Curtains, Blinds & Other Soft Furnishings
Help Choosing the Right Curtains for Your Property
When you see other people's homes and think that their choices of curtains and blinds look good it's important that you take into consideration the style of their room, compared to your own.
Design Fashion Magazines should be used as a guide for inspiration for your curtains and blinds and not to imitate, as often if we imitate we only take one element from the magazine image and this single imitation alone will result in disappointing results as the rest of your room, your natural light and your existing furniture will have been overlooked.
Its common to see fabrics for curtains, blinds and other soft furnishings and choose them because they are what we want and love – then the entire décor of the room has to be changed so that we can use it.
It is important to look at the space that we have to work with and consider the following factors:
• The age of the house
• The style of the decoration in the surrounding rooms, does this room flow into others, will the curtains be seen from other spaces?
• Who will be using the space? If children are around white fabrics for your curtains will probably not be advisable
• What type of furniture and upholstery, bedding, flooring etc.
It is easy to see why we often lack the confidence to make a decision
A Recent Question from One of My Clients, Prior To My Visit
Here is a recent question asked by a client before we met at her home, she wanted to have a vision before we arrived to ensure that her selection of fabric was easy once I had shown her our samples.
This is what she said
We have a single color, textured wool carpet throughout the whole house, which is a kind of taupe color. mahogany .We have various white ceramic lamps with taupe lampshades.
We need curtains for the living room and this space can be viewed from most other areas except the bedrooms and bathrooms. What fabrics do we select and what style of curtain? "
This is the advice I have given her to our meeting
I immediately think of texture, one color, no pattern, even though we could get away with using a pattern it would turn the curtains into the main focal point and that is not required; we are looking for a harmonious color and textured curtain to blend into the rest of the décor.
My choice would be to:
• Black wrought iron rods with simple ball ends
• Two-Tone, tab top curtains. Taupe for the tabs and heading and the rest of the fabric white linen, lined to add depth and weight.
• No holds or tie backs as the room is plain and symmetrical therefore to allow the curtains to fall naturally would continue the geometrics of the room.
Using the two tone effects, the tabs and heading in taupe and the white heavy linen for the main body of the curtains, we are bringing in the existing colors of the room together in a natural way and are not detracting from the overall look.
When selecting colors remember this golden rule
A safe way to select a fabric for your curtains, if you have a single colored room, is to take a tone either side of that color. You can not go wrong. Then you can add more excitation into the room with cushions, throws, rugs etc.
Also remember that the darker the color of the fabric the more sunlight it joins, speeding up the fading process.
Patterns can be fun with curtains!
So do not be afraid of selecting a pattern for your curtains
A child's room can tolerate pattern more than an adults room, adults often use a space to unwind so this needs to be taken into consideration when selecting a pattern, too much swirl, color and busyness in an adults bedroom can often detract you from unwinding.
So when you look at pattern take notice of how you feel. If you feel calm and relaxed for example, then this would be a good fabric for your bedroom curtains, if you feel uplifted and energized then this would be good in a work space.
A general rule for pattern is to not let it overwhelm the space. Your curtains can be a focal point of a room but ensure that there is a balance.
With all this said, selecting fabrics may seem a little overwhelming so that's why we are here …..