Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
28 <strong>Style</strong> | interiors<br />
FaBrIC<br />
Love<br />
Interior designer Jessica Close provides advice on<br />
how to effectively design window furnishings.<br />
I was taught very early on to start<br />
design with colour and curtains,<br />
and once you had that right<br />
everything else flows on from<br />
there. Curtains frame a room,<br />
and done correctly, are worth<br />
every penny.<br />
I am so over walking into homes<br />
with white walls and every shade<br />
of beige. or worse, white roller<br />
blinds. Window furnishings are an<br />
opportunity to develop a point<br />
of view, and a cohesive story. I<br />
love using pattern on pattern; the<br />
more layering you do the calmer a<br />
room becomes.<br />
With this in mind, I currently<br />
favour large prints and am<br />
unashamedly obsessed with<br />
Bennison Fabrics. The collection of<br />
prints and colours is extraordinary<br />
and feature heavily in one of my<br />
upcoming interior projects. I tend<br />
to pull entire schemes together<br />
by picking out tones and colours<br />
from the curtain fabric.<br />
If you aren’t quite ready to<br />
tackle pattern, plain linens, felts or<br />
wools can look incredibly smart<br />
unlined and with a trimming along<br />
the leading edge.<br />
There is nothing quite like<br />
a trimming to finish a curtain,<br />
Claremont is the best. Its library<br />
of fringe, cord, pom-poms, braids<br />
and ropes is second to none.<br />
George Spencer Design also stocks<br />
heavenly options. For a more<br />
affordable alternative, see Zoffany.<br />
You can have almost as much<br />
fun selecting a heading as you<br />
do fabric. My default heading is<br />
a classic French pleat, probably<br />
because I habitually use curtain<br />
poles and rings and I think this<br />
looks best. If you can afford to<br />
spend the money, and your room<br />
can take it, a pelmet can look<br />
quite wonderful and adds so much<br />
to the complete look.<br />
each room in your home will<br />
demand curtain length consideration<br />
for various reasons. Unless you<br />
have a frightfully grand home I<br />
don’t let curtains pool, but rather<br />
break on the floor. A short curtain<br />
is very tricky to pull off, they<br />
mostly just look sad dangling in<br />
midair.<br />
once installed, resist the<br />
temptation to open up your<br />
curtains for a week or so, rather<br />
leave them wrapped so that the<br />
pleats keep as the fabric settles.<br />
Bennison Fabrics, Crewelwork,<br />
100% Linen, col. Original on Oyster.<br />
Made in England.<br />
Lewis & Wood Fabrics,<br />
Adam’s Eden, col. Taupe,<br />
100% Linen. Made in England.<br />
I like rooms to be charming<br />
and traditional but always with<br />
a sense of the unexpected.<br />
For established country homes<br />
I often look to Lewis & Wood<br />
or Colefax and Fowler for<br />
fabrics. Both fabric houses<br />
produce traditional classics as<br />
well as modern alternatives.<br />
Peter Dunham Textiles,<br />
Samarkand, col. Blue/<br />
Green on White.<br />
Made in USA.<br />
I adore Peter Dunham<br />
Textiles. His California<br />
cool prints are terribly<br />
good for interiors and<br />
exteriors and very in<br />
vogue (literally).<br />
A<br />
p<br />
hp<br />
stan<br />
alm<br />
stro<br />
HP<br />
198<br />
Bob<br />
the<br />
Ma<br />
com<br />
nam<br />
(he<br />
Fro<br />
ow<br />
sou<br />
the<br />
da<br />
inn<br />
a su<br />
the<br />
hp<br />
of d<br />
the<br />
ass<br />
as a<br />
ven
Change language