Get Your Home Ready For Winter

As soon as we see the first signs of a wintery Wellington chill, we start thinking about the things we can do to keep our homes warm and healthy. One of these things may be insulating curtains at your window. We know that up to 40% of the heat in your house can escape out the windows, so is your place ready for another winter?

We’ve got a few recommendations for you!  We’ve seen thousands of curtain projects go through our sewing room over the years, and we are very passionate about good-looking curtains but also insulating curtains. What gives a curtain its insulating properties is its insulating lining, and its well-fitting design. 

      An insulating curtain must be:

• Lined! We recommend insulating linings, which are sewn-in separate linings with a thermal coating. The thermal coating on the lining contains millions of very tiny air pockets, which are very effective at trapping air. In addition, by adding a separate sewn-in lining, the air is trapped in and between the different layers of materials. At Lewis's we recommend our own Maxline to blockout light, maximise insulation, and it is washable with mildew resistant properties. 
  
  

• Fitted as close as possible to the window frame, closing in on the gap between the glass and the curtain.
  
  

• Be a generous width so that they overlap the window frames at the sides and the curtain returns back to the wall, trapping the air between the window and the curtain.
  
  
• Measured and fitted so that they hang as high as possible in the room and touch the floor.
  
  
  

Curtains that are designed to sit above the floor can actually make the situation worse by forming a channel between the window and the curtain. Therefore, we recommend curtains designed to sit on the floor, even on small windows, to seal the gap and stop the air current escaping out the bottom of the curtain – plus they look better! By taking your curtains from floor to ceiling you can make a statement by adding more height to a room.

Check out some of our favourite floor to ceiling looks below to get you inspired for your next project.