Comfortable House

Adding shutters is among the most effective and simple ways homeowners can elevate curb appeal, create an inviting façade and provide colorful accents. With today’s highest-quality shutters, uncommon architectural detail and customized designs offer even greater enhancements.

More homeowners are choosing to create exceptional looks with distinctive shutters, such as those from Atlantic Premium Shutters™. Handcrafted to an individual window’s specifications, these shutters provide beautifully-balanced symmetry, perfectly matching the scale of windows and walls to create a picturesque scene.

Available in 40 colors and numerous styles, Atlantic Premium Shutters make a dramatic visual statement, adding an elegant touch to exteriors that feature brick, stucco, stone veneer, premium vinyl or fiber cement. From homes in historic neighborhoods to pristine estates near the water’s edge, shutters like these add vibrancy to a variety of architectural styles ranging from Neocolonial, to Tudor or Spanish. Discerning homeowners can also choose to have colors customized for their shutters.

Offering much more than typical immobile shutters, those from Atlantic are historically-accurate and architecturally-correct, mounted with handsome matte-black finished stainless-steel hardware that delivers simple elegance and functionality. The hardware adds striking dimension by setting the shutters off from the home, also allowing a hint of the home’s exterior cladding to be visible between the shutter and window to provide a noticeable fine touch.

“Many of today’s new home designs point toward a return to a bygone era – one in which certain homes evoked an architecturally significant ambience,” said Jonathan Wierengo, Director of Marketing for The Tapco Group™, maker of Atlantic Premium Shutters. “In cities like Charlotte and New Orleans, as well as regions such as the Northeast or Atlantic Coast, functional shutters are part of the local motif. It’s important to respect that design continuity, while offering upgrades in the newest technologies.”

Combining traditional character with modern design, Atlantic’s shutters provide enhanced durability. Unlike wooden shutters, these composite shutters require no maintenance or worrying about warping, rotting or painting. Atlantic’s Architectural Collection shutters are crafted from marine-grade fiberglass, structural-grade PVC and composite wood, offering a limited lifetime structural warranty and a 15-year finish warranty. The Classic Collection of composite wood shutters offers a 10-year limited warranty for structure and finish.

All Atlantic Premium Shutters deliver uncompromising detail with crisp lines and smooth surfaces. The Architectural Collection’s Raised-Panel and Louvered-Colonial designs capture attention with their deep dimension and interesting shadows. In addition, these styles can be personalized with options like custom rail locations or arch tops. The option of rabbeted edges with beading is also available, to provide a perfectly-matching fit when shutters are closed. The Architectural Collection’s Bahama Shutters showcase tastefully simple style, allowing cool breezes and soft diffused light to pass through. Popular in coastal and desert areas, these shutters are crafted of pultruded fiberglass and are mounted with aluminum hardware.

Atlantic’s Combination-style shutters allow homeowners to express their full creativity, by mixing and matching Raised-Panel and Louvered-Colonial design elements for a one-of-a-kind appearance. Options include vertical mullions, faux tilt rods or extra panels. The possibilities with Atlantic’s colors and styles are virtually endless. In fact, cut-out shapes such as a heart, cactus or anchor can be custom-ordered.

Atlantic’s Classic Collection features the popular Board and Batten, and Faux Louver designs. Classic Collection options include z-bars, an extra batten and arch tops to add personalized touches for the stylish Board and Batten look.

From neutral colors like Driftwood and Chelsea Gray, to bold shades like Cascade and Roycraft Copper Red, Atlantic’s available spectrum features a full array of expressive colors. The 40-color palette includes Tricone Black and Evergreen at the dark end, while rich shades like Plum Creek, Stratford Blue and Garnet are offered. Light colors include the softness of Sand and Classical White. For a one of a kind appearance, custom colors are also available.

Both Architectural and Classic Collection shutters are offered in hurricane storm-rated options that add a level of protection for coastal homeowners. Atlantic Premium Shutters are products of The Tapco Group. For more information, visit www.atlanticpremiumshutters.com or call 1-866-288-2726.

DesignRail^® aluminum railings from Feeney, Inc. are among the many prominent products featured in the NextGen “First to the Future” National Demonstration Home in Las Vegas. The 5,200 square foot, 5 bedroom home is a showcase of modern, next generation living ideas with a focus on four basic themes: strong, green, efficient and digital.

The DesignRail^® railings are installed on the foyer stairway and balcony of the NextGen home and include a silver powder-coated aluminum frame with stainless steel cable infill. These railings were selected for the project because of the durability, low maintenance, and environmental integrity of their materials as well as their innovative design details that ensured an attractive finished product.

“The characteristics of the DesignRail^® line blend perfectly with the ‘stronger’ and ‘greener’ concepts of the NextGen project,” said Del Leutbecher, Director of Business Development at Feeney. “Not only do our aluminum and stainless steel products contain a high percentage of recycled raw materials, but they are also incredibly strong and durable with long usage cycles and low maintenance costs. And our state-of-the-art, powder coating line emits no V.O.C.s or heavy metal waste, uses a non-chromium pre-treatment wash, and reclaims 93% of the waste water via a reverse-osmosis membrane filtration system.”

The DesignRail^® systems are designed for quick and easy on-site assembly using pre-engineered components that snap and screw together without any welding, grinding or special finishing. All of the rails and stanchions are made from high-strength 6000-series aluminum that contains a minimum of 25% reclaimed content. In addition, the lightweight nature of aluminum reduces shipping costs and related fuel use and makes the parts easier to handle on the job.

The aluminum components are available in 8 standard colors and over 200 custom colors to suit virtually any design requirements, and the tough powder coated finishes adhere to rigorous AAMA-2604 coating specifications for lasting performance.

Available with the system are ADA compliant applied grab rail designs, 5 different styles of cap rails, and 4 post-mounting options. Infill options include CableRail™ stainless steel cables (used on the NextGen project), tempered glass panels and aluminum pickets.

The low maintenance benefits include no rusting, peeling, splintering, cracking, or repainting, issues that are typically associated with many other types of materials and railing systems, and Feeney offers a 10-year warranty on the powder coated finishes and stainless steel cable infill.

For additional information on the NextGen project and DesignRail^® aluminum railings, please contact Andrew Penny or visit www.nextgenhome.com and www.designrail.com. Detail drawings, 3-D Sketch-up models and 3-part specifications for the DesignRail^® products are available for downloading from the website. Members of the media can get the latest news from Feeney at www.feeneyarchitectural.com/media

Few home projects do more to enhance the overall beauty of family homes than clean, sparkling, windows. Although generally affordable, easy enough to perform, and requiring little in the way of materials, the window-washing project is perhaps the easiest chore to put off for another day. Here are some suggestions for maintaining classy glass inside and outside your home:

Organize the scope of the project and the options for getting it done. How many windows? How often would you like to have them cleaned? What are the options for getting the job done?

If you live in old three-story house with 92 windows, the options are fairly straight forward. You can ask the local window cleaning service for a quantity break, or divide the windows by the number of week’s year, and then tackle them at a rate of two or three each week. A third option involves renting a scissor lift at your local home store annually or semi-annually to make the outside part of the job as safe as possible.

New houses with even large numbers of windows often have the advantage of lift out panels that can be quickly cleaned and replaced. Again, a workable schedule can be a big help if you plan to do it yourself. Professional window cleaner’s can do the job for less than you probably imagine when working on a continuing contract.

Outside windows suffering from long-term neglect may challenge the skills of professional or do-it-yourself window cleaners, but are clearly worth the extra effort.

Materials:

Window cleaners come in all sizes and shapes. Spray-ons are perfect for a quick clean up with no muss or fuss. Vinegar water and steam cleaning are favorites for removing residue from past cleaner formulas. Also, there are commercial products that can be power sprayed onto outside windows. Be careful about power spraying in areas that might cause paint peel in nearby trim.

For the really dirty outside windows your will want to try a commercial window-cleaning solution or strong sudsy-ammonia solution in hot water. It can be applied with a padded telescoping applicator or brush, and removed with a rubber squeegee from ground level or from a platform ladder. Rinsing will prevent the dull film that sometimes follows heavy-duty use of cleaners.

Window Dressings:

Curtains, drapery, cornices and blinds can change the look of a room dramatically. While wide wooden slats blinds can make rooms on the sunny side of the house habitable, reducing glare and helping to control the room temperature, sheer curtains or sheer drapery let in the sunlight for fully brightened rooms, and open the possibilities for a full spectrum of color. Likewise, matching blinds, whether vertical of horizontal unify large rooms and give an orderly look inside and out.