Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Master Bathroom

Upgrade your master bathroom to a five-star retreat.

A spa oasis will help soak your stress away.

We all love a beautiful spa bathroom when we’re on a luxury vacation. Why not enjoy that luxury every day of the year while we’re at home too?

You can create a spa experience in any size bathroom although bigger is almost always better! Think neutral colors because they lend themselves to the calmness and serenity you’d like for a spa retreat. Also consider coordinating colors with your master bedroom for a seamless transition from sleep to serenity.

Here’s where you can start:

• A beautiful, elegant soaking tub

• New sinks, countertops and backsplashes

• Exquisite new hardware, including pulls, handles and faucets

• A soothing paint color that makes you feel calm

• Soft and luxurious bath textiles, including towels, washcloths, bath rugs and bathrobes

• An elegant vanity (preferably a double vanity if you have room)

• Stunning framed mirrors, instead of frameless wall-to-wall mirrors

• Layered lighting for both function and beauty, and maybe even a skylight to bring in natural light

Even more ideas to enhance your spa experience include:

• A steam shower

• Plenty of towel racks, and even heated towel warmers

• Soaps, scrubs, lotions and fragrances that please YOU

• Beautiful smelling candles and aromatherapy

• A built-in bench or movable chair or stool

• Built-in storage, to keep chaos to a minimum and maintain a zen calm feeling

Begin and end your days in luxury and comfort. Plan for a master bathroom redo this season. You can’t help but slow down and relax. 

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Complementary Colors

Complementary colors beautifully finish almost any design plan

Use them for harmony and a sense of calm.

The old adage that opposites attract is often true; and especially in selecting the colors for decorating your home. Using opposite colors (also known as complementary colors) adds energy to a room, yet at the same time, makes us feel comfortable and complete.

Complementary colors are the shades that are opposite on a color wheel:

• Red and green

• Orange and blue

• Purple and yellow

Nature is full of complementary colors, such as dramatic red roses on stems with bright green leaves, delicate pansies with their purple and yellow color combination, and bright blue sky and sea positioned near golden sand.

For a more modern take on complementary colors, you can use shades that are not exactly across the color wheel, or you can be a bit creative with the complementary color concept. Think about innovative hues like:

• Sky blue and terra cotta

• Pink grapefruit and acid green

• Burnt orange and sage green

• Soft aqua blue and tomato red

If you feel cautious about adding complementary colors, start small with elements like a painted wall, sofa pillows, throws, flower arrangements or slip covers. Then, as you become more confident, you can ratchet up your color scheme with larger and more permanent items like upholstery fabrics and window fashions.

Balance your interior design plans beautifully by selecting complementary colors.

Stay Warm With Energy Efficient Window Coverings

Stay Warm with Energy Effiecient Window Coverings

It is winter and the cold months are here to stay for a while. During these chilly months being bundled up next to a warm fire while you read a book or watch TV is the best feeling ever. But the worst feeling is trying to keep your energy bill down when on an average we spend 59% more on energy bills. But don't worry - Read Design has a solution for you with energy efficient window treatments from Hunter Douglas.

Cellular Shades and Roman Shades

Cellular Shades and Roman Shades are the top energy-saving window coverings. They both are very trendy and have plenty of factors that help you save money on your energy bills.

Cellular Shades, also referred to as Duette Honeycomb Shades by Hunter Douglas, are the most energy efficient window coverings. They are designed to have dead-air spaces which increase their insulation by trapping the warm air inside which helps to keep you warm all winter long. With the introduction of Hunter Douglas Architella Duettes, this got even better. The Architella Duette is a honeycomb within a honeycomb which gives 3 air pockets and keeps even more of the warmth inside. Duette Honeycomb Shades are very versatile window coverings with a variety of fabric and colors to choose from. They offer various degrees of light filtering options including sheer, light filtering and room darkening. This also helps with privacy and insulation. Duette Honeycomb can also be made in specialty shapes including arches and skylights. There are a number of lift options including Ultraglide, LiteRise, or can be motorized with Hunter Douglas PowerView Motorization making them easy to open and close as well as child safe.

Roman Shades are similar to cellular shades and are one of the most popular window coverings today. They are both functional and beautiful And they offer great energy efficiency. Hunter Douglas has the Vignette Modern Roman Shade and the Solera Soft Shades to choose from. The both come in a variety of colors and textures that add beauty to your home Roman Shades can also trap in the warmth which can save you money on your electric bill. Also, like the Duette Honeycomb Shades, Roman Shades come in various degrees of light filtering options for privacy and light control. They also have a number of lift options to choose from.

Here is one of our recent installation in Prosper, Texas. We used Tierred Vignette Modern Roman Shades by Hunter Douglas. The fabric we choose was Drake. The color of the fabric blended all the colors in this new home together. They have a total of 10 windows in the Family Room so we chose to use PowerView Motorization which will make it easy to open all of the shades at once and with this system the customer can set the shades to raise to their favorite spot. We all were very pleased with the look the Vignette Modern Roman Shades created.

Right Now Hunter Douglas is offering Rebates on these Energy Efficient Window Shades- Duette Honey Comb Shades, Vignette Modern Roman Shades and Sonnette Shades. For every Vignette shade you purchase, you will get $50 back (with a minimum of 2 shades). For every Duette and Sonnette Shades, you will get $25 back (with a minimum purchase of 4 shades).

Custom Drapery

At Read Design Plano and Read Design Southlake, our Designers can also help you with Custom Window Treatments including Draperies, Valances, Cornice Boards and much more. And now we are receiving New Fabrics from all of the manufactures which makes now an exciting time to start thinking about updating your home. Many drapery treatments are designed for insulation which also helps with the energy efficiency of your home during the window but also during those hot summer months in the North Texas area.

Where to find Energy Efficient Shades in the Dallas / Fort Worth Area

Read Design has bed a leader in Hunter Douglas and Custom Window Treatments in the Dallas / Fort Worth area and have 2 convenient locations- one in Plano and one in Southlake. At Read Design you can see our many displays and our designer can help you find a solution just for your windows. And we can help you solve all of your interior design needs. Stop in or give us a call.

Plano. 972-608-4999
Southlake. 817-416-7164

We service all of these areas and more
Irving, Dallas, Grapevine, Plano, Highland Park, Preston Hollow, Carrollton, Allen, McKinney, Richardson, Rockwell, Garland, Prosper, Celina, Southlake, Keller, Trophy Club, Colleyville, Arlington, Westlake, Northlake, Robson Ranch, Flower Mound, Little Elm, Lewisville, The Colony, North Richland Hills, Mabank, and all areas in between.

We will be having a Window Dressing Event starting in February and will have a number of events running throughout the Spring. Watch for our Blogs and info on Facebook.

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Bathtubs

A beautiful bathtub can change the way you think about your bathroom.

A bathtub marries function and fashion in a unique way.

Bathtubs mix aesthetics and purpose more than almost any other bathroom element. Many people include a bathtub in their design plans just for the look, but think about how a bathtub can transform your bathroom into a relaxing, stress-relieving retreat where you can have a long soak with candles, music and a soothing beverage.

Be creative as well as practical when selecting a bathtub for your home. You can select from many styles of tubs from the most traditional – even a refinished antique tub! – to the most contemporary, and everything in between. And you’ll want to focus on the fixtures, which come in a variety of beautiful styles and finishes.

Functionality plays a part in your selection process too. Does someone in your home have mobility issues, needing help to get in and out of the tub? Does your tub also need to function as a shower? Would you like a whirlpool feature to soothe aching muscles or arthritic joints? 

In terms of beauty, bathtubs give you a unique opportunity to mix surfaces – porcelain, metal, stone, tile, wood and more. Tubs can be freestanding or have a surround of various materials. And plan for plenty of towel racks so towels are convenient to access and dry quickly.

As far as additions to your bathtub design:

• Position a tray across your bathtub to hold your soap, loofah, a book and a beverage.

• Display potted plants around the tub; many of them like the moisture.

• Add warmers in towel bars and under the floor.

Enhance your relationship with your bathroom with a fabulous new tub!

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Holiday Decor

Just a dash of holiday detailing can create a merry room.

Add a pinch of festive trim to get you in the holiday mood.

It doesn’t take much ornamentation to embellish your rooms beautifully and get you, your family and friends into the holiday spirit. It’s like adding garnish to a dish to make all the difference in how it looks and tastes.

You may be the type of person that goes all out for the holidays – and that’s great. But don’t despair if you want a holiday feeling in your home, but also want to keep it simple. There are lots of small ways to decorate your home for the holidays, with a minimum of cost and effort, and a maximum of enjoyment!

First prioritize which rooms have the biggest impact in creating a feeling of holiday cheer in your house. This might include:

• Living room or great room

• Dining room

• Kitchen

• The front door, entry and outside the house

Then consider small ways to make your home festive:

• A holiday tree, poinsettias or Christmas cacti

• Holiday scented candles scattered around the house

• Bowls of sparkly ornaments

• Wreaths and sprays of fresh, fragrant pine

• Scented logs for your fireplace

• Dining room centerpieces and linens

• Garlands of holiday lights, for outdoors or in

• Holiday throws and pillows

• Sweet smelling fresh-baked desserts and mulled ciders and wines

Select a consistent color scheme so your holiday look has continuity. Red, green, gold, silver, blue and white are traditional holiday colors. Or you can be creative and update these traditional colors toward hues of fuchsia or pink, lime or acid green, copper or brass.

Add just a few holiday accents this season to make your home feel festive and warm. Then sit back, relax and enjoy the season!

Why Hunter Douglas

BETTER WINDOW TREATMENTS, BY DESIGN

We believe that the perfect window treatment should do more than just cover a window.

For almost 100 years we have dedicated ourselves to studying the properties of light at the window, discovering new ways to manage the daily illumination, privacy and energy management needs of a home, and pioneering innovative window treatment designs that add value and style to any room.

We invented many of the window treatment designs that lead the industry today, including the iconic Duette® Honeycomb Shade, whose shape and revolutionary energy-efficiency benefits have become a design standard. Our most recent products have even gotten their own intelligence, with smart-home operating systems that move the shades automatically to their perfect positions throughout the day.

By constantly innovating and pairing our designs with the most elegant performance fabrics, we create long-lasting window treatments whose beauty, functionality and durability are simply like no other.

Imagine what our window treatments can do in your home:

LIGHT CONTROL & PRIVACY

Harsh light at the window? Our products feature innovative fabric designs that transform sunlight into a wonderful soft glow and help protect your furnishings from damaging UV rays. Want more light? Our products can help channel light deeper into your room, filling dark corners and reducing your need for electrical lighting. Want daytime or nighttime privacy? Our products and operating systems provide clever ways for giving you the privacy you want while maintaining your view-through to the outside.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Keep your rooms warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer thanks to our energy-efficient products—specially engineered with cellular air pockets that can block up to 50% of the heat transfer at the window. At Hunter Douglas, we're an industry leader in making a big energy savings difference at the window. In 1985, we invented the highly energy-efficient Duette® honeycomb shades in response to the energy crisis of the late 1970s. Our latest innovation is the Duette Architella® honeycomb fabric featuring a honeycomb-within-a-honeycomb design for even greater energy efficiency. Today, we continue to think about the impact all of our window fashions can make. Without energy-efficient window treatments, as much as 50% of a home's heating and cooling energy can be lost through its windows.

SMART-HOME SHADE AUTOMATION

Imagine your shades moving automatically to the exact position you prefer—to achieve the specific lighting effect you love or adjusting themselves for the optimal energy efficiency throughout the day. Our revolutionary PowerView® Motorization system automatically moves your shades according to schedules you set. Your shades will always be in their perfect positions 24/7—no hands required​. The PowerView App unlocks the full potential of PowerView Motorization. Using the App, you can control your shades with a swipe of a finger. Or, create customized Scenes that move the shades to positions you set, and automate those Scenes to operate on their own throughout the day.

BEAUTIFUL, UNIQUE DESIGNS

Whatever your aesthetic style or home lighting need, Hunter Douglas has a visually stunning and functionally amazing window treatment solution designed to wow you. We offer the broadest selection of innovative product types, elegant performance fabrics and intelligent shade operating systems​. Everything we do at Hunter Douglas is inspired by a passion for beautiful, highly functional design. And nothing illustrates this enthusiasm quite like our extraordinary collection of over 2,400 unique fabrics, thoughtfully and practically designed to help you express the spirit of your home.

SAFETY

Create a safer home environment for children and pets with advanced, cordless operating systems from Hunter Douglas. ​From cordless and motorized operating systems, retractable lift cords, cord tensioners and wand controls, we offer a wide array of operating system options for enhanced child and pet safety. The window coverings industry uses warning tags, labels, and other methods to communicate the potential hazards of corded window coverings. The warning shown here, for example, communicates the important message about cords being a potential strangulation hazard and suggests choosing cordless or inaccessible-cord alternatives.

LIFETIME LIMITED WARRANTY

Your stylish additions to your room also become sound long-term investments for your home. Our long heritage and passion for craftsmanship helps deliver window treatments with the highest quality and construction, and the lifetime limited warranty helps ensure beauty that endures.

Give us a call or visit our showroom for an in-depth consultation about all of our products. Our experienced designers can tell you the features and benefits of each product, while narrowing it down for the perfect window treatment for your unique style. We appreciate that every consumer has their own special needs and work hard to create a look that is both functional and beautiful. 

We serve all of Dallas Forth Worth from Celina to Dallas, Wylie to Grapevine, Denton to Benbrook and everywhere in between.  

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Built In Seating

Built-in seating provides storage and display space.

And, yes, this beautiful design element also offers a place to perch.

Built-in seating feels cozy and inviting – and it’s so versatile, providing not just an additional place to sit, but also display space and even storage underneath. It can maximize space in a tight area or add a new casual place to read, have a meal, chat or just look out the window.

Built-in seating can be manufactured to complement almost any building style. It can be upholstered or not; it can have simple and straight lines or lots of detail; it can have seat backs or not; it can have closed shelving inside, open shelving or no storage at all.

Best of all, built-in seating can go almost anywhere in your home:

• Most popular, in a breakfast room or kitchen, for added places at the casual family dining table

• In the window of a bedroom or living room, to create a lovely place to daydream and view the outdoors

• In the den or home office, for a quiet space to talk on the phone, answer emails or respond to texts

• In the foyer, to put on shoes and socks, and drop off your stuff when you come in the door, but do watch for clutter!

Built-in seating can also be a creative way to finish a room that looks a bit incomplete. It beautifully fills up an awkward space in a corner or completes a room plan near a window.

Built-in seating is a clever choice that adds beauty and function and can help organize your home.

RD Home

We have exciting news at Read Design, the expansion of Read Design Home (RD Home Collection). New Products are coming in everyday and we are busy in our remodeling mode. Our shop is taking on a new and fun look. Stop in and see us soon!

At Read Design Plano, we are a full service Interior Design studio. It all starts with your window coverings. We have a Hunter Douglas Gallery and can show you Blinds and Shades - including Silhouettes, Pirouettes, and many other styles of Shades. And do not forget Plantation Shutters. An attractive window and the right light can change everything - from your room to your mood. Hunter Douglas has mastered the art of window dressing by engineering innovative functions into stylish, versatile looks for every window in your home. Hunter Douglas is the leader in light control, energy efficiency, operation systems and motorization, which makes your home smarter, your days easier, and every room more beautiful. When you stop in make sure you ask for a free copy of our Art of Window Dressing book.

Now that the windows are taken care you can move on to softening your windows with drapery panels, cornice or valances. With so many fabrics to choose from we are sure that we can find the perfect solution for your home.

​We recently helped a customer in Dallas who needed window treatments and more. First we started with Roller shades from Hunter Douglas. The shades are there for sun control and privacy and when they are up, they completely disappear into the headrail. We also added the PowerView motorization options which give give our customer ease of operation. Next we added drapery panels in a navy pattern that coordinates with the new color scheme of her home. They soften the windows and draw out the view to the back yard.

For the master bedroom our customer wanted to keep her king size bed. It works nicely in this large room with tall ceilings. First from RD Home Collection we used a 9’ x 13’ Rug in a contemporary design that brings together the soft grey, silver, and blue colors. We added a blue velvet throw at the end of the bed, blue linen euro shams and 3 custom pillows. All of the fabrics are from Kravet. To finish the look we hung 2 large art pieces behind the nightstands. What you don’t see are the 4 1/2” louver Shutters from Hunter Douglas and 4 drapery panels. The room looks very inviting and comfortable. 

In her sitting room we selected another piece from RD Home. This is a versatile piece that can be used in a Living Room, Dining Room, or just about anywhere. We also used a large rug to set the tone for the color pattern. We will soon be continuing furnishing this room with chairs and a cocktail table.

Below are some of the new pieces you will find at Read Design Plano and RD Home. We will continue get new pieces weekly. Or if you would like to have one of our Interior Designers help you with floor planning and design, just let us know. We can put together a Interior Design Plan just for you. Because we have a ton of furniture in our showroom, we are able to get you a new piece for your upcoming holiday party! We deliver! Give us a call at your earliest convenience to set up your consultation today!