23 year old Cape Town student, Janice Judd, has been announced as the winner of the Glade Inspirational Fragrances Competition. The competition called budding designers and decorators from around the country to unleash their creativity and design a unique room, inspired by one of Glade’s six selected fragrances.

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Sweeping views over a lush wine estate were enhanced when we installed eco-friendly Decowood shutters in this magnificent home.

Paarl, part of the Western Cape’s top wine producing region, is known for its beautiful vineyards, landscape views, breathtakingly old farm houses, stylishly renovated estate homes and hot, dry summer months.

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Do you have a good sense of style? Let Glade’s scents inspire you to design a unique room that reflects the effect fragrances can have on home décor and you could win R20 000! And any of the six winners who showcase AMERICAN shutters in their designs will be awarded R2 000!

“More and more interior decorators are recognising that fragrance is just as important as furnishings and lighting to a room’s décor to ensure that a house becomes a home. It can also serve as inspiration for the theme and style of a space,� says Glade Marketing Manager Michelle Cloete.

To enter, you will be required to design a room within a R20 000 virtual budget with the primary objective to demonstrate how fragrance adds a fourth dimension to a home. Designers are allowed to select any in-home space from a bedroom or office, to a lounge or atrium. The budget for shutters need not be deducted from your R20 000 virtual budget.

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While South Africa celebrates the six Olympic Games medals our sportsmen and women brought home this month, we’re celebrating our very own silver award!

Our new exhibition stand was awarded a silver certificate at the Algoa FM HOMEMAKERS Expo in Port Elizabeth.

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Slopped ceilings and large slanted windows make this modern South African home unmistakable. When it came to choosing window dressings to complement the unique architecture, the home-owners opted for elegant AMERICAN shutters.

Every home has a feature or two and in this home, large slanted windows steal the show! Designed to maximize light, many of the windows stretch from the floor to the ceiling and effectively create a grand sense of space.

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Decorex Joburg promises to be a dazzling exhibition showcasing the latest décor and design trends. Of course AMERICAN shutters will be there and we have five sets of double tickets to give away!

To enter, post a comment below telling us any décor update you’d love to add to your home. Alternatively, you could enter by sending this tweet: “I’d love to win tickets to #decorexjoburg with @WindowtoDesign www.americanshutters.co.za/blogâ€� from your twitter account.

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We were thrilled to unveil our new exhibition stand at Decorex this year. Inspired by white beach homes, we incorporated an idyllic undisturbed view of white sand and inviting blue sea into the exhibition stand.

It might have been a wintery weekend during the Cape Town Decorex, but inside the CTICC we were transporting guests into a summer paradise!

Widely regarded as the most prestigious home décor and design exhibition in South Africa, this year’s Decorex had 15% more visitors than last year!

“Our stand worked well for us, attracted plenty visitors and it was gorgeous to stand on the beach all day!� says Karina Palmer, interior designer and marketing manager of AMERICAN shutters. “It also caused a few laughs when young children ran straight to the backlit image, thinking they could play in the sand while mom and dad discussed their window treatments.�

We launched our brand new ‘motorised screen’ range at the show, which attracted a lot of interest. The new six drawer units in the stand housed elements specific to each product range. “This helped our clients decide on a range of shutters or blinds that best suits their home and were able to take detailed product sheets to read through at their leisure,� says Karina.

All Decorex 2012 visitors who completed the form at our stand are eligible for a 10% discount on all our ranges ordered before the end of June 2012, excluding the Decowood range as it is already discounted. For more information, please email info@americanshutters.co.za

For the latest home décor tips and trends, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. To find AMERICAN shutters or blinds for your home, visit our online showroom or contact us to request a quote online.

With information and news from around the world just a click away, we are fast becoming accustomed to the ever-blurring borders between South Africa and the many countries from which we have learnt and adopted product throughout history.

Shutters are one such product. In 1985, after completing his studies abroad, Steve Palmer and his wife, Karina, who had been working as an interior designer returned to South Africa. Along with the international experience and inspiration they had gathered, they brought with them a love for custom-made adjustable louvre shutters, and the rest, as they say is history. Although it was in fact history that gave their subsequent business its name; AMERICAN shutters is so called because the shutter’s introduction to the New World is mostly recognised for keeping mansions in the cotton plantations of America’s South cool.

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We’re delighted to add White Teak shutters and blinds to AMERICAN shutters’ product range.

Made from lightweight but extremely strong timber known as White Teak, the shutters and blinds are a natural warm cream in colour but can be customised in a number of beautiful colours and stain finishes.

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Since 1953 the Building Centre has been offering homeowners and building professionals access to the latest in building and home decor products available in South Africa. Of course AMERICAN shutters are amongst the exhibitors!

Founded by renowned South African architect Laurie Wale, the Building Centre offers visitors access to a permanent exhibition of over 200 building products. It’s a well known source of inspiration and product information and is frequented by architects, contractors and homeowners who want to keep abreast of the latest building innovations.

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