Period curtain design help needed

[JoceAndChris]

I'm struggling to find a fabric to match or blend with the dining room scheme.

The Laura Ashley curtains you can just about make out in the top pic have been right round the house and will no doubt end in a chicken shed, but they won't do for here.

Is there such a thing as a Regency stripe? There are thousands of stripe fabrics, but many are looking too contemporary. Would this do?

http://www.kingdominteriors.co.uk/catalogue/TheIsleMill/fabrics/GlamisStripe/1850

This one looks more Regency style to me but is maybe too busy?

http://www.kingdominteriors.co.uk/catalogue/ArcCollections/fabrics/PRINTROOMSTRIPECOORDINATE/38458

Do you think green would work better to bring in a third colour?

I'm hoping to get the main rooms of the house done so that I can get it onto the some of the location books next year and try to generate some money. I'm not sure whether it would be of interest to anyone but they do seem to list all sorts of properties and I'd like to market it as Regency country cottage ornée.

 

[Penners]

Very nice, Joce, particularly the Regency disco ball.

 

[Penners]

By the way, I decided to deprive you of my curtain advice. The topic is some way above my pay grade.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, I don't know Mr P. I think Magnolia may be the answer here. And when the curtains are properly swagged and tasselled and Regency-fied I can offer them and my "disco-ball" for the next Jane Austen Armstrong and Miller skit. :lol:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=92CTOiY_CYM

 

[Penners]

If I'd never read any Jane Austen, I might be tempted to start now.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Do you think green would work better to bring in a third colour?

Yes. I would certainly try some greens. Given that the wallpaper is patterned I would keep to something simpler - plains, stripes etc could all work.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Nigel. Do you think this silk velvet is too of our time? (please scroll down the page for my preferred colour, olive)

http://www.jamesbrindleyfabrics.com/collections/chinois-silk-velvet-collection/chinois-silk-velvet-0

Also, I'm a bit scared of it, as the lady in the curtain shop in Stamford said you can't get it to do formal pleating though it's very good at puddling. Would it be foolish to attempt to make swags and tails in it, I wonder?

I think it's nice - but overall would make the room gloomier annd moodier than a rust and cream stripe. Oh,it's difficult.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Hi Joce,


Malachite would be a good colour: , edge the velvet with silk to give texture and warmth. or add some trimming like big bobbles (keep quiet Penners!! this is girly stuff ) I would definitely not go for a stripe or pattern, plain is better with the wallpaper motif.

By the way, I saw some persian rugs in the Holt Antiques Centre ( North Norfolk) good prices.
xxx

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, thank you Joss, your expert designer opinion is always so welcome. The Malachite looks much brighter than the near-black olive I chose, I agree it looks a better colour, and with rust pompom trim could be made to work.

Thanks for your advice regarding rugs too, I must go there. By all accounts it's a very nice place to visit in its own right.

I've seen perfect rugs in terms of colour ( basically I want a black and gold Ziegler for the hall and a red and cream Aubusson for the dining room) but the prices have been ££££s. Trying to make the interior Regency ornée often feels very out of reach so any bargains to be had with rugs and furniture are most welcome.

 

[jocelyn plummer]

Easy to get carried away in Holt!!!!!!!!!! However, there is a very good second hand curtain shop there. Second home owners rejects/ cast offs. That's where I bought that yellow and wine coloured spotted silk that I was trying to match some time ago. cost me £30!!!

 

[Moo]

Why not go for a plain or striped silk?

 

[JoceAndChris]

Oh, silk is lovely but I'm using it everywhere and fancied a change. The adjacent music room is getting olive green silk cloud blinds - I'd like the dining room ones to be different. That Brindley velvet is really pretty in the way it catches any light, and I think lining and interlining would give it the structure for the swags. What I could do is order 1/2 a metre, make a swag, and then decide.

Like the paints, I've looked at hundreds of examples of red silk - none match this tricky paper. They're too wine, or too cherry, or too burnt orange, or scarlet - this colour is a sort of rusty pinky reddish terracotta.

I'll beware of Holt Joss! Did you find a match to your fabric?

 

[Nigel Watts]

I am out of my depth here. Moo's and Jocelyn's advice seems good though!

 

[JoceAndChris]

Nigel, Flora and I talk about your curtains every time we meet! (Nigel picked Flora up on the curtain forum, and we happen to be neighbours!!)

The Merrick and Day pattern book you recommended has been an absolute boon with my hallway swags and tails, a real joy to use:

(the above is unfinished work as I have to remake the ready-made curtains and take them higher, and get them to puff out over a hold-back)

Anyway, fortunately, I've come across this in the Merrick and Day encyclopaedia, and think if I were to copy it exactly in terms of colour and drapery it would put the room firmly into the Regency, whereas now it's tiresomely in a sort of no-man's land of vaguely periodness.

There is the slight problem of the pelmet board but maybe lion knockers could be glued onto gilded moulding?

This one's also nice:

I'm going on a Merrick and Day course next year, which should helpwith the bishop's sleeves, etc.

 

[Nigel Watts]

Your curtains look fabulous! I agree that they need to go up a bit so you dont see the working (as opposed to decorative) rail. I was a bit extravagant with mine and used a brass pole for the curtains and a wooden one for the swags etc.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Nigel! Praise from you is praise indeed. I plan to do just the same and mount a brass pole 4 inches higher up As it's a doorway, you do look up,especially as the contrast lining draws the eye.

 

[Penners]

big bobbles (keep quiet Penners!! this is girly stuff )

Good heavens, Joss, I wouldn't dream of involving myself with big bobbles.

Well - that's not quite true. I might dream....

 

[Nigel Watts]

This is how my poles related to each other:

If they were any higher they would be seen above the swags.

This is the finished article (at the other end of the room, but the same dimensions). The tops of the rings are in fact just visible on the right, which might have been avoided had I used a slightly thinner brass pole:

The other thing to bear in mind is that your decorative pole needs to be far enough in front of the functional pole so that the curtains can be drawn without disturbing the swags - something I am sure you will already have done - but if you change the functional pole to a different type (especially a thicker one) you may need to move the decorative pole further away from the wall. In my case I had to mount the brackets for my wooden pole on quite thick wooden blocks to get it far enough away from the wall.

 

[JoceAndChris]

Thanks Nigel. I never would have known your rings showed if you hadn't pointed it out. At least they're pretty rings, so it doesn't matter.

Chris has already mounted the pole brackets on extending blocks, as per Merrick and Day's extremely good instructions. Had I made up my swags in true accordance with their pattern the problem of the white track showing wouldn't have occurred, but I wasn't able to have a 5 pleat swag because the door must open into the room. Oh! What a headache it was altering the pattern but did it in the end.

Is that a hnad-done pinch pleat in your curtain there? This is next for me; I've always used bought headings but have come to realise the beauty of hand done.

 

[JoceAndChris]

big bobbles (keep quiet Penners!! this is girly stuff )

Good heavens, Joss, I wouldn't dream of involving myself with big bobbles.

Well - that's not quite true. I might dream....

:lol: :lol: :lol: