Million dollar touches

The first step in giving your house a Parade of Homes makeover: Name its design.

We visited several of the homes and talked to designers who worked on them, searching for decorating and design trends that can translate from a $1.9 million estate to a more modest home.The 2.5 AWD Spirit Limited Edition incorporates the existing Sports Collection accessory body styling package and additional features.Think outside the sink. Basins that sit on the counter are bathroom works of art. They're done in glass, vitreous china, cast iron and hammered copper.Pamper your toes. Bathrooms have gone way beyond the boring white tub/shower combination.Keep it focused. "There's a trend toward simplicity," says Dalton, who designed Mountain Surrender. "If you leave one feature of the room as the focal point -- say, the window treatment -- it's more dramatic.""We call them glamour baths," Ausmus says. "People really like the two-headed showers and the hot tub right off the master bedroom." Artful tile floors lead you to huge step-in tubs and dual showers with places to sit in the spray.INFORMATION: www.cshba.comEarth tones not your style? Use rich colors, says Beth Vincent, owner of Colorado Designs & Interiors. Vincent decorated The Gathering, an Aspen Custom Home in Woodland Park. Vincent chose sparkly, deep red Zodiac, a new Corian product made with quartz crystals, for countertops.Bead it. "Beads and fringe are really hot this year on window treatments and pillows," says Ausmus of Symphony Homes.The changes certainly do not make the car look muscle-bound in any way and thankfully do not spoil its beautiful looks.First Drive: John Murdoch in the Jaguar XKRAmong accessories are a new front lower spoiler, black mesh finish for the upper and lower grille openings and a lower rear valance.It may have been with us for over eight years now but I still think it is one of the best looking cars on the road. The Jaguar XK has another two years to run before its replacement arrives and so the Coventry-based manufacturer has just given it a final facelift.The steering and brakes are no match for more modern opposition like the Mercedes SL and more input is required from the driver to compensate. Stability control helps to correct things if you get too enthusiastic on the corners but the relaxed ride still impresses. The drivetrain is just sensational and when it explodes into action you can forgive this car anything. The XKR is all about effortless cruising and it still gives me a feelgood factor that few other cars can match.TICKETS: $8 for adults; free for children under 18 and adults 65 and older. Ticket sales benefit Silver Key Senior Services. Buy tickets at all Safeway stores, Foxworth Galbraith stores in Woodland Park and Monument, and the Chapel Hills Mall customer service station as well as at all parade homes. Maps available at all ticket outlets.Sure the cockpit is still cramped by modern standards, but it is a very nice place to be and all the familiar controls are user-friendly.Here are their tips to make your home Parade-worthy:Play with color. Add light to your rooms by painting walls with warm, soft shades of cream, tan and brown. In fact, browns -- on the wall and in furniture and accessories -- are big in this year's Parade homes. Accent the brown with blue for an earth and sky theme.Performance from the supercharged 4,196cc V8 is astonishing. You rush to 60mph in just 5.2 seconds and top speed is 155mph.It will cost you pounds 61,115 in this form and about another pounds 3,000 more if you want the convertible.Only 450 of the Spirit Limited Edition cars will be built, the official list price is pounds 23,800. A Sports Collection pack can be fitted to existing X-Types for pounds 1,495 excluding wheels.WHEN: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily through Sunday.I've just had the chance to take a first drive in the latest XKR complete with special alloys and the pounds 2,000 Performance Pack, which adds goodies like xenon lights, sports seats, rear parking sensors and heated screen.It also gives you a black facia and aluminium detailing, although I must admit I do prefer the normal wood in this finest of sporting carriages.It's not that this curvaceous cruiser really needed it, it has surely been done more for commercial reasons than aesthetic ones.Bring the outdoors indoors. Flagstone floors, granite countertops in kitchens and baths, and natural wood accessories with burls and holes give a warm look (think hollowed-out aspen logs as valances; antlers as coat racks). Natural wood warmed every room we saw on the tour, with wide moldings, door frames and accents throughout. Those countertops that weren't granite were made of oak, maple, cherry or mesquite wood.

INFORMATION: www.cshba.com

Author: DEB ACORD THE GAZETTE