Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Warm your home for winter
Play with texture, colour and light
ADDING texture is often the silver bullet to transforming the interior of a home; winter is the perfect time to incorporate temporary and permanent textural elements.
Whether you take an opportunity to clad a fireplace with stonework or add a few fur scatters, surface interest can lift any room. With the looming colder weather, we as homeowners become more insular and begin to close homes against the outside weather, forcing a fresh look at interiors.
“Approaching winter, we want to snuggle up on a warm sofa or chair,” says Martin Harris of Martin Harris Interiors, a Joburg-based interior decorating firm.
“I normally use thick textured fabric with a wool and cotton combination to make an occasional chair look and feel warmer, also adding the same fabric as accent pieces in the form of scatter cushions and throws.
“Move your furniture closer to the fireplace, re-arrange sofas, chairs and ottomans – then add beautiful throws.”
The sterile “all-white” look is popular, but needs to be balanced during winter when it can feel icy. Consider adding organic textile patterns, especially in bedrooms, where there is a larger surface area of linen.
Winter is also the time when having a small room may not seem the worst thing. Add a statement chair to bring the area together.
Closing up homes to ward off the weather and chill means the interiors become stuffy. “Scented room sprays and diffusers work wonders to keep areas like the bedroom – where we spend a third of our lives – fresh and inviting,” says Miranda Reeder, owner of Netdecor. She also suggests adding easy-to-clean rugs in wet areas.
“The natural sisal, greybeard or seagrass rugs available today replicate the outdoors and bring a contemporary, sought-after look and feel to a room,” says Reeder.
As the evenings become darker earlier in winter, we turn the lights on. Having a few options is a good way to help us transition into night.
Ceiling lights can be fitted with timers, to ensure the home is welcoming and bright when you return from work after dark; underfloor heating can also be pre-set to ensure the home is family-ready.
Dimmers and recessed lighting in the form of flushfitted overhead spots can change the overall mood of a room, or individual floor and table lamps can be changed to instil a textural feel.
“Add candles, lots of candles, they warm the room to complement the throws and scatter cushions with colour and texture,” says Harris.
The masculine and feminine (or yin-yang) of a home often gives it muchneeded balance. Pairing contrasting elements provides interest, easily done with accessories and colour.
Harris says this season’s colours include rose, emerald, purple and mauve; lovely feminine colours easily added with dried roses and antique elements.
In the bedroom, colour and texture can also be incorporated with handmade quilts. Quilting is a fabric creation in which a layer of down is placed between two layers of fabric, then held in place by stitching or sealing in an organised fashion to create a colourful patterned surface. Quilts can also be created to celebrate someone’s life, such as masculine bedspreads made by Joburg seamstress Marita Irvine.
She stitched together samples of a much-loved patriarch’s evening shirts, creating a “memory quilt” the family could cherish after the man’s death.
Don’t forget the walls. Vertical spaces offer ideal opportunities to hang textural interest. Wallpaper is a fabulous quick fix and papers now on offer allow homeowners an opportunity to showcase landscape pictures or continuous patterns.
Textured paints are another easy way to create a fresh, updated seasonal look; don’t forget the impact of art.
“When people want to redecorate their homes, they tend to change the textiles, hanging new curtains, or use throw cushions and bedding.
“This is where you can make a transition into accessible and unique artwork,” says Dylan Thomaz, Cape Town-based Art Deco expert and owner of Studio Dylan Thomaz, which promotes unknown and emerging artists.