October 2004 e-newsletter
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This newsletter is sponsored by Trimland (http://www.trimland.com)

Repair or Replace
Safety is the issue; and October is the month to emphasize to consumers the importance of upgrading existing, pre-2001 corded window coverings. It’s also the time to highlight the industry’s efforts to raise awareness of safety issues and to eliminate the problem by design.

Once again, the Window Covering Safety Council (WCSC) has joined forces with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to declare October National Window Covering Safety Month. The month-long, nationwide campaign is designed to increase consumer awareness of cord safety concerns and to urge parents with young children to repair or replace pre-2001 corded blinds, shades and draperies with today’s safer products. Find out what industry and consumer groups are telling customers to do in the Safety Report in the October 2004 issue of Draperies & Window Coverings.

Coming in November
Shutter Update: What’s the current size of the U.S. shutter market? What key issues will most effect the market in the year ahead? Learn what industry insiders think in the November 2004 Shutter Supplement in D&WC.

What’s Happening to Our Homes?
Conventional thinking has it that more Americans are staying home and using favorable refinancing rates to heavily invest in their homes through upgrades. What kinds of things do they have in mind? This month we take a look at the explosion of home offices and home technology, what’s going on in the busiest room of the hone: the kitchen, and review some of the top designs in a recent Dream Room contest to see what designers are thinking.

Technological Revolution for Future Homes
The Internet, home automation, the explosion of home offices and other technological advances will irrevocably transform home interiors and furnishings by the year 2020. So says the major new research report, "20/20: IFDA's Vision For the Future," by the International Furnishings and Design Association (IFDA). The report is drawn from a survey of IFDA's 2,000 members, whose affiliations range from manufacturers and retailers to educators, editors, marketers and interior designers.

IFDA members also believe that technology will make a major impact on the types of materials used in furniture, home textiles and other interior furnishings, which will continue evolving over the next 20 years, particularly with substantial increases in new classifications of synthetic fibers and environmental, or "green," materials.

The Kitchen: The New Activity Room
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 3.6 million kitchens were remodeled in the United States in 2001, the last year for which figures are available. That’s a golden opportunity for window coverings professions. Often the heart of the home, kitchens today aren't what they used to be, Karla Nielson reminds us. Perhaps there is no more dramatic contrast in the evolution of the contemporary home than what has happened to the kitchen.

Dream Interiors
What are some of the country’s top designers doing to help clients achieve the homes of their dreams? Take a look at the winners of the Interiors by Decorating Den Dream Room contest to see current design trends.

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