38 THE COURIER SUN • AT HOME • SEPTEMBER 17, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com at home Whitewashed fl oors add appeal It’s the season of sunshine and enjoying the great outdoors. Celebrate it with a style makeover for your home by tapping lively decorating trends and home decor ideas that will refresh and brighten your living space. “Look to nature for inspiration for decorating ideas to refresh your home,” says Erinn Valencich, Los Angeles-based interior designer, style expert and designer partner for Quick-Step, a laminate fl ooring leader. “Incorporate garden-fresh shades of green, warm and sunny color palettes, botanical prints, weathered woods and whimsical accents that will help reinvigorate your home’s style and awaken your senses.” Top style trends for 2013 Green- It’s the eternal color of lush and abundant life and the 2013 Pantone Color of the Year. Look for accent pieces in emerald and other shades of green to create a sense of well-being, balance and harmony. Patterns - Floral patterns are hot, especially as fabric covers and wall decor. Choose bold, bright fl orals to make a big statement or fl orals on white backgrounds for a softer, romantic touch. Stripes - In fabrics, carpets, artwork and other design elements, stripes can create the sense of movement and energy in a room. Wide planks - Update the look of your room with new wide plank fl ooring to show off your unique sense of style. Wide plank laminate fl oors from Quick-Step come in many hardwood styles and colors and will help transform the look of a room. Reclaimed woods - From barn board bedroom walls to wooden beams in kitchens, reclaimed wood adds unexpected rustic touches and weathered warmth to your home. For the look of time-worn wood without the high cost, Quick-Step offers the Reclaime Collection of laminate planks that look like vintage hardwood fl oors. There are nine reclaimed wood designs from which to choose, including the newest White Wash Oak Planks, that mirror the wood grain pattern, color and texture of weathered, whitewashed boards. “Whitewashed fl oors offer tranquility and comfort, making them ideal for family rooms, dining rooms and other high-traffi c living spaces,” Valencich says. “Whitewash opens up a space and adds rustic appeal while keeping the look of your room fresh, soft and clean. It is also a very versatile foundation for a room’s design and serves as a pleasing canvas on which to nicely showcase just about any wall colors and most styles of furniture. “Work with what you have and add a few new-to-you items to your spring decorating projects,” Valencich adds. “This will help you stay within a budget and create beautiful living spaces quickly, easily and affordably.” How to choose a new fl oor Keep these tips in mind when selecting a new fl oor for your room makeover project: • When selecting a fl oor color, consider the tones of furniture you have, but don’t feel that everything has to match. Contrasting tones make for a more pleasing design. • Brown, gray and white fl oor tones work with a greater variety of furniture colors and paints. • Light, neutral fl oor colors brighten a room and make it feel more spacious. If you are considering purchasing a new fl oor, quickstepstyle. com offers the “Imagine It” room designer tool that allows you to choose both wall color and fl oor styles to see how they work together. To make fl oor selection even easier, Valencich has designated her favorite Quick-Step fl oors as “Designer’s Choice” products, which can be viewed at quickstep.com. Courtesy BPT Free Electronics Recycling Events are coming to Queens this Fall Avoid a fine: it’s now illegal to discard electronics in the regular trash! All Events from 10AM–4PM Rain or Shine Sunday September 27 Forest Hills – Queens Metropolitan High School parking lot, take 70th Rd to parking lot at left on Ursula Place Saturday October 10 Little Neck – Zion Episcopal Church, Douglaston Pkwy & Northern Blvd Sunday October 11 College Point –134-01 20th Avenue enter parking lot at 20th Avenue WE ACCEPT: Working and non-working computers, monitors, printers, scanners, keyboards, mice, cables, TVs, VCRs, CD/DVD players, phones, audio/visual equipment, video games, cell phones and PDAs For a full list of our Fall 2015 events, contact, the Lower East Side Ecology Center at lesecologycenter.org or 212.477.4022 We would like to thank our sponsor:
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