Three Gables: Sheer linen curtains soften this exquisite monochromatic home

Congrats on your incredible new home, Three Gables! We’re crazy about the monochromatic design that you and Kate Lawrence Interiors collaborated on. What vision did you set out to achieve?

Thank you! We love minimalist, simple forms, and raw, natural materials. Our vision was for the essential and necessary components of our home to be the design features. The curved walls, raked ceilings and hardwood cladding are the talking points and set the tone for the design. As do the kitchen cabinetry, bench top, fireplace and window furnishings, which were all carefully considered and executed using quality materials.

We were also deeply passionate about building a home that requires minimal styling and clutter. We set out to design a home that doesn't need a lot of extras added to look styled.

As much as we wanted to do something different, Three Gables needed to feel like a home and have broad popularity. This was important given its location within a new residential estate.

How do you describe the unique look of Three Gables?

Three Gables is a home balancing imperfect and natural finishes with sleek and refined elements. Hard surfaces such as concrete and timber are softened by tactile fabrics like our sheer linen curtains. Greys and neutrals add warmth to the black and white design. I think the balance of these contrasting materials and colours is what makes Three Gables stand out.

Tell us a bit about TrueBuild Homes, the business Taf and his business partner Eddy run.

We’re a boutique building company specialising in custom, architect-designed homes, duplexes, renovations and extensions across all of Sydney and up to Newcastle. Eddy and I are co-directors and great mates with high-end carpentry backgrounds. We both have a passion for innovative design and construction, and for sharing the journey with our clients.

Did it feel different building your own home compared to other homes TrueBuild has done?

Because this is the first home we designed and built just for us, we wanted to be super hands-on and do as much as we could ourselves. I went back to being full-time on the tools for this project, and spent my afternoons, evenings and weekends on it. I also roped Bree into helping me out, and it was super fun having her assist me on the tools. We had to work around our work schedules, which meant a lot of late nights and long weekends spent here. We lived off our local Margarita pizza, wine and beer with no time for home cooking.

It was obviously very different building as a couple, rather than for a client. The freedom to make changes without having to wait for owner approval was refreshing! On the other side, Bree and I didn't always have a lot of patience for each other. Our neighbours wouldn’t have appreciated our occasional yelling matches. Sorry neighbours! But we're so grateful we got to build our home together and we're thrilled with what we've achieved.

We’re blown away by your luxe material choices: premium timber floors, venetian plaster walls and linen curtains, to name just a few. How important are quality materials to you?

Huge! The materials we chose create the energy of the house. As well as quality building materials, we chose to value a few core material selections to form the foundation of our home e.g. timber, concrete, wool and linen.

Our sheer linen curtains play a massive role in softening the space, adding drama and bringing everything together. The pale grey sheers complement the contrasting black and white colour palette, and they look incredible against harder surfaces like the timber, concrete and even the wool.

Good architectural design and the selection of quality materials define the home. Nailing the core materials allows you to create a space that's authentic, cost-effective and high-end without spending unnecessary money in every area. You don’t need to spend ridiculous money to have a beautiful home!

We’d love to know how early you started planning for your window furnishings and the process you went through. We always tell our customers the earlier the better, especially for high end features like built-in curtain pelmets.

Wall-to-wall and floor-to-ceiling curtains were always going to be a huge part of our home, given our large windows and our focus on natural light. Being able to filter the light through sheers and soften the space was important.

We started planning our window furnishings and recessed pelmets at the floor plan design stage. We wanted privacy and needed to allow adequate pelmet depths for both sheer curtain tracks and blockout roller blinds. Recessed pelmets are simple and an often unnoticed design feature, but they give a huge impact on the overall feel of the sheers.

Window furnishings complete a home and need to have more importance within the building industry, not just the styling and decorating industry.

You chose sheer linen curtains from our Allusion range, colour Silver. What are your top tips for choosing the perfect curtain fabric?

• Keep it simple and neutral. Sheer curtains are already a huge statement, so we recommend going for a fabric that doesn’t overpower the rest of the home.
• Choose a texture you're already using in your home. Our home is full of natural materials including linen, so linen sheers were an obvious choice.
  
• Link your curtain colour with your furniture and carpet fabrics, to make the connection with the rest of the house.

We had our good friend and amazing interior designer, Kate Lawrence, work alongside us. She helped refine all our finishes to ensure everything flowed effortlessly.

You layered motorised blockout blinds behind your sheers for effortless luxury. What are your favourite things about motorised blinds?

We love the convenience of not having to get off the lounge! We can control all our motorised blinds from our phones, without having to move rooms. The fully customisable options like the timer, the weather settings and the daily routine-based programming are amazing.

There is something so satisfying about watching the smoothness of the blinds moving themselves. It feels so high-end and such a talking point of our home.

Can you let us in on what’s next for TrueBuild Homes and Three Gables?

TrueBuild Homes has some exciting architecturally designed new homes and duplexes coming up. We always look to be innovative and to improve our methods. We'll continue to design and build simple forms and healthy and considered homes for people to love living in!

In terms of Three Gables, we are currently in the middle of finishing our landscaping and pool. Our home has a big focus on the outdoor living experience, so we'll be enjoying that with friends and family.

We are already so excited and eager to start our next project, which is coming very soon!