Every home can benefit from the ‘soft touch’ when it comes to finishing a room. Soft furnishings, otherwise known as household textiles, can range from drapery and throw pillows in the living room, to bedding and pillows in the bedroom. Window coverings and treatments are another way to add functional elegance to any space.
Interior finishing solutions have both beautiful and practical elements: curtains are elegant, protect a space from UV rays and provide privacy. Rugs are a significant component of decor, adding beauty through colour and texture to a room, providing warmth in colder climates, absorbing noise, protecting flooring, and providing a safe surface for elders and toddlers. Throw pillows add colour, texture as well as neck and back support.
Aside from infusing beauty to otherwise ordinary furniture and spaces, soft furnishings enhance the tranquility of a space, and experimenting with interior finishes is an easy and delightful way to update a space. Paula Grypma, previous lead designer of Outlooks Design Ltd now – Outlooks Design by Ruffell & Brown in Sidney, she has been working in the industry for over two decades, providing interior finishing solutions for clients around Vancouver Island. SPRUCE asked Paula ‘what are people looking for in their soft furnishings?’
Sophisticated, Neutral Palettes
There is a demand for sophistication, comfort, quality and a high level of workmanship.
“I notice that my clientèle consistently request comfortable environments that truly reflect their lifestyle. To achieve this, the vision embodies lovely natural fibers with texture, usually in a neutral palette with a mix of pattern, depending on the personal taste of the individual. Splashes of colour for accent, and changeability, bring to the project a creative, unique edge which is transcending. This in itself, is a trend as distinctive as a thumb print,” says Paula.
Bold Prints
Exciting, inspirational fabric collections from Les Ensembliers for Brunschwig & Fils are popular; Avondale, and Carrier & Co by Lee Jofa, offer transitional fresh linens and florals and rich embroideries and wovens. Emma Shipley by Clarke & Clarke offers fun with fantasy prints to classics and block prints revisited.
Motorization
Motorization for window coverings is an exciting application and prevalent in most of the designs Paula works on. “Powered blinds and drapes offer amazing solutions for large windows used in modern architecture, as well as existing homes,” she says.
The motorized luxury offers benefits including safety by eliminating cords, accessibility for hard to reach windows as well as the pure enjoyment of revealing the view using your phone or tablet. Pre-set scenes as well offer automation at your discretion.
As fabrics and technology progress, options for soft furnishings and window treatments will be even more exciting as more products are manufactured in our communities.