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19 | Friday, January 20, 2 0 1 7 | OAKVILLE BEAVER Swiss Interiors furnishes Oakville one home at a time By Vanessa Lupton Celebrating more than 60 years of providing tradi tional and transitional home furnishings, Swiss Interi ors' commitment to quality service has never wavered. In 1953 Sam and Betty Muller arrived in Oakville from Switzerland and started a small re-upholstery shop. Recognizing the demand for quality furniture, the shop grew from offering strictly re-upholstered pieces and draperies to a showroom displaying a vari ety of home furnishings. Now at 10,000 square-feet, Swiss Interiors has seen increasing growth throughout the years and is still proudly a family business. The day-to-day operations are overseen by the Muller's daughter Carol, along with her husband Rick Vesters, with their other daughter An nette serving as financial director. With the majority of the furniture being made in North America and much of it crafted within Canada, Swiss Interiors offers a wide variety of furnishings in cluding bedroom and dining sets, sofas, chairs, lamps, home decor accessories, pictures and mirrors to name a few. "We also offer an in-home decorating service for a nominal fee and we do our own deliveries," said Swiss Interiors owner and operator Carol Vesters. " We are continually complimented on the efficiency and pro fessionalism of our deliveries." With furnishings for almost every sense of style, Swiss Interiors has seen a variety of trends come and go throughout the years. According to Vesters, neu trals, including greys, continue to be popular with pops of colour coming from the pillows, prints and accent items. Condo-sized sofas and cocktail tables and swivel chairs are also increasingly more popular as they are designed to fit smaller spaces. "Family friendly, easy to care for styles are popular right now"' said Vesters. "People are using their rooms more and more rather than just showcasing them. They are looking for both comfort and style" The store, which is offering a winter sale with dis counts on most categories of furniture (including special orders) is located at 217 Lakeshore Rd. E in Oakville. Visit www.swissinteriors.com, search for them on Facebook or call 905-844-3530. | www.insideHALTON.com Carol Vesters of Swiss Interiors operates the family business on Lakeshore Road. Photos by Graham Paine, Metroland Media Group Conflict resolution starts at Cornerstone Mediation By Vanessa Lupton Working with families for the past 16 years to resolve separation and divorce as well as other ar eas of conflict, Cornerstone Mediation now strives to bring elders and their families together through conflict resolution and planning. An accredited family mediator Ontario Associa tion of Family Mediators, owner Dawn Porter-Schofield has recently added elder care to her list of mediation services offered. "I have found a new found passion for helping the elderly" said Porter-Schofield. "We have more centenarians now than ever before, and those numbers are only going to increase" With less than 100 accredited elder mediators in Canada, Cornerstone Mediation offers a unique service through a specially educated and qualified individual, allowing families to avoid working with lawyers and to achieve resolution on the issues or concerns at hand. According to Porter-Schofield with the aging communities, caregiver stress is at a high as in ad dition to caring for an elderly loved one, the care giver often has their own family and job to balance. Caregivers, usually a son or daughter of the elderly person, need assistance from the family, but often might get a call from a family member expressing concern and looking for a resolution. "One of the benefits to elder mediation is that, in my opinion, there will be a decline in elder abuse" says Porter-Schofield. " It brings awareness to what is happening and with more family involvement, there is less opportunity for the various forms of abuse that can occur. This process facilitates com munication among family members rather than breaking it down" Once initial contact has been made, a meeting is set up with the elder (regardless of whether they are in their own home or in an assisted living com munity), and a meeting is set up for the members of the family. There is no set schedule for sessions, so a family may choose to participate in multiple ses sions or to utilize the skills used from one session. "We're going to need to band together to pro vide care for an aging population," says PorterSchofield. "We used to say it takes a village but we've kind of lost sight of that. We need to go back to that mentality of everyone pitching in" Located at 447 Speers Rd., Cornerstone Me diation offers flexible appointment scheduling. For more information visit www.cornerstone-mediation.com or call 905-567-6833. Dawn Porter-Schofield of Cornerstone Mediation assists families looking to resolve conflict. Photos by N ikki Wesley, Metroland Media Group the family doesn't understand what is involved in caring for their relative. Mediation can bring the whole family together to figure out a way to help the caregiver and prevent burnout. The catalyst for attending mediation can vary, but in each case it is centered on conflict with an individual. "An example would be if a family member, let's say a child or grandchild is living with an elder and the family sees that money is missing from a wal let or a bank account, they cannot make the elder take legal action, " said Porter-Schofield. "It's a tough position to be in. So in a case like that I