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All good things come to an end. And the enormously successful Luminette On Parade Show Home Decorating Contest, sponsored by Hunter Douglas Window Fashions, Upper Saddle River, NJ, has just ended.
Designed to increase exposure of the world's first window covering to offer both soft fabric sheers and privacy—Luminette Privacy Sheers®—in the consumer market by placing product in Parades of Homes and show homes across the country, the contest ran from May 1 to November 15, 1999. Winners were announced December 15.
The Luminette On Parade guidelines were simple. To enter, dealers and designers had to qualify to receive the sheers. After the product was installed, the dealer/designer had to take a photograph illustrating the placement and provide a description about why he or she choose Luminette sheers.
There were more than 85 dealer/designers participating in 89 Parades of Homes and show homes across the country for a combined consumer attendance estimated at 2.3 million. Without a doubt, the judges had a difficult time choosing winners.
SPOKANE DEALER WINS TRIP
Steve Rile of Ida & Norma's Draperies, Spokane, WA, was awarded first prize. As winner, Rile receives a four-night trip for two to Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas.
Rile won the prize for his work on the Sarah Jae Hee House in the 1999 Showcase of Homes at Shelly Lake, where he faced the challenge of designing window treatments that were in keeping with the Far Eastern, Zen-like feel of the four-bedroom home.
For the living room/dining room with a wall of windows and a patio door facing the lake, Rile selected the sheers in the textured Linéa fabric and the soft Antique Linen color for an Asian grass cloth look. He topped the window with shaped cornices in black that coordinated with the cabinets in the adjoining kitchen.
When it came to the master bedroom, Rile chose Luminette sheers in the same Linéa fabric and Antique Linen color as in the living room/dining room for the single window—a patio door. For the top treatment, Rile looked to traditional Japanese shoji screens for inspiration. He constructed a shoji cornice frame out of wood and, instead of the customary rice paper backing, stapled on three layers of Luminette fabric by the yard to achieve the desired level of translucency. He then trimmed the back in gimp.
"The sunlight striking the Luminette sheers and the cornice creates a glow, filling the room with beautifully filtered light," said Rile.
TWO SECOND PRIZES AWARDED
Two second place prizes were awarded: one to Carrie Nemec of Carrie's Interiors, Port Charlotte, FL; and another to Anna Baffo of Interior Reflections, Shelby Township, MI. Each receives a three-night trip for two to Washington, DC.
When decorating two model condominiums with sliding glass doors directly overlooking Charlotte Harbor, Nemec decided on the clean look of Luminette Privacy Sheers because, in her words, "I wanted to accomplish elegance without interrupting the view."
In one model, she used Luminette sheers wall-to-wall, which, she says, "made the room appear larger with an immediate statement as you walked in the room." Luminette sheers also worked well for Nemec because of her Florida location, where the hot sun is a definite factor during the day, and she didn't want the heavy, dark feeling of draperies or the casual feeling of blinds.
Thanks to the ingenuity of second place winner Baffo, two long, narrow windows in the master suite of the Paint Creek Country Club Estates Show Home in Oxford, MI, were given a soft, romantic look. Baffo selected the smooth, elegant Angelica fabric in the Feather color. She topped the sheers with box-pleat valances trimmed in eight-inch bullion fringe and Facades[TM] cornices in the Regency Rope style and a Crème Crackle finish.
In the guest bedroom, Baffo used Luminette sheers and a free-flowing swag of coordinating fabric by the yard to soften the frame of a dominant arched window.
A TRIO OF THIRD PLACE WINNERS
Third place prizes were awarded to: Mary Chambers of Carriage House Ethan Allen, Menomonee Falls, WI; Lois Grier of Decorating Den Interiors, Pella, IA; and Randy Hadfield of Trend Interiors, Logan, UT. These dealers receive 13-inch TV/VCRs.
For a $1 million-plus Mequon, WI, Parade home, Chambers chose Luminette sheers to enhance the high ceilings of the master bedroom. "The Luminette sheers also finished the room without closing it in, but extending the eye to the outside," said Chambers.
Grier used Luminette sheers in the master bedroom of a Des Moines, IA, Parade home because she needed an elegant treatment that could go to the floor, complement the fabric cornices she had planned and provide privacy. What's more, the walls were painted a brilliant Indian paintbrush red and Grier wanted the softness and lightness of Luminette sheers to offer contrast.
For the Cache County, UT, Parade of Homes, third place winner Hadfield made a wall of double-stacked windows look like a single window with a soft, drapery look thanks to two Luminette sheers installed one directly above the other. "The rounded fabric folds de-emphasized the division between the two separate layers," said Hadfield. "These Luminette Privacy Sheers captured the most attention of any window treatment in the Parade," he added.
TWO RUNNERS-UP AWARDED
Sandra Bullock of Bullock's Framing & Decorating, Stow, OH, and Katherine Susan Wolfe of Custom by Katherine, Canfield, OH, were runners-up in the contest.
Of course, everyone involved in the Luminette On Parade contest is a winner. And the more potential customers see this top-of-the-line treatment, the more they like it.
Sarah Narowetz is Hunter Douglas brand manager for Luminette Privacy Sheers®.
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