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Advertorial Debbie Travis: Get in the swing with colour and bright lights Dear Debbie; I can't seem to get the right light for our fam- ily room. When we are playing table games, I'm always dragging a lamp around so we can all see the cards. It's not a big room and there is no ceil- ing light. -- Bonita Dear Bonita; This is a good question. It's not unusual to have to move lights around as your tasks change, especially when you are using a room for different purposes. Watching a movie, chat- ting with chums and playing table games call for a variety of light sources. A good suggestion is the overarching floor lamp shown here from West Elm. Their designers note that it provides convenient spot lighting for casual reading, acts as a centerpiece for friendly conversation and stands alone as a decorative piece of furniture. Swing the lamp arc effortlessly to highlight what you choose. The slender, antiqued bronze metal base sweeps up to 77 inches high, tucks in neat- ly beside the sofa and has a reach of five feet. The large linen shade diffuses the light giving a soft ambient glow throughout the room, but also directs the light downward for reading or bright- ening up a table. Smoky acrylic globe shades that show the light bulb and round metal shades are also available and offer a more industrial feel to this arched style. Floor lamps are a good lighting option beside a desk or work surface that is already holding a computer, notes, cell phone and more. Similarly, they work well for illuminating crafts and hob- bies. The contemporary design of this integrated LED wood floor lamp takes up little visual space and is placed here to offer plenty of light for reading. West Elm reminds us that LED is a chip that creates light, not heat. They use 75% less energy than regular bulbs, last 25 times longer and are mercury free. Those are cool facts, and just think, you will never have to change another light bulb. Dear Debbie; We'd like to brighten up our smallish bathroom's knotty pine wainscoting. The current finish is a satin polyurethane varnish which has oranged over the years. We're thinking about a white wash but concerned that it may look yellowish. Please help with the preparation steps and paint product info. Thanks. -- Russ and Judi Dear Russ and Judi; The aged yellow-orange appearance of the pine wainscoting you have is caused by the oil-based varnish that was originally applied. Water-based acrylic varnishes shouldn't yellow. To return the knotty pine to its original colour is a big task as you need to sand off the varnish down to the naked boards. Once the wood pores are open, use a white stain or paint wash and finish with a water-based varnish. It is possible, and much easier, to cover up the panels and still see the grain with an all in one product by Minwax that is a combination stain and topcoat. First clean and sand the surface to give it some tooth. You don't have to remove all the old varnish. However, in order to cover the existing orange colour, the co- lour of the new stain/topcoat needs to be darker not lighter than what you have now. The easiest solution for a light finish such as the whitewash you mention, is to paint with a good quality paint designed to cover slippery surfaces. You have grey tiles on your floor, so a light grey paint washed over the surface will up- date and brighten your room. Written by Debbie Travis and Barbara Dingle. Email decorating questions to: house2home@debbietravis. com. Follow Debbie at instagram.com/debbie_travis, facebook.com/thedebbietravis, debbietravis.com. 33 | O akville B eaver | T hursday,O ctober 24,2019 insidehalton.com 5450 Harvester Rd, Burlington Overhead Door (Hamilton-Burlington) Ltd. 905.333.1772 info@overheaddoorburlington.ca overheaddoorburlington.ca Thermacore® For premium construction and maximum thermal efficiency, a Thermacore® insulated steel door is the ideal choice. This series of doors feature our sandwich construction of steel-polyurethane-steel as well as between-section seals with thermal breaks to reduce air infiltration. With several panel designs to choose from, these doors offer design flexibility, durability and thermal efficiency that will help keep your home comfortable in cold or hot climates. Insulated Steel Garage Doors Overhead Door Co. of Hamilton-Burlington™ Overhead Door Co. Proud to be Servicing the GTA for 35 Years. The Genuine. 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