Beautiful Windows On A Budget | Building Your First Home: Liv's Journey
Looking at building your first home?
Follow along with our Window Design expert, Liv, as she begins the exciting journey of building her very first home with her partner Josh. There are a lot of moving parts to building your first home, and we believe with knowledge there is power! Liv will be sharing the highs and lows that come alongside venturing on a first build, we hope this can assist you and make your journey easier!
Plan Ahead
Being surrounded by beautiful fabrics and endless window treatment options every day at Feather and Oak Interiors made it very easy to make our selections! What also helped was that we had plenty of time to decide due to our title taking a while to be released. As soon as our windows were installed I was able to do a check measure to finalise everything and get our fabric ordered (which can sometimes take months to arrive in our current circumstances.)
Many of our clients who build don’t consider their window furnishings until the very end of the building process and usually by then their budget is running out! My advice to anyone building is to consider window treatments right at the beginning when designing the floor plan which allows time to plan financially as well as ensuring there is enough time to tweak things like space for stacking curtains or fitting blinds to stacking sliders.
Planning will determine your decision on the size and placement of your windows and doors and also the type of ceiling you have. For example; if you would like your curtains mounted from floor to ceiling, you will need a flat ceiling with no coving/scotia and perhaps with some extra blocking for the tracks to be mounted to. It is a good idea to get a quote for different types of window treatments as early as possible (we can quote off your plans) to get an idea of the costs and how much you will need to set aside in your budget as well as any building recommendations.
In our build we chose a variety of treatments for different areas.
Sunscreen Blinds
The blinds were fairly easy to choose. We wanted privacy from the street and our neighbours but didn’t want to feel closed in during the day so sunscreen blinds were an obvious choice and also very cost effective for us first home owners. They allow us to see out of the windows during the day yet no one can see in. This will be very beneficial while the houses across the street from us are still getting built and swarming with tradies! Another important feature of sunscreen blinds is they will help to keep the house cool in summer while also protecting our flooring and furniture from NZ’s harsh UV which will cause fading over time.
We have x6 sunscreens in our home - four on the narrow windows in the lounge and two on the large windows opposite the kitchen.
An important aspect to consider when choosing the colour of a sunscreen blind is to consider not only what they will look like from the inside but also from the outside. Originally we were considering an off white colour to blend in with our interior wall paint Mt Aspiring but then we realised when looking from the outside in, white blinds would stand out like a sore thumb against our black Axon feature cladding and the dark bricks. So black it was! The bonus of having black blinds means they will also be easier to see out of – the darker the fabric the easier it is to see through.
Also consider what colour to have the base bar, the brackets and the control chain. You usually match the base bar with the fabric colour, so black was an easy choice. For the bracket we also decided on black to blend in with our dark aluminium and be less noticeable when the blinds are rolled up. We selected white for our control chains to blend in to our Okarito window reveals. We also included some white chain tensioners which hold the chains in place against the reveals for a sleek and tidy look and to ensure the the chains don't blow around.
Honeycomb Blinds
For the two bedrooms and the office we required blinds that had great insulating properties while being blockout and aesthetically pleasing. Honeycomb blinds (or pocket blinds) were the perfect solution as they trap air in the pockets to provide insulation and sound absorption. When pulled up, you barely notice they are there, allowing a clear view out of your window (this was especially important for the two small windows we have either side of the bed in the Master.) When the blinds are down, they block out almost all light apart from a few millimetres either side.
Windoware provide Honeycombs blinds that are very cost effective for new home owners like us. We chose a soft, warm grey, blockout fabric but there are also some lovely translucent fabrics available. The Honeycomb blinds look very smart and modern in our home and I am so pleased with the end result.
Curtains
Lounge/Dining Curtain Fabric: James Dunlop Bonsai, colour – Silver Birch
Master Bedroom Curtain Fabric: James Dunlop Origami, colour – Oyster
Dining /Master Sheer Fabric: Charles Parsons Paddington, colour – Chalk
Choosing the curtain fabrics was the most challenging but also the most exciting part of our window furnishings. With so many beautiful fabrics to choose from at Feather and Oak it was hard to know where to start!
First we had to decide where we wanted curtains. The two sliding doors in the Master and the Dining were obvious choices for us, and we also wanted to create a warm and cosy feel in the lounge. The lounge windows would have both sunscreen blinds for privacy and sun protection and curtains for warmth, privacy and to soften the space. We added extra blocking in the ceiling to support our top fixed tracks for the floor to ceiling look. The white curtain tracks blend into our ceiling, leaving the fabric to be the main feature. Having the curtains from floor to ceiling not only looks fabulous but is great for insulation as it prevents airflow from over the top of the curtain and prevents any light seepage. Having a ‘puddle’ (gather on the floor) also helps to prevent airflow from under the curtain and creates a lovely relaxed and luxurious look.
Another feature we definitely wanted was double tracks on our sliding doors. We wanted a sheer fabric on the rear track which acts much like a sunscreen blind – allowing us to see out while providing privacy and sun protection. The curtain is on the front track to provide insulation and blockout at night time.
We knew that we wanted to keep the fabrics neutral so that they wouldn’t restrict us from introducing other colours in our décor and soft furnishing however, we wanted some texture to create interest and bring a nice cosy feel to each space. Both curtain fabrics are 100% linen so they are beautiful and soft. The lounge and dining fabric, ‘Bonsai’ is a pale grey with slubs of black running through it. The bedroom fabric ‘Origami’ is a warm grey/oyster colour and has a very delicate texture in the shape of tiny diamonds. Our curtains are lined with a white blockout lining which will provide warmth and protect the delicate linen from the sun.
As for the sheer fabric, we needed something that was 100% polyester so that it wouldn’t deteriorate in the sun like a natural fibre would. I chose one of our very popular, cost effective fabrics ‘Paddington’ which has a beautiful relaxed texture. The off-white colour ‘chalk’ goes perfectly with both of our curtain fabrics.
New York was the pleat style we chose. It looks beautiful with the soft delicate fabrics thanks to its rounded curve and neat stacking. We also used 150mm buckram (instead of a standard 100mm) so that the heading was deeper and in proportion for the floor to ceiling height of the curtains.
My Budget Friendly Solutions:
Roller Blinds
Roller blinds are super cost effective and look great. There are a wide range of neutral colours and textures to choose from across a couple of brands.
Venetian Blinds
There are super cost effective options within brands but they only come in three shades of white (which suit most interiors).
Honeycomb Blinds
Windoware, very cost effective just limited colours.
Curtain Fabrics
Nettex, Charles Parsons, Slender Morris and Hoad fabrics (plus a few more) are really cost effective. Be sure to select a 300cm wide, continuous fabric as you won’t have any seams and you’ll get ‘more bang for your buck!’ Standard width 140cm fabrics can get quite expensive as you require a lot more fabric. Also consider the pattern repeat if choosing a patterned fabric – the larger the repeat the more fabric you will need!
Double Tracks
A cost effective way of doing double tracks is having the sheer fabric on the front track and just lining on the rear track. (You don't need to see the lining on its own as the sheer will always be in front of it.)
Our window furnishings got installed the day before we got our keys by our experienced installer. We were super excited to see everything up and could not be happier with everything! Having blinds and curtains definitely makes the house feel more like a home.
With love,
Liv & Josh xx
