By Lina StoyanovaSpecial to The Star

Most people think fireplaces have only one use: to keep

them warm. Although that’s a great feature, it’s not the only one.

Denise Dumont, who has purchased three fireplaces from Forest Glade Fireplac-es, loves putting them to use.

She felt pleasantly sur-prised at how quick and easy it was to change the mood of her house by simply turning on the fireplace. “The fact that I’m single makes me want some-thing that is easy to use and isn’t com-plicated.”

S u z a n n e McLaughlin also drew in-spiration from Forest Glade Fireplaces to make her home more com-fortable. “My fireplace is very multi-functional and has great aesthetics that make my home look and feel com-fortable,” says McLaughlin. “People were very surprised at how much heat it actually puts off and how well I can control it since it’s on a ther-mostat.”

There are many different ways to enjoy a fireplace now that summer has ended and the AC is put away.

Among the unconvention-al ways to use your fireplace:

1. Do some activitiesThere are many activi-

ties you can do that include your fireplace. If you’ve had a long day and want to de-

stress, snuggling up in front of the fireplace with a good book and some tea is a great option. “My fireplace makes me feel like I am at home and it’s comfortable to relax and unwind,” says Dumont.

“We have an open concept house so it heats it well but also makes it easy to unwind and relax without any fuss,” says McLaughlin. “I love that in a flick of a switch I have a nice fire and get to relax.”

A family fun option is to have a campfire and make s’mores. You get to roast marshmallows over the fire from the comfort of your

own home. It’s a perfect way to spend some family time.

“I love cre-ating dinner party ambi-ence. I turn it on but keep the blower

off and it gives a cozy feel to the home, especially in the winter,” says McLaughlin.

Having a date night? There’s nothing more ro-mantic than having a can-dle-lit dinner in front of the fireplace and enjoying each other’s company.

2. Create an Artistic SpaceProvide your fireplace

with a makeover to give your home a new look and feel. “A fireplace enhances the ambience. It creates an atmosphere,” says Susie Li-causi, owner of Forest Glade Fireplaces which has loca-tions in both Windsor and Leamington.

Your fireplace can serve as an innovative way to

show your style. Tastefully arrange candles, plants or sculptures to pull the room together. You can display special collections of pic-tures and mementos, as well as showcasing your favou-rite floral arrangements and centerpieces.

Instead of hanging artwork on the walls, you can make use of your fireplace and dis-play some of your favourite pieces.

Please see Fireplace, C11

The Windsor Star • windsorstar.comSaturday, September 26, 2015 • Special Advertising FeatureC10

From dinner party ambience to unwinding after a long day, Suzanne McLaughlin loves what she can get from her fireplace at the flick of a switch. - Ed Goodfellow: Special to The Star

Rethink your fireplace

Fall Home Improvement2015

Denise Dumont enjoys a quiet read next to her fireplace. “My fireplace makes me feel like I am at home and it’s comfort-able to relax and unwind,” she says. - Ed Goodfellow: Special to The Star

‘The best thing about having a fireplace is that you’ll enjoy it so much,

you’ll never want to leave your home.’

- Suzie LicauSi

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The Windsor Star • windsorstar.com Special Advertising Feature • Saturday, September 26, 2015 C11

Continued from C10

Tastefully arrange things you en-joy to give your home and fireplace an instant makeover.

3. Use it to CookUse your fireplace as a versatile

way to cook. There are many ways this can be done and this is a great option for a hot meal if the power is out. Simplify cooking by using a Cast-Iron Trivet, a Cast-Iron Dutch Oven or even a Reflector Oven. A Reflector Oven is a great way to bake and cook with a fireplace. All you have to do is place it in front of the fire and the heat reflects to the food.

4. Decorate for the holidaysHolidays are just around the cor-

ner. There are plenty of ways to dec-orate your fireplace for Halloween, Thanksgiving and even Christmas. “The newer fireplaces have glass, so at Christmas time customers can buy red crushed glass to change it up,” says Licausi.

Decorate your fireplace to give

your home a warm and inviting feel. This is one of the easiest ways to enhance a room.

“We have a zero-clearance fire-place that sits on the floor, so there’s no mantle,” says McLaughlin. “But beside it, we put mini-evergreen trees for Halloween. They’re gnarly looking and the kids get to deco-rate them however they like.”

Pick flowers and items that complement the room’s decor and make sure to use seasonal colours to create the festive look you are going for. “I decorate mostly for Christmas, but I make sure each time I decorate that it ties into the rest of the house,” says Dumont. “I make sure the house has a warm, luminous atmosphere to look hom-ey and comfortable. I do different things every year depending on the season.”

5. Use it for storageIf you have a fireplace that you

never use, don’t worry. You can add some shelving units to the interior to give yourself extra space and have storage. This is a great option

if you don’t want the fireplace to go to waste. It gives you the ability to utilize it even if it’s in an unconven-

tional way.“The best thing about having a

fireplace is that you’ll enjoy it so

much, you’ll never want to leave your home,” says Licausi. “What’s the worst thing? Not having one.”

Fireplace: ‘You’ll never leave home’

The fireplace is the focal point of the room inside Suzanne McLaughlin’s attractive, open-concept home. - Ed Goodfellow: Special to The Star

The fresh, crisp air of fall is often enjoyed during backyard clean-ups and weekends of tidying the garage. Feeding your lawn before a long, winter is important, and can contin-ue as long as there is no frost.

If you are left with extra fertil-izer at the end of the season, do you know what to do with it? The experts at Fertilizer Canada have some advice:

Use itBest practices for lawn and garden

care advise feeding your lawn every other month beginning when the ground is no longer frozen and stop-ping with that important last appli-cation in the fall. The extra nutri-ents will provide food to keep grass healthy during the coldest weather and boost root growth to reach deeply stored moisture reserves.

Share itAll living things need food, in-

cluding lawns and gardens. If you have leftover fertilizer at the end of the season, share it with family, neighbours, friends or a community group. Thick, healthy green space provides a safe place for kids and pets to rest and play.

Store itKeep any leftover fertilizer sealed

in its original container in a dry place for use next season. If moisture gets in, you may have lumping of the fer-tilizer, but that can usually be fixed by breaking up any clumps before placing in the spreader next spring.

More information is available at fertilizercanada.ca/greenerworld.

- www.newscanada.com

All those leftover leaves make great fertilizer.

What to do with leftover fertilizer

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The Windsor Star • windsorstar.comSaturday, September 26, 2015 • Special Advertising FeatureC12

By Lina StoyanovaSpecial to The Star

If you’re looking for a cost-effective way to bring fur-niture back to life, cottage

paint may be the way to go.It’s simple, yet effective. The

best thing about this paint is that you can use it over almost any surface without sanding, priming or stripping.

Sharon Graham, co-owner along with Graham Rob-shaw of Graham’s Paint ‘N’ Paper Place in Tecumseh, calls it “a simple, inexpensive way to reclaim old and tired furniture pieces that anyone can do following some basic steps with fabulous results.”

The surface just needs to be clean and free of any flak-ing paint or rust. This makes a huge difference in deciding when, and if, a project should be done. No more long, te-

dious hours spent on a proj-ect. Instead, the result will be gorgeous, effortless, and most of all, easy.

What is Cottage Paint?Cottage paint, available

at Graham’s, is a clay-based paint that dries to a silky matte finish. It remains po-rous, easy to sand and even distress, if desired. Distressed wood finishing is completed at the end of the paint job, giving your furniture an older ‘distressed’ look.

This type of paint has been around since the frescos in the Sistine Chapel, but there have been recent improve-ments. The clay paint has now been formulated to exceed today’s environmental stan-dards. Almost all VOCs (Vol-atile Organic Compounds) have been removed in both the bases and pigments.

Cottage paint is mostly used as a furniture-refinishing prod-uct which makes it perfect for the ‘Shabby-Chic’ style that happens to be in trend right now. You can create many dif-ferent looks and finishes by experimenting with this paint. If you would like to sign up for a free, in-store demonstra-tion from the Cottage Paint experts, you can call Graham’s at (519) 735-2110. Space is

limited. The store also has sev-eral pieces available that have been recreated and can be used as a reference.

Using Cottage PaintBefore starting, make sure

to have everything ready to go. Now it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get to work.

1. Choose a piece of furni-ture that is solid and clean. Make sure there is no chip-

ping, flaking or rusting.2. Clean the surfaces thor-

oughly. Use household items like vinegar and water to gen-tly clean the surfaces. If the surfaces need a deeper clean, consider buying a product specifically made to prepare the piece. Choose a product that will remove all wax and oily grime from the surface. A good option is Cottage Paint’s Furniture Clean and Prep. It’s a product that pre-pares furniture surfaces prior to painting with cottage paint. However, if the chosen piece is untreated wood, a rigorous clean isn’t needed. Just do a light dusting.

3. Choose the desired paint colour and brush to apply the paint. Pick a colour that would suit your piece well. You can visit Graham’s and choose from a wide selec-tion of colours that can also

be tinted in-store while you wait. “This feature makes cottage paint unique from most of its competitors,” says Graham. Then use a brush that fits the scale of your piece. For instance, a small brush would come in handy when dealing with any spin-dles or table legs.

4. Brush on the first coat and let dry. If needed, apply a second coat.

5. Once the paint is com-pletely dry, you can wipe the surfaces with a damp cloth. If you wish to distress, make sure to rub well to get the de-sired appearance.

6. Last, finish the piece with wax, varnish or glaze if desired.

For more information and project ideas and videos, visit the Cottage Paint website at www.cottagepaint.com.

Before and after photos of a buffet turned into a kitchen island, using Cottage Paint. - Courtesy www.cottagepaint.com

Cottage paint easy way to revive furniture

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Matt Giordimaina cuts some flooring under the watchful eye of Jim Moran, co-owner with his brother Bob (below) of The Floor Store.- Rick Dawes photos: Special to The Star

Flooring expertise meets styleHomeowners seeking handsome flooring

proven to handle tough traffic should stepthrough The Floor Store’s front door and

look down.“After routinely rolling dollies carrying thou-

sands of pounds over our luxury vinyl tile floor,we’ve only had to replace one tile in six years,”says Bob Moran, who co-owns the business withhis brother, Jim.Luxury vinyl tiles are easily

installed with double-faced tapearound the perimeter. The rest ofthe tiles are loose laid.“If you damage a tile, it’s just a

matter of lifting it out and put anew one down,” Moran says.“In the last year, luxury vinyl

tiles and planks in ceramic andwood looks have really taken off,”he says.The durable flooring is mois-

ture resistant. “You can put it in abucket of water and it won’t ab-sorb a drop.”The vinyl product can also be

laid right over most floors (not car-peting), without requiring an un-der-pad. “A lot of do-it-yourselfersare doing this.”Another hardworking option is fibre flooring.

Available in 12’ wide rolls, the thick sheet lays sonicely it doesn’t need to be glued down, makingit an easy project for DIYers who just measure,cut and set in place. Fibre board comes in ceramictile, stone and wood plank patterns. “It’s great inwashrooms and kitchens,” says Moran.Homeowners often prefer vinyl and fibre floors

over real tile. “They’re warmer underfoot andmore forgiving if you drop something. They alsodeaden sound,” Moran finds.When ceramic tiles are desired, choose ones

made with porcelain which are harder and lessporous than ones made with clay, Moran advises.“Compared to ceramic, porcelain is much strongerand more durable.”The most in-demand size is 12” x 24”, followed

by 13” x 13”, 18” x 18” and 24” x 24”. “At one

time, people went for light tans. Now they wantdarker hues in browns and greys,” Moran says.Products by Olympia Tile, Centura Floor and

Wall Fashions, Sarana-Tile, Midgley and Westand other brand names are part of The FloorStore’s large selection.Laminate flooring goes from strength to strength.

“We only carry laminate products that last,” Mo-ran says. Mannington Flooring and other lead-

ing manufacturers have releaseddesigns in widths of 3, 5 and 7”.With deeply textured wood graineffects, “some laminates are as re-alistic looking as hardwood. Theadvantage over hardwood is lami-nate’s durability.”Traditionalists favour maple’s

subtle grain and oak’s pronouncedgrain, in medium to dark stains.The more daring go for hickory.“Matte and hand-scraped fin-

ishes are preferred over gloss.Aluminum oxide is added to thefinish to protect against scratchingand scuffing,” Moran says.Purists who want hardwood ap-

preciate products by AppalachianFlooring in Quebec and Fusion

Flooring, a reputable manufacturer. Moran seesbenefits in engineered hardwood: “It wears ex-actly the same as solid hardwood; however, it’s agood performer in Windsor, the humidity capitalof Canada.”Carpet continues to be a big seller at The Floor

Store, especially for the living room, bedroom andstaircase. “Carpet deadens the sound when youget up in the middle of the night – and your feetwon’t feel cold,” Moran points out. The popularchoice is frieze, each tuft twisted with two or threeshades of tan, medium brown or grey.“We only sell flooring that we would put in our

own homes,” Moran assures. The Floor Store in-stalls the products it carries. Customers can seewhat’s in store or arrange a free, no-obligation in-home quote.

This story was produced by TheWindsor Star CustomContent Studio in partnership with The Floor Store

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