Lifestyle_NovDec2023_Final _Online

izlife
LIGHTER AND
BRIGHTER
Window covering retailers
get new look
By Ellen Ashton-Haiste
New window treatment products
showcased in bright new spaces are
attracting customers to Custom
Shades (London) and Custom
Covers For Home And Office (Exeter).
The showrooms in both stores
have undergone complete facelifts to create more
contemporary atmospheres, says Janice Brock, coowner
with Wes Petch. The look for each location is
“bright and clean with lots of white and much better
lighting to display the products,” she says.
Those products include two new offerings from
Hunter Douglas, a prominent global manufacturer
of custom window blinds, shades, shutters and
draperies. “We’re introducing their wood shutters
in Canada,” Brock says. While these have been
available for some time south of the border,
import restrictions have prevented their sale
here. “A popular and fun advantage with these is
that they can be custom coloured,” she says. So,
shutters can be made in any specified paint colour
to match existing cabinetry, trim or walls.
Custom Shades and Covers is also carrying
Aura Illuminated Shades, a brand-new Hunter
Douglas product launched just this fall at CEDIA
Expo 2023, the Custom Electronics Design and
Installation Association’s international trade show
focusing on residential technology.
Aura is a three-in-one design intended to
emulate natural light and create a desired mood
or ambiance. The front is a traditional shade,
functioning normally with the light from outside.
In addition to the new attractions, Brock and
Petch are promoting their bedding lines and
increasingly popular automation technology, as
well as their repair service.
At the back, a darkening liner can be lowered,
and in between programmable LED lights
emulate natural light or provide comfortable
illumination at any time.
Brock says it could be a light for a baby’s
room or a nightlight anywhere. Its soft light
can also be helpful for people suffering with
Seasonal Affective Disorder. “So, it has health
benefits but also has the ability to set a mood,
such as for a dinner or other entertainment
gathering” she says.
In addition to the new attractions, Brock and
Petch are promoting their bedding lines and
increasingly popular automation technology,
as well as their repair service. •
ABOVE The Custom
Shades showroom,
in London’s Hyde
Park area, has been
renovated to make
it a lighter, brighter
and more inviting
place to pick window
coverings, as has its
sister store in Exeter.
CUSTOM SHADES AND
CUSTOM COVERS FOR HOME AND OFFICE
• FOR MORE INFORMATION • CUSTOM SHADES • 1422 Fanshawe Park Road West, Unit #3A • 519-601-4443 • www.customshadesoflondon.ca
CUSTOM COVERS FOR HOME AND OFFICE • 415 Main Street, Exeter • 519-235-2444 • www.customcoversontario.ca
November/December 2023 Lifestyle 47