The Summer PowerView Motorization Event!

From Saturday Jun 30, 2018 to September 10, 2018, Read Design Plano and Read Design Southlake will host a number of Motorization Events including 2 Thursday "Wine and Design" focusing on PowerView Motorization by Hunter Douglas. There will also be Exclusive Promotions, coupon giveaways, and a drawing at each Store for the New PowerView Hub. Stop by and you will also receive the new Art of Window Dressing Book.

So lets get in to it.........PowerView Motorization. Part 1

Smart Home, Smart Living

With PowerView Motorization from Hunter Douglas, the worlds most beautiful window treatments are now the most intelligent.

This innovative wireless system lets you move any powered Hunter Douglas window treatment according to the schedules you set. Perfect lighting, energy efficiency, everyday convenience- its all delivered automatically with PowerView.

Technology. At your Service.

PRECISE OPERATION
Whether you want to move the shades up or down, or tilt or traverse them, PowerView Motorization gives you precise and convenient control of your beautiful Hunter Douglas window treatments.

AUTOMATED LIVING
With the PowerView App, you can quickly create customized Scenes that control all the shades in your home, operating together or in any combination your desire. Then, just schedule those Scenes to automatically move your shades to your preferred positions.

ENERGY EFFICIENCY
Use PowerView Motorization to move your shades according to the sun 's daily patterns. Having your shades in the right positions can reduce solar heat, gain in the summer and heat loss in the winter, and could help you lower your energy bills.

SECURE
Adjust your shades for added security while you're away via the RemoteConnect texture on your smartphone or tablet.

CHILD FRIENDLY
Simple cord-free operation is aesthetically pleasing and safer for homes with children and pets.

STYLISH
With the widest array of innovative styles, colors, and fabrics in the industry, Hunter Douglas window treatments embody beautiful form and function.

BATTERY POWERED
Most PowerView window treatments are battery powered, so they're easy to install, operate, and maintain. The battery pack is hidden behind the Read rail, so there is nothing to mar the beauty of your window treatments.

This is the Beginning of PowerView. In a few days you will meet the PowerView Family.
But now if you are buying a new home or if you are making improvements to your current home, stop by either Read Design Plano or Read Design Southlake and let our qualified designers show you all of the Window Shadings that can be powered. They can show you fabrics that will work with your life style and give you ideas on how to set your scenes. They can show you the latest trends and current styles. We are a Family business and are excited about all that is new with Hunter Douglas PowerView Motorization.

We service all of these areas. Plano, Dallas, Colleyville, Flower Mound, Allen, Celina, Prosper, Southlake, Grapevine, Keller, Richardson, Carrollton, Frisco, Little Elm, Lewisville, McKinney, Preston Hollow, Trophy Club, Fort Worth, Farmers Branch , Park Cities, Rockwell, Roanoke, Arlington and everywhere inbetween.

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Pillows

A few small pillows can have a big impact on your decor

Fluff up your decorating plan with pillows.

Pillows seem like a small detail in a decorating scheme, yet they can add so much color, texture and personality to the look of your home.

With pillows, size matters! And so does shape. In addition to square or rectangular pillows, consider unusual shapes, such as round, triangular, oblong and oval. It’s almost always best to have more than one throw pillow on a sofa or bed. Two is most common, but you can also go with three or four.

Adding pillows is an easy way to add color and interest without adding stress or a large budget. For maximum impact and decorating harmony, consider these attributes when you select decorative pillows:

• Use complementary fabrics rather than the same material as your sofa.

• Use colors that are compatible with the rest of your interior elements in the room, such as rugs, carpeting, window coverings and upholstery.

• Mix patterns and solids if you’d like, but avoid more than two patterns because the look may become chaotic.

• Layer different textures with multiple pillows, including smooth silk, soft velvet, rough tapestry and even fuzzy faux fur.

• Think about embellishments on your pillows, such as embroidery, beading, tassels and fringe.

Think about comfort and your budget when you purchase pillows. Feathers and down stuffing feel soft and sensuous, but they tend to be more expensive and don’t hold a stiff shape. Synthetic fills and foam hold their shape better and are more reasonably priced.

​Selecting the perfect throw pillows for your rooms will puff up your home décor beautifully.

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Coffee Tables

Create interest and function with the perfect coffee table.

A fabulous coffee table adds personality to your rooms.

A coffee table shouldn’t be an insignificant afterthought near the end of planning your living room, den or great room. It’s a pivotal design element that can add drama to your interior design plan. 

Because a coffee table is often the anchor for a room, selecting it is key to your design plan. The table should be in scale with your furniture and the size of your room, complement your design plan and provide the functions you’re looking for: 

• A durable surface if you’re planning to serve food or drinks 

• Lightweight design if you want to move the table on occasion 

• A large size if you’d like to display a collection of favorite books or objects 

• No sharp corners if you have children or seniors visiting often

We most often think of coffee tables being constructed from wood, and a hand-crafted wood coffee table can be the perfect choice. But do consider innovative materials such as glass, stone, leather or metal. You can even use an upholstered ottoman as your coffee table. If you want your room to appear larger, think about a mirrored surface or a glass surface that doesn’t hide your beautiful rug or flooring. 

Be creative about the shape and size of your table too. Instead of a typical square or rectangular table, think round, oval, hexagonal or freeform. Add personality to your rooms with a beautiful new coffee table.

March Into Spring

March into Spring.......
With window covering by Hunter Douglas and Custom Draperies

We can see the start of warm weather ahead of us and it is time to freshen up your home just in time for Spring. And what better way then changing out your window coverings or adding Custom Window Treatments. I love to open the windows at the beginning of Spring and see nature at it's glory and to smell the freshness of Spring. 

A Great way to open up your home is to update your window coverings! 

Silhouette, Pirouette, and Roman Shades

When customers ask us what we would do we always suggest shades. These include Silhouettes, Pirouettes, Roman Shades, or Roller Shades all from Hunter Douglas. These are products where you can easily lift them all the way up and let the sun shine in. 

Silhouette transforms light. Like the subtle cast their name suggests, Silhouette window shadings, with the Signature S-Vane, create beautiful and ambient light ande shadow. Soft fabric vanes are suspended between two sheers, diffusing softened light deep into a room. Tilt the vanes to achieve the privacy you desire while maintaining UV protection. These shades can easily be rolled all the way into a cassette to give full view of the outside. 

Stringing design, dramatically filtered light. With Pirouette window shadings, the look and feel of a traditional fabric shade is enhanced, the gentle pull of a cord lets you change a room's lighting in a whole new way. Soft, horizontal fabric vanes close to filter natural light, or open to give you a perfect outside view. Our revolutionary invisi-Lift system allows the vanes to float gracefully, and even opened they offer UV protection and reduced glare through the sheer backing. 

Vignette and Design Studio Roman Shades offer a simple, uncluttered look. Luxurious fabrics and soft folds give the shades a clean, crisp look. The range of styles and help you create a warm, inviting, and beautiful space. Offered in Top Down/Bottom Up design, this product is versatile and functional. Create amazing light scapes with this design and control the light that enters your home. We love the way this product adds style and beauty to any room.

Sophisticated but uncomplicated is how we describe Roller Shades. For a look that is both custom and classic, our Designer Roller Shades offer a clean appearance in a beautiful range of fabrics and have a variety of design options and operating systems. 

There other Shades from Hunter Douglas that also fit this bill including Duette Honeycomb Shades, Provenance Woven Shades, and Solera Soft Shade.

Stop in to see us at Read Design in Southlake or Plano let one of our designer help you select the perfect shade for your home. And because we are a full service Interior Design Studio, we can help you with Custom Window Treatment. We can even pair them to Hunter Douglas Shades. With the thousands of fabrics available, we are sure that we can find the perfect fit for your home. Here is just a few ideas.

Plantation Shutters

Custom Plantation Shutters... and best of all - Made In America!!!!

Yes, Plantation Shutters are still as popular as ever and are still a great way to add value to your home. Shutters for your windows will last for generations and is one window treatment that is seldom changed if you sell your home. This is especially true with Wood Plantation Shutters. The beauty of wood is classic, will add warmth to your home and will last a lifetime. And today their are many different choices you can make including louver size, trim design, hidden or standard front tilt, divider rails, custom paint or stain color, and hinge color.

Introducing Heritance Hardwood Shutters by Hunter Douglas.

The simple elegance of rich, hardwood shutters gives lift to any room. Now, the maximum strength and durability of our Heritance Hardwood Shutters make them a wise investment in many ways. They feature dovetail construction and a vast selection of frame choices, specialty shapes, and louver sizes- and a variety of paint and stain finishes, as well as custom colors. Also available in six Handcrafted Series Techniques to enhance the inherent character and color of the genuine hardwood and making your shutters truly one of a kind.

Six Techniques

The first technique is textured, which enhances the woods natural grain and creates a contrast and depth of the natural wood grain. You can also choose glazed which enhances the richness of the stain finish with a hand rubbed glaze. The Glazed and Burnished technique creates an antique effect. With the Rustic technique the natural characteristics of hardwood are arranged so you will have your own unique shutter. The Heirloom distressed technique will give your shutters an Old World effect with the addition techniques. Including burnishing,, rasping, and flyspecking. An finally the Classic Technique give the wood a beautiful worn finish with the techniques including glaze, dents, cracks and wormholes.

Or you can choose any of our paint selections including Custom Paint Match.

So how does it work? Give Read Design Plano or Read Design Southlake a call and schedule an appointment with one of our Designers. We will gladly meet with you at your home and check out the windows where you would like shutters. We will suggest louver size keeping in mind scale of the window and room. We will also help you decide on the trim and which tilt system is best for your look. And finally we will help decide if paint or stain is best for your design and walk you though the different techniques.

Read Design is a leader in Hunter Douglas Window Coverings with 2 Gallery locations, one in Plano and the other one in Southlake. We offer personalized service that you will only find with a locally owned store. This is our family business and we are here to help you personalize your own design. Stop by and see over 60 working displays including PowerView, the latest in home automation. Our designers can also help you with drapery and window treatment selections as well as anything you might need for your home including furniture, rugs, lamps and home decor items.

Here is one of our projects which includes Custom Plantation Shutters. We had the walls painted and then came back and designed drapery panels to finish off the look. Next we will be moving on to the Dining Room.

And at our Plano Store you will see our new displays of our RD Home Collection where you will find anything you might need for you home. New products are coming in weekly! 

Don't miss out on Hunter Douglas rebates going on now (shutters excluded). Give us a call now to learn more about all our different products and features and benefits of each. We look forward to working with you!

The Alustra Collection of Woven Textures

Naturally Inspired, Artistically Designed.

The Alustra Collection of Woven Textures....... only from Hunter Douglas.

Drawing inspiration from design trends and natural woven artistry, the Alustra Collection of Woven Textures was developed as a thoughtfully curated assortment of design-forward fabrics that infuse rooms with a soft yet structured beauty. Like the lustrous silk of a smartly cut blouse or the nubby tweed of a classic chair, the texture and feel of these striking materials add depth and interest to Roman shades, roller shades and skyline Gliding Window Panels.

A sophisticated alternative to woven wood shades or solar screens, the evocative constructions and calends in this edited assortment are crafted with techniques as artistic as they are innovative. The dramatic result makes a statement not only on the windows they dress, but throughout the rooms and homes they enrich and elevate.

With Woven Textures fabrics you can create custom Roman Shades, Roller Shades and Skyline Gliding Window Panels.

Roman Shades crafted with Alustra Woven Textures fabrics create a clean, architectural dimensional look - an Organic look. A fresh take on a traditional treatment, the textural characteristics of of Alustra Woven Textures shades pair perfectly with the soft folds and dimensional style of Roman Shades. This classic form is reimagined with intriguing fabrics, sophisticated design options and advanced operating systems that can be raised and lowered from the top or bottom, imparting a bold linear sensibility. Architectural yet elegant, the result is an elevated design treatment that offers the light-filtering beauty of a traditional screen shade, but with the textural appeal and alluring touch of a soft textile.

Truly beautiful rooms unfurl and open up as you experience easy lovely detail.

Simple, Chic, Style.... Roller Shades.
The Tactile nature of The Alustra Collection of Woven Textures lends a sophisticated quality to the simplicity of roller shades, uplifting this classic form with distinct,inspired fabrics. Providing a backdrop. For a beautifully designed room, this uncluttered style fuses form and function- ensuring privacy and light control when in use amd unobstructed views when not . Innovative features and unique design options make it easy to customize this leading edge roller shade into a remarkable number of spectacular combinations.

The secret to a well-designed room is the selection of truly special products that beautifully weave light and texture together with ultimate functionality and performance.

Refined Style....Skyline Gliding Window Panels
Create a dramatic presence with the inspired Alustra Woven Textures fabrics and innovative design of Skyline Gliding Window Panels. A refined approach well-suited to more expansive spaces, gliding vertical panels create a striking contemporary look to cover both large windows and doors. Easily coordinated with Rodman and Roller Shades, the smooth-Gliding panels transform from a series of sleek fabric panels to a discreet stack that maximizes views.

Stop in Read Design Plano or Read Design Southlake to see the exclusive collection of Alustra Woven Textures by Hunter Douglas. You can touch and feel all of the fabrics and test out the different lift systems available including Ultraglide and PowerView Motorization.
Also at our Plano store see all of the new interior design products in our RD Home Collection. We have a display featuring our Favorite Alustra Woven Textures - Retreat color Pure. We love the organic feel of this fabric and we are showing this shade and pairing it with custom drapery panels.
We have a feeling that this look is going to be a show stopper in 2018.

Call Read Design Plano or Southlake today. We would be happy to meet with you to show you all of the fabrics and help you design your room that will fulfill your dreams
 

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Decorative Moldings

Decorative moldings can help frame your home design plan.

They're the perfect finishing touch for windows, doors, walls and ceilings.

Decorative moldings on walls, windows, doors and ceilings add texture and interest to your home, no matter what your design style. 

Moldings come in so many shapes, sizes and finishes. They can consist of one simple layer or several stacked layers to add embellishment. Traditionally moldings have been made of wood, but today they’re often constructed from materials that look like wood, but are more durable and budget friendly. 

Molding usually works best when it complements the design of your home; for example, a Victorian home may have heavily ornamented moldings, while a modern home has squared, simple moldings or no moldings at all. We tend to think of moldings in white or off-white colors, with walls painted a different shade. However, light colored walls with dark molding can be a dramatic choice too!  Just consider your options: 

Windows: 

• Casing around the entire window frame 
• An apron on the bottom 
• A pediment on the top 
• A decorative or fluted design on the sides 

Doors (both exterior and interior): 

• Casing around the sides and/or tops 
• Raised paneling on the door itself 

Walls: 

• Baseboards at floor level 
• Crown molding at ceiling level 
• Raised paneling, possibly with wallcoverings or mirrors in insets 
• Wainscotting and picture rails, with the choice of different paints or wallcoverings above and below 
• Paneling around a fireplace or built-in shelving 
• Wall paneling behind a bed instead of a headboard 
• Stepped paneling going up a stairway

Ceilings: 

• Around chandeliers in the dining room or foyer 

Decorative moldings can help shape your décor. They’re like adding just the right accessories to a beautiful outfit!

Fresh Ideas For Your Home - Nail Heads

Dressing up your furniture with metal trim will nail your design plan.

Decorative brads, nails and tacks will hit the mark.

Metal trim is a classic embellishment for furniture and more. Brads, nails and tacks were used as early as the 17th century and maybe even before, in almost every country in Europe, and in the United States too. Think of them like jewelry for furniture – adding a beautiful necklace around the edges.

Metal trims work just as beautifully today as when they were first invented. They add a sense of craftsmanship and can complement almost any style of décor, from the most traditional to ultra contemporary.

Decorative brads, nails and tacks are mostly used on upholstered furniture,
but can also be applied beautifully on headboards, upholstered walls and doors,
and even as an embellishment on table tops, table fronts and table legs.

You can make a subtle design statement by using metal trim as a stripe on the edge of upholstery or you can go wild, using the trim in patterns or a patchwork design. Leather especially lends itself to metal trim, but many other fabrics can be adorned too, including velvet, tapestries and other heavy fabrics.

Metal trim comes in many shapes and sizes, with or without facets, and with matte, glossy or distressed finishes. Shapes include square, round, diamond and pyramid. Brads, nails and tacks can have a variety of metal finishes, including silver, antique gold, nickel, brass and even black. Newest of all are trims made from stone and crystal.

Adding decorative metal trim to your décor is a timeless look that’s modern even today. Nails, brads and tacks will secure your design plan beautifully.