The Importance of Window Furnishings in Creating a Perfect Home Ambiance

When it comes to creating an inviting and comfortable home environment, every detail matters. From the colour palette to the furniture arrangement, each element plays a crucial role in enhancing the overall ambiance. Among these essential aspects, window furnishings often tend to be overlooked. However, the truth is that window furnishings play a vital role in transforming a space, adding style, functionality, and privacy to your home. Here are a few reasons why window furnishings shouldn’t be overlooked and in fact, should be considered very early in the design process.

Zephyr and Stone

Aesthetics and Style: Window furnishings, such as curtains, blinds, shades, or shutters, serve as more than just functional coverings for windows. They are also decorative elements that can significantly impact the visual appeal of a room. The right choice of window treatments can enhance the overall style and aesthetics, complementing the interior design and tying the room together. Whether you prefer sleek and modern blinds or luxurious, flowing curtains, window furnishings allow you to express your personal taste and style, giving your home a unique and polished look.

Natural Light Control: One of the most significant advantages of window furnishings is their ability to control the amount of natural light entering a room. Natural light has a profound impact on the mood and ambiance of a space. With the right window treatments, you can easily adjust the amount of light you want to let in, creating a perfect balance that suits your preferences and the needs of each room. Whether you want to create a bright and airy atmosphere or a cozy and intimate space, window furnishings provide you with the flexibility to achieve the desired lighting effects.

Privacy and Security: Privacy is a crucial factor in any home, and window furnishings are the first line of defense against prying eyes. They provide you with the necessary privacy, allowing you to control the visibility from both the inside and outside of your home. Whether you live in a bustling city or a quiet suburban neighborhood, having the ability to shield your living spaces from the outside world is invaluable.

Energy Efficiency: Window furnishings also play a significant role in maintaining energy efficiency within your home. During hot summers or chilly winters, windows can be a significant source of heat gain or loss. By choosing the right window treatments, you can regulate the temperature inside your home, reduce the need for excessive air conditioning or heating, and ultimately save on energy bills. For example, insulated curtains or blinds can help keep the heat out during summer and retain warmth during winter, creating a more comfortable living environment and reducing your carbon footprint.

Noise Reduction: If you live in a noisy neighbourhood or near a busy street, window furnishings can act as a barrier to external noise. Thick and heavy curtains, honeycomb shades, or double-glazed windows can help absorb sound and minimize disturbances, allowing you to enjoy a peaceful and tranquil home environment.

Window furnishings are essential elements in creating the perfect ambiance within your home. From enhancing the overall aesthetics to providing privacy, controlling natural light, and promoting energy efficiency, these versatile treatments offer a multitude of benefits. By carefully selecting window furnishings that align with your personal style and needs, you can transform your living spaces into havens of comfort, beauty, and functionality. So, next time you consider home decor, don't underestimate the impact that window furnishings can have on your overall home ambiance.

Here at Twill, Alexandra is wonderfully passionate about textiles & window furnishings. Feel free to get in contact with us to discuss anything window furnishings related - we are more than happy to help! alex@twill.co.nz

With love, Jacqui, Toni, Alexandra & Lucy

Transitioning your space for the cooler months

When the cooler weather arrives, we all feel an urge for our interiors to reflect the season upon us. As crisp days encroach upon us, we say au revoir to alfresco dining and lightweight linens, and instead welcome heavier textures, warmer tones and moody lighting.

We share five ways you can prepare your home for the cooler months below.

Incorporate heavier textures; During the warmer seasons, we tend to opt for floaty and lightweight linens and while this looks gorgeous, the cooler seasons often call for intimate and cosy textures such as wool, cashmere, boucle and velvet. These textures can be incorporated into your space in many different ways, these being curtains, upholstery, accessories and bedding. You will surprise yourself on how much texture can warm up your space.

Warm up your space with cushions & throws; An affordable way to ‘zhuzh’ your space is through cushions and throws. Cushions are an excellent way to add pattern, texture and colour to your home, while throws are not only comforting on those chilly evenings, they also look oh so soft and comforting when draped over your couch or favourite armchair.

Embrace a warmer colour palette; Changing up your colour palette from crisp whites and cooler blues / greys, to warm and deep tones such as olive green and mustard can make a world of difference to how intimate your space feels. During the fall seasons you want to walk through your front door and feel a sense of peace and warmth. Choosing a moody and subdued colour palette is a wonderful way of achieving this; think about artwork / prints, soft furnishings and accessories.

Lamps, lamps, lamps; It is always amazing how light can make such a huge difference to the feel of a home. It goes without saying that during autumn and winter, the amount of sunshine and daylight is not comparable with that of summer and spring. Lamps allow for a soft, warm glow in your space when you don't want the brightness of your ceiling lights. Whether you opt for a floor lamp, or table lamp, those rainy and cold evenings will feel all the more tolerable with a warm, luminous lamp.

Introduce a rug to your space; Many modern homes these days consist of hard-flooring in the living area, if your home falls within this category you will know that this can sometimes be cold underfoot and not particularly ideal during the cooler months. A great way to solve this is by way of a rug. With so many options out there, you will without a doubt find a material suitable for your space, whether this be wool, bamboo-silk, or the ever popular jute, a rug is a great way to warmth, texture and colour to your home. 

Coastal Heights, an ultimate getaway

Our amazing clients came to us very early with the plan of turning two apartments into one and our brief was to create the ultimate get-away that would work not only just for the two of them – but also for their extended family. Designed by Creative Space Architecture and immaculately built by Hartstone Homes, Coastal Heights was a dream project to work on. 

The beachside setting with its breathtaking views of the ocean and Mount Maunganui fills the apartment with natural light.  To take advantage of this, the colour scheme was inspired by its coastal surroundings, soft blues, greens and sandy beige tones. 

With its prime location and luxurious amenities, the finished result is a beautiful blend of comfort, functionality and style.  It is the perfect retreat to escape the stresses of everyday life and enjoy the constantly changing ocean view.

You can view the complete project here.

With love, Jacqui, Toni, Alexandra & Lucy

Using wall panels to elevate your space

Wall panels are an easy way to elevate your space and take it to that next textural level. There are some great companies offering off-the-shelf panels which are easy to apply at home. With our project, Holiday House, we used ‘Surround’ by Laminex to create interesting walls in some of the bedrooms. The brief for this project was that this is a holiday home for a young family, we needed to ensure that the project remained fun, youthful and by no means ‘fuddy-duddy’. We used the panelling in colour to ensure we met that brief.

For this guest bedroom (image below) we used the Surround by Laminex in their Demi-Round profile in a soft pink to bring some softness and warmth to this lower level, south-facing room. We created a niche shelf complete with LED strip light and created a recessed capping to ensure we kept the scalloped detail.

Surround by Laminex offer a range of profiles including Scallop, Demi Round and Grooved. We used a mix of Demi Round, Scallop and Hardie Groove in our Holiday House project. It was important to us that the bedrooms were all unique with their own palette and look. These are bedrooms that would be used for short stays so we wanted them to have their own style but also to make sure they looked like they belonged in the same home. By repeating the use of panelling but in different profiles we were able to do this.

Is the guest bedroom below, we used the panels to create a headboard. We used the whole width of the wall to make the wall feel wider and created a shelf on top of the panel for more landing space. We painted the panel a dark, inky navy blue which we pulled from the artwork.

Designer focus; Amber Lewis from Amber Interiors

Calabasas based Interior Designer Amber Lewis needs no introduction; her eclectic, yet timeless style has us all dreaming and swooning over her brilliant work. Focusing on primarily large residential projects, Amber and her team bring earthy textures, nature, light and comfort to the spaces they take care in designing.

We share a few snippets of Ambers fabulous work below. Warning - be prepared to get inspired!

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Twill’s Window Furnishings Process

Here at Twill we are passionate about making your house feel more like a home. One way that we believe that this can be achieved is by selecting window furnishings suited to your home, as well as your unique requirements.

Selecting fabrics and product can often feel daunting given the overwhelming amount of options. Here at Twill we can take the stress out of this selection and make the process smooth and seamless by guiding you in the right direction;

1. Reach out to us via email and we can organise a consultation and measure.

2. During this consultation we will discuss your requirements and show you a range of fabric and lining options, advising you on colours and materials suited best for your space and individual needs.

3. Based on this information we will email you an itemised quote.

4. From here, if you are happy to proceed we begin the exciting process of ordering. In no time we will have your fabulous window furnishings installed by our friendly and ever professional installer!

We would love to hear from you. Please reach out to alex@twill.co.nz to book a consultation or ask any questions.

Win a RUG with Twill Interiors! (Comp closed)

We’ve been working on our online store here at Twill Interiors and filling it full to the brim with things we all absolutely LOVE! So, to celebrate we are giving away a Weave rug! There will be four to choose from and we will work with the winner to find one to suit (dependent on availability). This is a prize value of up to $1099!

To enter the competition, you will need to:

1 – Have a look through our online store and tell us what your favourite thing (or things) are. We would love to know!

2 – Follow us and like this post

3 – Tag 2 friends

It’s as simple as that!

The giveaway is hosted on our instagram page so be sure to head there to enter. Here’s the link www.instagram.com/twillinteriordesign

5 ways you can transition your space for the winter season

We all feel an urge for our interiors to reflect the season upon us. As crisp days encroach upon us, we say au revoir to alfresco dining and lightweight linens, and instead welcome heavier textures, warmer tones and moody lighting. Here are five ways you can prepare your home for the cooler months.

Incorporate heavier textures;

During the warmer seasons we tend to opt for floaty and lightweight linens and while this looks gorgeous, the cooler seasons often call for intimate and cosy textures such as wool, cashmere, boucle and velvet. These textures can be incorporated into your space in many different ways, such as curtains, upholstery, accessories and bedding. You will be surprised how much texture can warm up your space.

Warm up your space with cushions & throws;

An affordable way to ‘zhuzh’ your space is through cushions and throws. Cushions are an excellent way to add pattern, texture and colour to your home, while throws are not only comforting on those chilly evenings, they also look oh-so soft and comforting when draped over your couch or favourite armchair.

Embrace a warmer colour palette;

Changing up your colour palette from crisp whites and cooler blues/greys, to warm and deep tones such as olive green and mustard can make a world of difference to how intimate your space feels. During autumn and winter you want to walk through your front door and feel a sense of peace and warmth. Choosing a moody and subdued colour palette is a wonderful way of achieving this; think about artwork/prints, soft furnishings and accessories.

Lamps, lamps, lamps!

It is always amazing how light can make such a huge difference to the feel of a home. It goes without saying that during cooler days, the amount of sunshine and daylight is less than summer and spring. Lamps allow for a soft, warm glow in your space when you don't want the brightness of your ceiling lights. Whether you opt for a floor lamp or table lamp, those rainy and cold evenings will feel all the more tolerable with a warm soft glow around you.