a space with color and textures, painted faux finishes are an easy first step in that direction. You can do the same thing, too.

Faux finishes can be applied to almost any surface. From walls, ceilings, cabinetry in the kitchen and bath, floors, to all types of solid furniture as well. Styles of finishes can be extremely simple and subtle, to way, way over-the-top fantasy finishes, depending on your personal taste and pocketbook.
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