• ; . ' - y - ' t • A . 1 - ' i ";U.'.. PAGE 16-McHENRY PLAINDEALER-FRIDAY. MARCH 15. 1974 Warm is beautiful Man-made bedroom furniture copies nature beautifully Modern heating systems become decor accessory Are you planning any home improvement pro jects? If so, advises the National Better Heating- Cooling Council, don't over look the heating system. Heating is necessary in 90 percent of all home mod ernization work, and you'll be dollars ahead if you in clude it with the rest of the plans. Also, if it's a new room, it will be useful all year long. If your home is equipped with hydronic (modern hot water) home heating, you'll have an easy time extend ing it to the new addition. Because modern hydronics uses finger size tubing, you'll be able to snake it from room to room without tear ing down walls or ripping floors. Many home decorators have been hampered by large radiators. Replace them with ankle-high hy dronic baseboard panels. In addition to the more uni form heat, baseboard heat ing permits the use of floor- length draperies and wall- to-wall carpeting. The new hydronic boilers are appliance-styled and many of them have a wood- panel finish. Smaller but more efficient than the older, larger boilers, they will save up to 25 percent in fuel costs, and make the new finished play or work area in the basement more at tractive. Clean lines and architectural detailing distinguish a new transitional bedroom grouping from Sierra Permaneer. Its restrained shadow box moldings and warm pecan vinyl finish make it equally at-h6me with contemporary, Oriental or traditional accessories. Completely man- made, the furniture is particle board laminated with a vinyl film. Decorative elements are molded polystyrene. Drawer pulls are satin brass. A five-piece group will retail for under $300. By merely replacing the old free-standing radiator (photo top) with anklc-high wall hugging hydronic (hot water) baseboard heating panels, (photo bottom) says the National Better Heat ing-Cooling Council, you can enjoy a picture window, floor length draperies, and wall-to-wall carpeting. Great wall of Orient Bookcases go oriental . . . one way to make the most of your bedroom is to install a wall of shelve* for books and ornaments. These photographed here retain the Oriental mood set by tlic fashionable bamboo and cane styling of this bedroom suite from Stanley Furniture. Another "decorator" tip worth noting is the substitution of a server instead of two bedside tables. This provides extra storage and a place for work or sewing! Bedroom Suite by Stanley Furniture "Registry" Collection. Now you see them . . . Now you don't. With some creative ideas, inexpensive materials and a little handiwork you can turn this General Electric compact washer and dryer pair in their stack rack into a decorative and practical addition to an apartment kitchen or bathroom. An easy way to do this is to construct two inexpensive plywood panels to fit across the front of the stack rack when the laundry pair is not in Use. The panels can be attractively decorated with corkboard, contact paper, wallpaper or paint matching the room. The washer and dryer both have a 5 pound load capacity and 'operate on standard household current. The washer rolls to the sink for hookup like a portable dishwasher and features automatic washing cycles from 2 to 12 minutes, two rinses and spin drying, plus high and low water settings. The dryer, which offers up to 2V4 hours of drying time, has Normal and Fluff drying cycles, and a special Permanent Press cycle. effect. It was pointed out that these finishes are elegant and allow considerable dec orating lee-way. They can blend equally easily with many different decorating schemes. . Storage considerations have been given top prior ity, too, company spokes men pointed out, and dress ers and armoires have greater capacity and better engineered details than ever before. The conven tional high chest has al most completely given way to the European-styled ar- molre because of the ar- moire's greater and more flexible interior space. Modest price All this attention to de tail, to styling and to func tion would seem to cost more, but Sierra Permaneer executives indicate that it comes budget-priced with flve piece bedroom group ings ranging from $249 to $499. At those prices, there's no longer any excuse for an odds-and-ends furnished bedroom! 01 Furnishing a bedroom -- depending on your pocket- book and taste -- can be a piece-by-piece proposition or an all-at-once purchase. For those who prefer the latter course, but are ap- • palled at the thought of the cost -- take heart! There are many bedroom collections that don't re quire the outlay of a gov ernment debt to own. Some of the best and most technologically advanced manufacturers have found new methods of producing furniture that looks hand some, functions better than ever before and is priced within the range of almost any family budget. Budget made The reason is the devel opment of furniture that is all man-made. In one of science's more constructive achievements, manufactur ers have developed tech niques for laminating vinyl film onto a particle board base and applying orna mentation that looks hand- carved, but is, in reality, molded polystyrene. One leader in the field, Sierra Permaneer, a divi sion of Permaneer Corpora tion, even has an invention called a mitre-fold that cuts into the base in such a way that the sides can be folded right into the de- *" sired furniture shape. Furniture produced this way can be a simple, un adorned contemporary fashion or elaborately dec orated in favored tradition al styles. More durable Veneers reproduce the best segments of wood so accurately that it is almost impossible to tell the real from the simulated, but the man-made has many assets. It is more durable. Damp or steam-heated rooms won't cause warping. Perfume and cosmetics won't stain or mar surfaces. According to Sierra Per maneer designers, the new est look in bedroom fur niture is lighter colored finishes. New collections in troduced for 1973 feature soft, medium toned wood veneers such as pecan, and more antique whites to achieve this lightened