HOW TO CREATE THE PERFECT AMBIENCE AT HOME

An inspired candle collaboration between Bayleys Canterbury and Nevé creator Tessa Lyes will not only help turn homes into soothing sanctuaries but raise much-needed funds for Christchurch City Mission.

Now, more than ever, our home is more than just a roof over our head; it’s our safe place and refuge. Many of us are spending more time at home, causing its role to expand, providing a place to work, learn, exercise, holiday, and retreat. Creating the perfect ambience at home is more about creating a mood than adding another throw cushion.

That perfect ambience is also not something that is fixed, but changes as our mood does. It needn’t be expensive nor require a large-scale overhaul of your décor – just a few tweaks can create the feel you want for your home. When you’ve decided on how you want to feel in a room, then you can look at how you can create that vibe using the senses – sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

“At the heart of your home is the emotion of how it makes you feel,” says Rachel Dovey, General Manager – Sales Bayleys Canterbury. “That may be through the use of colours, light or the use of space. There are lots of small things you could do to create a beautiful ambience. Aspects like lighting, décor and design contribute beautifully to create a warm and peaceful ambience. If you want to have beauty, elegance, and warmth in your home, you need to layer these aspects with care.”

CREATING THE RIGHT VIBE

Getting rid of clutter and adding pops of colour with beautiful flowers can visually change the look of a room. A freshly baked cake or a bowl of shiny red apples on the table can delight the tastebuds. And it’s not only how home furnishings look that is important to creating the perfect ambience at home; it’s how they feel, too. Texture plays an important part in creating mood: think of the difference between cosy, chunky throws in winter and billowing, sheer curtains on a hot summer’s day.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to transform a room is with scent, changing the mood from vibrant to soothing in a moment. “Fragrance can be a powerful way to reflect our personality and express our emotions – when used in our homes,” says Rachel. “A room can be transformed with scent, changing the mood from vibrant and energising to soothing and restful. Or invoking nostalgia, memories, or moments of celebration such as the smell of homemade baking. Some things in a room are very conscious, like colour and fabric, while others are unconscious, but they all contribute to how an environment makes us feel.”

LIGHTING THE WAY FOR HOPE

This year Bayleys Canterbury has collaborated with Tessa Lyes, creator of Nevé, to create a beautiful candle to raise funds for the Christchurch City Mission. “To do our part and support small businesses it was imperative we worked with a local producer,” says Rachel. “We gravitated towards Nevé, because at Bayleys Canterbury we share the same vision and values as Tessa. The COVID-19 situation and the lockdown period have made us reflect on our own health, wellbeing and rituals.”

Tessa says she was thrilled to be approached by the team at Bayleys to collaborate on a signature fragrance. “First impressions really count, and fragrance has such a powerful impact in any home,” says Tessa. “We wanted to create something that appealed to the fragrance preferences of many, while making any home smell welcoming and warm. We settled on a blend with subtle dessert-like characteristics with just the right amount of sweetness, along with a hint of vanilla, which has long been a favourite in real estate. We’re thrilled with this local partnership and can’t wait to see Bayleys’ clients enjoying the old-world charm and sense of tradition of our signature fragrance in their homes.”

Giving back to the Canterbury community is a very important philosophy of Bayleys. “Bayleys Canterbury is committed to making a meaningful contribution to the people of Ōtautahi and Canterbury, communities in which we live and work,” says Rachel.

“We are a business with people at the core of what we do, and these people make up the networks and relationships within our wider neighbourhoods. We are constantly innovating the work we do within our community, and this feeds into the partnership with the Christchurch City Mission. This philosophy is twofold,” says Rachel. “One, that we are committed to ensuring that we are maximising our contribution to the Christchurch City Mission and in turn help those who work on the frontline to ensure that our assistance makes a difference in people’s lives. Secondly, becoming a Major Business Partner to the Christchurch City Mission means we can help them be changemakers rather than fundraisers within our communities.” For his part, Matthew Mark, CEO of Christchurch City Mission says, “We are incredibly grateful for the privilege of our authentic and purpose-led partnership with Bayleys Canterbury.”

The signature fragrance of the candle is French Pear and Brown Sugar. “We created this candle for our salespeople to gift to their clients when they begin the sales journey – to create the perfect ambience at open homes,” says Rachel. “We also wanted to include the general public because now more than ever we have people in our neighbourhoods living in real hardship – so we created a range of tools all working around the French Pear and Brown Sugar theme that the general public could access.

“We approached Richard Hingston, who is one of our chefs for Bayleys Plate Up for a Purpose. Richard created a signature recipe for French Pear and Brown Sugar Tart – which was then turned into a tea towel and jigsaw puzzle.”

Visit bayleysonamission.co.nz to purchase a tea towel or a jigsaw puzzle – the profits are delivered back to the Christchurch City Mission.