Shower With Style In The New J-Allure

Why just take a shower when you can have a massage spray and steam bath while you listen to your favorite music and watch TV?

Jacuzzi’s new J-Allure promises all that. It features a full-size whirlpool bath, 12 vertical body sprays, a built-in stereo and CD system with four speakers, and a TV-VCR monitor.

Other accessories include two full-length mirrors. Designed for corner installations, the new J-Allure is 52 inches long by 52 inches wide and is 94 inches high.

With all the bells and whistles, the J-Allure goes for about $12,500. See the yellow pages for your nearest Jacuzzi dealer.

Paint like a pro

Here’s a useful tip from a new magazine called Decorate With Paint:

Roller fuzz can be a problem when using cheap paint rollers. To prevent the fuzz from sticking to your walls, wrap masking tape around a new roller. Remove the tape. Most of the problem fuzz will come off with it.

To find out more tips and more on the magazine, visit the Web site at www.sampler.com.

You broke it; now what?

It’s bound to happen sooner or later. You break a piece of china or a crystal goblet. A piece of your favorite flatware takes a hike and never returns. The bottom line? The patterns have been discontinued. Looks like you’re outta luck.

Not necessarily. Many companies - often called matching services - can help in the search for discontinued tableware. You can find the names, addresses and phone numbers of dozens of these dealers in “Finding the Missing Pieces,” the new 1998-99 Discontinued Tableware Services directory (eighth edition).

To receive a copy of the directory, send $5 (includes postage) to JV Directory, P.O. Box 5297, Ocala, FL 34478.

Read all about it

Five new home-improvement magazines dedicated to specific do-it-yourself tasks begin debuting this month.

Decorate With Paint is hitting newsstands this month.

Garden Crafts will debut in April.

Weekend Wonders: Quick & Easy Decorating is scheduled to be published in June.

Furniture Fix-Ups will be on the stands in August.

Decorate With Fabric will be available beginning in October.

All are published at Sampler Publications, which also produces the existing Country Sampler magazine.

For more information or to subscribe, call (630) 377-8399.

That trowel can be saved

If you’ve left out a favorite garden tool and it’s rusted, try this suggestion for reviving it, courtesy of “The Old Farmer’s Almanac Gardener’s Companion.”

Dip steel wool in kerosene or turpentine and scrub the tool. (Do this outdoors to avoid fumes.) Finish the job by rubbing with a ball of aluminum foil.