Lounge curtains - describe/show me yours PLEASE!

My living room not unlike yours colour wise - the whole room inspired by a box of cookies and cream biscuits (forgive me, I was on a diet when I was decorating)

Pale neutral carpet, brown suite, milky sort of chocolate colour on the bottom half of the walls and pale stone (white chocolate?!) above...birch furniture, assorted brown/cream/beigey sort of accessories eg throws cushions etc

Curtains are about the colour of a bar of Galaxy, simple fabric, on a wooden curtain pole with beaded finials.

HTH

Liz

Having read that back I realise it sounds a) dull and b) horrible but I assure you its neither!

My room is decorated in similar colours to yours and I have red accents. I have cream coloured blinds which are fairly plain and fake dress curtains (they don't close over the windows) which are cream with large red poppies and are hung in front of the bay window. I have a brown leater sofa and light oak furniture and a red rug. On the fireplace wall I have neutral coloured wallpaper with a chrysanthumum print. I've added a couple of pictures below, please excuse the dog and small child!

We have biscuit coloured carpet and walls with one red feature wall.

In the window I have neutral coloured blinds and a red voile which is permanently open (tied back), so no curtains as such.

This is the only pic I can find so please excuse the Christmas tree ?

A further thought about curtains. I had some made at John Lewis - they are fantastic quality, VERY well made, and will last forever I think. Not my living room ones, these are full length picture window ones - they're eight years old at least and look brand new.

Sorry, meant to say I had the blinds and curtains custom made at Dunelm MIlls. The whole lot including the pole and fixings for the blinds cost around £300. They were really helpful in store and delivered within 2 weeks.

? Lizbeth.

Thanks for all the replies ladies. Aw, Rosencrantz, your little one and dog are both gorgeous, and your room looks lovely!

I adore blinds and even moreso adore shutters, but we can't afford the latter! With blinds, I always think they look so good in friends' homes, but whenever I've tried them out at home, I feel they give a cold feel to the room. I'm big on cushions, rugs, throws, carpets, curtains - anything to 'soften' a room and make it feel warm and cosy. Maybe that'll explain why I want curtains as opposed to blinds!

Years ago I had some curtains made to measure by John Lewis too, and they were fabulous. Expensive, but worth every penny. This place locally has a fantastic reputation and it's just so much easier for me to go there and get it all sorted locally. But I just don't know what I want!

Should I stick with a plain colour? I was thinking along the lines of a dark brown/chocolate but is that all a bit too samey? What about fabric? Silk, velvet, linen, faux suede, brocade, chenille- what's cool and what's not?

I know what you mean about blinds being a bit cold, that's why I had the fake curtains made, to soften the whole look.

I think you should go and have a look at the fabrics on offer and perhaps get a few samples to bring home before making a decision.

The sales people in the shop should be able to help you and maybe even show you pictures to help you decide. In fact, before I went and bought my curtains & blinds I went to a little independant shop and had a look at their photo albums to get inspiration for what I wanted. I also asked them to quote but they came in with a price of £1400 which was just too expensive. After that I went to Dunelm, explained what I wanted and got the exact same thing for £100's of pounds less!