Are you ready to experience the ultimate in motorized window treatments? Now’s the time with our FREE Hunter Douglas PowerView Automation. Happening now through September 30th. Read on to learn more.
At this year’s Hunter Douglas Premieres virtual event, new advances in window treatment motorization and new collections were introduced. Read on to learn more.
Here we grow again! Are you a self-motivated sales professional? We want to meet with you.
When shopping for carpet, there is more than just the look and feel. There’s more, and it comes with a higher standard in the manufacturing process to ensure healthier living within your home. Read on for our top picks.
Well designed rooms are complimented with area rugs. A welcome invitation to define the space where patterns merge and treat the feet. An area rug fitting is just like a visit to the seamstress - with a stitch here, a tuck there, and finally delighting in the perfect fit. Read on for our fitting examples.
This Spring invites us to design the beauty of light in our homes, opening the windows to all that is new with Hunter Douglas' latest innovations in window coverings. This Spring and every Spring we attend the Hunter Douglas Premieres showcase and once again our vision for your windows is refreshed with exciting options that will be arriving to our showroom very soon.
Hunter Douglas Palm Beach PolySatin Shutters
We will do our best not to use the word "excited" too much in this blog, but we are excited about the advancement of PowerView motorization that now includes operating your Shutters. Think of those hard-to-reach upper-windows and you'll quickly understand why all the excitement!
Hello Google. Hello Alexa.
Have you ever thought I just want to tell Google to close my shades? The time has come! All motorized products are now compatible with Alexa and Google home automation voice commands.
With SoftTouch Motorization the power is in the wand control. A newer way to operate shades, yes, it is newer in comparison to standard operation options, but has been with us for a while now. The new news on the SoftTouch is that it is now available on all seven of these Shades:
DuoLite
The DuoLite feature is now available on Vignette Modern Roman Shades offering two opacity options in one roman shade.
Provenance Woven Woods
We were introduced to nine new styles in the Provenance Woven Wood Shade collection -Nine styles! That gives us 41 new fabric and color choices and new valance options as well. Featuring lighter weaves in a neutral color palette.
Whole House Solutions
We love these coordinates!! Vignette Modern Roman Shades and Luminettes now have coordinating fabrics in the Sheer Linen Design to carry your look vertically or horizontally throughout all of your window types.
Happy Decorating!
We had a lot of fun at this year's Hunter Douglas Premieres and cannot wait to meet with you to show you all the new trends in window coverings. You can't wait either? Contact us for a complimentary consultation with one of our window covering professionals at 805-237-1400, stop by the showroom to see our window covering gallery and take home the new Art Of Window Dressing magazine - free, just ask! You can also visit our Hunter Douglas Website with just a click here.
At Knight's we are not the trend-setting influencers. We rely on what we see: What our clients are shopping for, what products our local designers are working with, and what is new, newer and newest from our vendors.
Natural, Neutral, and full of Texture is our theme for 2018!
When you surround yourself with all that you love, staying true to yourself, you're always in fashion.
Hardwood and wood-look flooring still reign supreme for the number one choice in flooring. We are seeing that our clients are wanting to lighten things up with lighter stain choices and organic character rich in natural textures and carrying throughout the home.
Why start with the floors? The floors are the largest surface in the home giving them the number one priority for making a big impact.
For The Love Of Carpet! We cannot talk about 'starting with your floors' without the beauty of carpeting. Whether you're choosing a wall-to-wall installation, making a stunning statement on your stairway, or complementing your hardwoods and defining interior spaces with area rugs - Carpets are here to stay.
From our camera- shy Michael Fletcher. . .
Living large with Large-Format tiles in natural stone looks and concrete-like porcelains are suitable for
residential and commercial spaces. High sheen contrasts with the beauty of rustic-refinement.
The continuous flow is outstanding with 59" x 118" tiles.
Patterns in tile are still so popular they drive us to new heights in design concept. Stunning geometric patterns for the backsplash, but what we all consider to be a backsplash is changing its location taking over not just the splash but continuing to the ceiling. That shows us all just how much we are loving the new shape of tile.
Neutral and Natural
Cork and metallic dance together for an incomparable texture that will have you staring at your walls in awe. This unique design is brought to us by Candice Olson design for York Wallcoverings.
From Diane:
"What I'm most excited about for 2018 is the motorization of window coverings. The ease of access, the affordability, and the compatibility with other systems. It's revolutionizing the way we look at dressing windows."
Motorizing, or automating your window coverings creates worry-free window locations. With motorization you'll no longer struggle to operate those hard-to-reach windows, remotely operate your windows from remote locations, and, or set them all to move to your schedule.
Linens!
"Happy New Year everyone! I am working with a lot of fabric projects that are all linens. Neutral and creamy textures for drapery with wider widths in lead-edge banding, florals with linen backgrounds, custom headboards with all the textural elements of, yes, Linen! All in linen blends that gives a great hand to the fabric that is workable for all your projects."
_______ Marie Goldsmith
What Can We Help You With?
We always get a bit excited with the coming of the New Year as it's also the time our vendors unveil their new products! That's me in the photo a couple years ago attending the Surfaces Trade Show in Las Vegas. This year I'll be attending one of our vendor's shows in Southern California, while Michael and Diane take on Vegas. What happens in Vegas, doesn't stay in Vegas ... They'll be reporting back with all the new news and we'll be sharing with you in our showroom, our website and here on our Blog page.
How do we decide what products we bring to the Showroom? Of course, the eyes have it. What draws us in first is the look, then our inspective nature comes into play: How will the product perform for our customers? Does the quality of the product represent Knight's standard of excellence? How is the product installed? What are the manufacturers warranty guidelines?
Today, we are defining drapery design pleat-by-pleat, and taking you on a journey to picking the perfect drapery pleat for your personal decor style. From minimalist to ultra-chic glam, the drapery pleat defines your interior with personality.
What's Your "Pleat Personality"?
Not to be interpreted as 'Modern', The Minimalist is more extreme with the least resistance of conflicting patterns and textures, selecting straight lines, mostly monochromatic, subdued and filling light into the space through highly dedicated over-sized windows. Moody, dramatic and not the easiest of decor themes to pick the perfect pleat . . .
The perfect pleat for our Minimalist room is really no pleat at all, but structure that gives the ultimate in straight fabric folds. Our choice is from our friends at Hunter Douglas with the Vignette Traversed in the selection of Newport Linen.
Our Minimalist lightens up . . .
Our Minimalist living room showcases the bare bones of the space with an expanse of tile plank flooring "Downtown" by Emser Tile in a light-airy setting. Our draperies fade into the back wall and sofa colors with a pleat-style, yes, these draperies are pleated. Ripple-fold pleats maintain structure from floor to ceiling.
Moving from Minimalist to Modern allows us more freedom with color, texture and pattern. When I think of Modern interiors, my mind goes to Mid-Century Modern and the Mad Men TV series, edgy for the time period featuring specialty windows and wall-to-wall draperies. Oftentimes, the pleats were hidden behind a soffit or cornice box.
Today, the modern drapery takes on a new character, it is often the focal point or backdrop of the interior, losing the cornice box all together and not only extending wall-to-wall, but floor-to-ceiling for seamless beauty.
Do emphasize the color in the room with the drapery. Our Artistry Hardwoods are the scene stealer in this modern living room, but what's our go-to pleat?
I do believe most of us will fall into this category: Transitional, the marriage of all things traditional and contemporary. Contemporary styles do get recognized as Modern in design, however, they are more of what's now, and trending in today's fashion.
Transitionally Inspired, the same style of pleating, "French", is utilized in all three of our inspiration rooms, but the looks are totally individualized with fabric choices and placement.
Transitional Decor is that place to have fun with different pleat styles that make a statement on the window.
Add a little interest to your pleat with contrasting fabrics in cut-outs or banding.
True to Tradition and timeless in its function Traditional Interiors are indeed what has worked for years, and those same strategies for furniture and drapery placement still work today. From the lived-in look of home to higher-end sophistication a traditional interior, is not complete without draperies.
Pleat styles are timeless as well, with french and goblet pleats among the most popular.
Traditional style lives on . . .
In a more relaxed, comfortable, casual state of being, Traditional Interiors take a deep breath in all of our most desired Farmhouse decor themes, where every pleat tells the story, and that story is: Contentment. Just as there is an art to relaxation, there is also an art to creating and customizing a relaxed pleat.
Tip: When you want the relaxed pleat, you will achieve the best results with customization. One does not simply clip a ring to fabric and get the looks we've discovered in our inspiration rooms. Custom drapery is key to your pleat success!
A newer trend that is ever-popular among baby boomers (yes, I read that somewhere) is the emergence of great contrasts and there are no greater contrasts in interior design than that of Rustic Refined. The contrasted elements are typically the distressed wood or aged stone floors, walls, and furnishings, paired dramatically with the sparkle of a chandelier, and refined with fabric draperies dripping in natural sheen and embellishments.
In my opinion
A rustic refined space is lacking in refinement if the draperies are not designed for the setting. We've selected high-style, fully-interlined, relaxed-rouched pleating in Dupioni silk fabric to adorn the windows from the floor to the ceiling.
Worlds collide
Into the beauty with stunning aesthetics of lighting and drapery created to diminish the logs, Interior Designer Lisa Kanning, captures, and inspires us on to Rustic Refined.
A pleat by any other name is just..... French, Inverted, Boxed, Ruffled, Rouched, Goblet, Ripplefold, Inset, Slouched, Embellished, Smocked, Flounce, Tabbed, Pencil, Cartridge.
We are thankful for our findings on all of the pleat styles we discovered through the media, our archives, and mainly on Pinterest, that brought this Blog to life. The talents in designing the perfect pleat begin with a designer who has a vision for the space, which is then communicated, more than likely sketched, for the client. Once that vision is met with excited approval, the designer relays the project to the workroom/seamstress. Knight's is fortunate that we work alongside our workroom professionals to ensure that the drapery and pleat style is created to the fullest of our intent.
Are you looking forward to designing draperies in your own home?
Aside from our complimentary consultations with our window covering professionals, we are able to assist you with your fabric selections from our vast library of designer-quality fabrics. Our drapery hardware collections can be customized to fit any space, and our installers are experienced, personable and professional.
A few months back we attended the Hunter Douglas Premieres Showcase that introduced us to What's New In the World Of Window Coverings and we're here to say: "We have many exciting, innovative Shades coming your way!"
Brilliantly engineered to control the sun's rays while preserving your impressive view with the classic, refined style of the original Silhouette, 'ClearView' presents a new offering in luxury window coverings.
The Choices: Silhouette with ClearView to enjoy outstanding views with light control. Or. . . Choose the original Silhouette for a softer glow and more daytime privacy. The choice is yours.
The New Shape Of Light is Curved . . .
What did the roller shade say to the cellular shade? "Let's get together!" And, they did in this ingenious design "Sonnette" joins the Ette-Elite in window fashions. Available in two opacity options of Semi-opaque and Room-darkening with four fabric collections and 48 colorways that include the top-selling Duette and Pirouette colors.
A fresh take on roller shades, DESIGNER Banded Shades feature a combination of sheer and solid fabric bands in a single shade. Flexible functionality transitions between complete privacy, filtered light, or total view-through. Selections include three different band heights, along with three different band shapes, and an extensive fabric collection in 23 fabric styles.
We cannot wait for the samples to arrive - Coming soon!
Clearly, a must-have operation! Soft-Touch Motorization is a battery-powered system with wand-controlled operation. You gently pull-down to lower shades and gently push-up to raise them.
Currently available on Sonnette Window Shades only... but.... we'll hope for more applications soon!
Many years ago a wise man told me wood, hardwood, is a living, breathing thing. Even long after the tree becomes a plank, solid or engineered, hardwood floors are ever-changing throughout their lifetime. As a retailer of the most beautiful collections of hardwoods, I find those are words to live by.
Photo courtesy of Armstrong Flooring
As we mentioned wood lives and breathes and to properly introduce hardwood flooring to your own home, you must acclimate. Acclimation allows the moisture content of the wood to adjust to the conditions in the room by simply placing the opened boxes of planks in each area this process begins and will take a few days to a couple of weeks.
Living....Breathing....Ever-Changing.... Hardwood Floors do require a little TLC. Installing window coverings to block UV Rays and on occasion rearranging furnishings and area rugs will help your floors age evenly. Age? Yes, a natural process for hardwoods is aging, yellowing, fading, darkening and even lightening in certain conditions all accelerated by UV rays.
You've done your research on the quality of all the different hardwood species, and are ready to make your selection and now you're wondering which finish and character will actually highlight the wood's natural beauty. We're often asked: "How will this look with my cabinets.... my furniture... my decor palette". This is a one-word answer, and that word is CONTRAST.
Photo credit: top inspiration board from our friends at RMCoco Fabrics. Photo credit bottom hardwood selections by Artistry Hardwoods with color-through technology.
In this featured 'Inspiration Room' (above) the choices for a wood floor to accentuate the overall palette of the room, can be either the darker of the dark tones in the room which brings a subtle balance, or the lighter for a more defined contrast showcasing both the floor and furnishings.
One of the more difficult rooms to find just the right contrast is any room with cabinetry.
Photo credit Hallmark Floors Alta Vista collection in Laguna
If you've ever browsed through Houzz, you know that white kitchen cabinets are the most popular and that they haven't lost their appeal over the years. The choices in floor finishes are limitless and trend towards personal preference. The key here is the painted cabinetry island and balancing all the tones while at the same contrasting to highlight all three - the white, the black and, mainly, the floor.
The darker the cabinets the lighter the wood floors and vice-a-versa.
Natural Hickory hardwood floors have so much character in their color variation they are a natural pick for the darker wood cabinet kitchens.
Found on Pinterest from the Wood Grain Cottage
Cherry Woods, beautifully done! The deeper coloration in the Cherry planks pick up the color in the cabinets and the contrast with white base and moldings is a stand-out.
And, with every design a little paint must have - Greige, the not so gray, not so beige color that's the new neutral for home decor.
When you have a true love for Greige, you don't just paint the Island, no...no...no... you paint the entire kitchen in your favorite color. Now, what to do for the hardwood floor selections. Of course, or should we say: "HOPEFULLY", you selected your floors at the time you selected this paint color for your cabinets. The cabinets are simply stunning and the floors must do their part not to compete, but to enhance and we've done our best with these samples from Homerwood in White Oak. Why White Oak? We are loving the natural, rich grains of the wood and have presented three choices of finishes, from the top we have Graphite, then Simply White, and lastly, but a lovely choice is Espresso. We're leaving the decision to you. Which floor do you choose to compliment the cabinets?
One of the things we love most about Hardwood Flooring is the natural beauty. A beauty that can stand alone, but we see that's not so practical for our homes - just the floor. We want to add layers of color and texture to emphasize that warmth and feeling of home. When it comes to complimenting the color for hardware floors, we look to nature - the tree, and the leaf doesn't fall from the tree, and neither does the color.
Inspiration: Benjamin Moore's 2017 color of the year Shadow
Homerwood's Hickory Natural
In our Showroom, the Hickory Natural gets so much attention! The sample is pulled more times than we can count and wherever we go people want to know, "how do I decorate with this busy, but beautiful hardwood?". We've put together a vision board for just this purpose. Envisioning the build from the floor up and introducing the layers as we move throughout the space with paint, natural textures, and textiles with complimentary tones that showcase the hickory wood floor.
Earlier in describing the beauty of complimenting hardwoods with color, did we say: "Just the floor?" Ahhhh, we did, but our reference has meaning; meaning that some woods are so pretty you don't want to put anything on them! Enter the patterns, a truly stand alone floor.
Chevron
With over eight vendor choices in our Showroom, we are familiar with each unique quality they represent. From the species of the wood, the hardness factors & how they perform to the way they are manufactured, our philosophy remains that providing a quality installation will ensure the natural beauty of your own hardwood floors.
We did go a bit long in this Blog, and there's a lot more to cover! Do you have any questions/comments? Please post them in our comments section, or better yet, stop by and say Hi! We're happy to be of service.
