Design Tips

We’ve lots of great ideas for making the most of your windows, and top tips for the rest of your room too.  Find out more.

• Sheer Roller blinds for extra privacy
• Blinds to hide storage space
• Personalise your blinds
• Using blinds as room dividers
• Choosing the right heading for your curtains
• Ready-made Convenience!
• Choosing the right heading for your curtains
• Fitting tie-backs

Sheer Roller blinds for extra privacy

As long as we have windows in our homes, there’s always going to be a chance that we might not have 100% privacy all of the time. Those of us who live on a busy road or suffer from nosy neighbours may have traditionally relied on old fashioned net curtains to keep out prying eyes during the day, but not anymore. Our beautiful collection of sheer Roller blinds offers a stylish solution that is simple enough to suit absolutely any type of home. To view our sheer Roller blinds, go to ‘blinds’ and tick the ‘sheer’ box in the ‘special feature’ filter on the left side of your screen.

Blinds to hide storage space

No one wants to look at untidy cupboards and shelves. A great way of covering up this mess is with blinds. Roller blinds are brilliant at covering clutter with style. Choose blinds that match your window blinds or try a contrasting colour or pattern for added style.

Personalise your blinds

You’ve taken your measurements, chosen the type of blind you prefer and picked out your favourite fabric. So you’re well on the way to making your blind fairly unique! However, to really make it your own, choose from our great range of accessories. They include:

• co-ordinating or contrasting tapes available on our deluxe range of wooden Venetian blinds
• shaped bottom edges, decorative braiding, eyelets, poles and pulls and different colour control chains on our Roller blinds
• decorative braiding and different colour control chains on our Romans

Using blinds as room dividers

Try using a blind to divide a room into separate areas. Large, open-plan living spaces could benefit from this, particularly if you want to create a cosier, more intimate environment at certain times of the day. Give children sharing a bedroom their own personal space that is easy to open up when they want to play together. If your home office is squeezed into the corner of a bedroom, try splitting the space into separate sleeping and work spaces. Venetian and Roller blinds work well as room dividers but we particularly love the effect created by Vertical and Panel blinds.

Choosing the right heading for your curtains

Our made-to-measure curtains are available with three heading types – Pencil Pleat, Pinch Pleat and Eyelets. But which one is right for your room?

Pencil pleat is the traditional curtain heading – the curtains simply gather evenly across the top in neat and even pleats. These curtains are suitable for either a pole or a track, which makes them incredibly versatile. So don’t think they’re only for a traditional type room! If you’ve opted for a curtain pole, choose a finish that co-ordinates with your chosen curtain fabric or matches other accessories in your room – light fittings, door handles, mirrors and pictures frames for example. A track is much more discreet option and perfect if you want your curtains to take centre stage!

Pinch Pleat curtains have permanent sewn in pleats, which give a luxurious, tailored look. We would therefore recommend this type of curtain if your tastes are slightly more formal or for where co-ordination and neatness is important (think about co-ordinating cushions and tie backs too). Although they are suitable for both curtain tracks and poles, Pinch Pleat curtains do look especially good on poles as the pleats fold neatly beneath the pole.

Eyelets offer a contemporary and informal feel that’s perfect for modern homes, or older homes with an up-to-date interior décor. The simple design means they are particularly neat when pulled back, taking up the least amount of space of our three curtain heading types.

Ready-made Convenience!

One of the great things about ready-made curtains is their convenience. They’re just so simple to replace! Consider one pair of curtains with matching tie backs and cushions in warm tones for the autumn and winter months, and another in cooler shades for the spring and summer and get a complete transformation between the seasons!

Fabric by the metre

Get creative with our fabric by the metre. From your bed headboard to dining room chairs or even a footstool, some simple reupholstering could transform your room. Follow an easy pattern and you could also have matching beanbags or a throw for your bed or sofa. For a large room or empty wall space, have you considered a wall hanging?

Fitting tie-backs

Deciding exactly where to fit your curtain tie-backs depends entirely upon your personal taste. However, if you’re unsure follow our guidance. For floor length curtains, tie-back should be around 100cm above the floor. For shorter curtains lengths, tie-backs should be around 30 – 35cm up from the bottom of the curtains. Use these measurements as a guide when fitting your tie-back hooks. But remember, they may need to be adjusted slightly depending upon the exact measurements of your curtains.