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.

New innovations are allowing homeowners to create some of the most uniquely charming looks with siding. It used to be that having siding panels meant a home was destined to look like so many others, but today’s siding offers outstanding dimension and vibrancy through a wide spectrum of colors and various richly-textured profiles.

The siding from The Foundry^® is a new breed of premium vinyl siding that combines maintenance-free living with a bold color palette and the classic natural appeal of cedar shakes and shingles.

With more than 100 different molds from real cedar used to craft The Foundry’s Shake and Shingle panels, the authentic texture of handcrafted cedar shakes and mill-sawn shingles is achieved with random grain variations and detailed depth and dimension. While many home-building materials manufacturers try to replicate the appearance of wood, often falling short on aesthetics, The Foundry delivers a true representation of cedar with a seamless appearance and no noticeable pattern.

These panels provide the warmth and charm of cedar, while eliminating the maintenance that wood requires. Offered in the industry’s widest color palette, no painting, staining or sealing is ever needed with Foundry siding.

Rich texturing is taken to an exceptional level with The Foundry’s Weathered Collection, which is now being expanded to give homeowners even more color and texture options. The Weathered Collection’s coloring provides the uniquely beautiful look of cedar that has weathered over time. It is accomplished through a proprietary process that creates different tonal qualities using a darker shade of color in the grain, and a lighter one on higher points.

Crisp contrast is created within each Weathered Collection Shake or Shingle, but the grand effect for a home is a warm and variegated color field that is saturated with character.

In a whole-home application, these panels make an eye-catching statement on each side of the house. For additional texture and a personalized look, Weathered Collection panels can be combined with materials such as brick or fiber cement to bring unique appeal. Used with stone veneer, the Weathered Collection offers a home outstanding dimension with a timeless look. The Shingles and Shakes are a classic complementary fit for a stone wainscot or door surround.

As an accent in roof gables, the Weathered Collection provides additional architectural interest to draw gazes upward. The panels’ texturing can gain an even greater focus when set off by crisp trim designs, and posts or columns, creating elegantly detailed scenes.
A new introduction to the Weathered Collection’s palette is a true cedar color that features natural gold and brown tones, and undertones of subtle pinkish-red that add a hint of rose-colored blush. This authentic finish delivers rustic charm and warmth, and continues the Weathered Collection’s tradition of paying homage to nature through its range of light, medium and dark earth tones.

All Weathered Collection panels offer a 7″ exposure, while the Staggered Shake panels also have an available 10″ exposure that works to heighten its rugged design appeal vertically. Shingles have natural surfacing and random mill saw marks, Split Shakes are defined by peaks and grooves along the grain that create interesting shadows, and Staggered Shakes feature an uneven pattern and rough-sawn butt ends for a completely handcrafted appearance.

In addition to their style benefits, the panels have superior durability. An ASA cap maximizes color appearance, so while the panels look authentically weathered, their design and color will keep their integrity through Mother Nature’s storms and blistering sun. Foundry Shakes and Shingles are backed by a limited lifetime warranty.
The Foundry is a division of The Tapco Group™.

With more homeowners searching for ways to be environmentally-responsible, pocket doors are sustainability’s secret weapon. They consume no usable floor space and can be completely hidden away in the wall. In addition to maximizing floor space, they provide enhanced privacy and beautiful entries. Pocket doors allow builders and architects to design more energy-efficient, right-sized homes that deliver cost-savings and outstanding space utilization.

Homes with smaller footprints feature optimized living areas that consume fewer building materials and generate lower energy bills. With their smarter functionality, pocket doors are an effective, easy way to reduce a home’s carbon footprint.

With Johnson Hardware’s pocket door systems, homeowners can easily create improved door designs. It all starts with the pocket door’s space-saving utility. Where a traditional swinging door can require 8 – 10 sq. ft. of usable floor space, a pocket door takes none. Envision the additional usable floor space generated by replacing a dozen swinging doors with space-saving pocket doors. It could save 120 sq. ft. of floor space – that’s less to build, and less to heat and cool. Taking into account a value calculation of $150/sq. ft., the space-savings would equate to $18,000.

Having this additional usable floor space means families gain a place to put a needed bookshelf or lamp, favorite piece of artwork, vibrant flowering plant, or other desired furniture or furnishings. In terms of simple comfort, a pocket door makes a room seem roomier.

Pocket doors can also maximize open floor plans with their virtually limitless design potential. With Johnson Hardware’s heavy-duty pocket door frame, a homeowner could use doors that weigh up to 300 lbs. and have a maximum interior entry opening of 90 sq. ft. A doorway this size, using converging pocket doors, offers great traffic flow and versatility. One large room can seemingly be created out of two when the converging pocket doors are open. When not in use, rooms can be sectioned off to save on heating and cooling costs.

Pocket doors are also recognized for their universal design factor and benefits for aging in place. They are easier to access by those who use a wheelchair or a walker to assist with mobility. While a swinging door can be difficult to maneuver around, a pocket door that glides easily into the inside of the wall offers no obstacle. With wheelchairs requiring a larger doorway, these doors can be pushed and pulled easily, riding smoothly on Johnson Hardware’s jump-proof tracks and ball-bearing rollers. Johnson systems are designed to last a lifetime, using commercial-grade, three-wheel or four-wheel hangers. As residents age in place, the pocket doors will remain easy to operate with Johnson’s quality-tested and guaranteed components.

From high-density urban neighborhoods to new environmentally-conscious single-family homes and multi-family communities, building for optimal space needs is driving sustainable living. Pocket doors give homeowners the solution for the most usable space. In new construction, the Johnson pocket door frame is a fast installation for homebuilders. For existing homes, making a change to more efficient pocket doors is also an easy project. A remodeler or experienced do-it-yourselfer can install a Johnson pocket door frame in minutes, with just a few tools.

To learn more about Johnson Hardware and to see a full range of sustainable interior entry solutions, visit www.johnsonhardware.com or call 800-837-5664.

The winners of the 2009 Awards for Design Excellence (ADEX) have been announced, and Lightline^® door canopy products from Feeney, Inc. have been selected for the top level Platinum award. ADEX, sponsored by the international trade publication Design Journal, is the largest and most prestigious awards program for product design of furniture, fixtures and finishes marketed to the design trade. Every year a judging panel of professionals representing a cross section of the design industry selects the best product designs from a field of over 1,200 entries submitted by over 400 companies.

“We were thrilled to hear that the Lightline^® canopies had won a Platinum ADEX 2009 award, especially given the depth of the product entries,” said Del Leutbecher, Director of Business Development at Feeney, Inc. “Since it was first introduced in the United States, the Lightline^® product has inspired an incredibly enthusiastic response from the design and construction communities, and this award is a gratifying acknowledgement that we’re on the right track.”

Lightline^® canopy products are manufactured by Polymer Kunststoffe GmbH of Germany and distributed in the United States by Feeney Inc., Oakland, CA. These products have been widely used in Europe to shield people from the elements when they leave their homes or businesses. The manufacturer has taken an old concept of over-door canopies and awnings and created new, modern designs using innovative materials: stainless steel support arms, integrated aluminum gutters and UV resistant acrylic visor panels in a variety of finishes.

“Lightline^® canopy products require no custom design or one-off fabrication,” said Del Leutbecher. “Each canopy comes in an easy-to-assemble kit with all the hardware necessary to assemble and install; plus, a patented Click-Lock pane attachment feature makes installation a breeze without drilling holes through the acrylic visor panes. Simply insert the panes into the frame, lower the support arms, and snap the Click-Lock ends together. These canopies offer eye-catching designs that are easy to use, durable, low maintenance and sized to fit almost any standard doorway.”

Lightline^® canopies are available in a variety of styles. The Gable Canopy looks best on a pitched roof configuration; the rounded Arch Canopy works well with both modern and traditional designs; and the simple, versatile Curve Canopy complements virtually any doorway.

Kits also come in several standard widths ranging from 5 feet to 9 feet, and the Curve style even has an extended, multi-panel model that allows for continuous widths, a useful design for commercial storefronts.

For additional information on the ADEX award or Lightline^® canopies, please contact Andrew Penny or visit www.designjournalmag.com or www.lightlinecanopies.com. Detail drawings and 3-part specifications for the Lightline^® products are available for downloading from the website. Members of the media can get the latest news from Feeney at www.feeneyarchitectural.com/media

ABET LAMINATI, a leading manufacturer of High Pressure laminates, continues its tradition of daring, innovative design with Serigrafia — now in a raised Longline finish. The 16 new designs, produced by ABETs special silk-screening techniques, emulate exotic fabrics with a slightly raised surface of vertical lines. In addition to wallcovering, this laminate can also be used on furniture or any application that does not require a horizontal surface.

When combined with the already existing Serigrafia line of 21 dazzling designs in a smooth surface, the new silk-screened patterns bring the total number of choices to 37. Each sheet of postforming Serigrafia is individually silk-screened and measures 51 inches by 120 inches.

ABET LAMINATI continues to be the leader in high pressure laminate design. As with all our products, the Serigrafia line is in stock at ABET’s U.S. distribution centers as well as local distributors across the country. For further information call 1-800-228-2238 or 201-541-0700, fax 201-541-0701.