- Graphic grown up fabrics on cushions and bedding                -Neutral grey bedding offsets this bold wallpaper

Creating trendy kid’s room can be a challenge as the colours and patterns need to be enough fun for little ones, yet sophisticated enough to fit in with a stylish design scheme.

Try mixing graphic prints or wallpapers in with paler plain colours to soften a scheme and remember kid’s rooms are fun and playful, try to stay away from matching cushions, rugs and walls; here is the chance to be creative with colour and pattern.

Fabrics I love for children:

www.scion.uk.com/

www.stjudesfabrics.co.uk/

www.husandhem.co.uk/

Spring flowers are going to be my source of inspiration for colour schemes for the next few months! Think fresh pastels, stones and greys accentuated with a zingy yellow or coral. Farrow and Ball always add a pop of a stronger colour to their design schemes, and they can be changed and updated as your mood takes you. Think about adding some flashes of colour to your home this Spring with accent cushions, throws or lampshades.

 Fabrics by Pierre Frey, Sanderson and Designers Guild

Spring is here and florals are returning! Many of the designers in Chelsea Harbour featured beautiful watercolour inspired patterns. A key look for 2012 is to mix floral patterns in the same scheme; playing with different scales but unifying them with the colour palette.

Fabrics by Manuel Canovas, Designers Guild, Sanderson and Harlequin

Are you brave enough?! Hot pinks, turquoise and jewel colours have made a huge impact on the new season, along with graphic patterns and bright oversized stripes. If you want a more sophisticated feel with the same look, soft greys and mineral shades will tone down your scheme.

Fabrics by Romo, Villa Nova and Colefax & Fowler

As always neutrals remain the staple of the fabric season. Linen and wool are so versatile, creating beautiful rustic homes but also crisp understated interiors. The new trend with neautrals is to mix textures to add depth and dimension. Try stonewashed linens, shimmery lightweight sheers or textured wools to add personality and interest to your space.

This month there are a host of inspiring Interior Design shows in London. We are looking forward to London Design Week at Chelsea Harbour on the 11^th-16^th March, just a short walk away from our showroom. Map here

There will be masterclasses and design lectures so you can discover tricks, tips and secrets to making a house a home.

Take a look at the listings here

We recommend the ‘Lampshade Surgery’ with demonstrations at Porta Romana showing the transforming effects of linings, colours and sizing. (14 & 15 March only, free of charge).

If that gives you some ideas, our bespoke lampshade service is for you!

We are sure you will be rushing home full of exciting new decorating ideas so over the next few weeks we will be creating some online mood boards to get your creative juices flowing and to help you get inspired for Spring!

We’re  having a clear out of fabrics because we often get left with a few metres on a roll of fabric which is not enough for us to use for a pair of curtains or Roman blinds.  It’s a shame to have these gorgeous fabrics hanging around in our workrooms, so we’re  offering them all for sale at huge discounts of 50% off or more.  It’s good for us to clear our workrooms and it’s great for you to be able to snap up a bargain.  You can visit our showroom and browse the fabric rolls (avalailable to buy on the spot) and we have a list on our website ( here )showing all the fabrics , sale prices and the  amounts left on each roll.  It’s a great way to pick up some gorgeous curtain materials at a cheap bargain price.  Call us on 0845 5000 400 for more information or email (contact@naturalcurtaincompany.com ) us if you would like the price list sent to you.   We plan to keep this list live at all times so there will always be bargains to be had.  Happy hunting!

You can get free samples here.

Please call us if you have any questions or pop in to see us in our showroom (details here).  We’re open until 8pm on November thursdays this year.  Happy Hunting!

Cold is coming! Warm up with thermal curtains...

There’s no getting away from the cold now.  The heating sputters into life every morning as I leap out of bed ready to forge through the day.  As you draw back your curtains or lift up your blinds in the morning to cast your bleary eyes over the new dawn, you need to ask yourself a question;

‘Sure, my curtains are keeping the light out (not that there’s much about at this ungodly hour) but are they keeping me as toasty as they could be?’

If you’re not sure about it, then the answer is most likely ‘no’.  Curtains or Blinds can be thermally lined or interlined to keep a lot more heat in your room than a standard lined pair of curtains.  A new pair of curtains may seem like a big investment but it’s a simple and beautiful way to combat the increasing cost of energy bills and get some extra toastiness in your life.  To back up the obvious, a 2008 study at the Caledonian Glasgow University showed in a very scientific way that a heavy pair of curtains reduces heat loss through your windows by 14% and a double glazing/curtains combination reduces heat loss by a whopping 66% when compared to a single pane window.  Whether you’re worried about global warming, the cost of your energy bills or both (or even if you just want a new pair of curtains and need to give yourself good reason..), these are big numbers that translate into proper savings and energy efficiency improvements.  So, although it might seem like an extravagance in these gloomy times, a good pair of curtains is a sensible investment and a very attractive way of staying warm, cutting down your heating bills, saving the planet and snazzing up your home – all at the same time.  Compelling eh?  You can read more and get free fabric samples here.

Designer curtain fabric books in our showroom

Hurray!

Now we’ve moved into our smart new curtain showroom, we can show you even more fabrics than the 500 curtain fabrics displayed on our website at www.naturalcurtaincompany.co.uk .  Book by book, we’re building a library of curtain fabric books from our favourite designers.  As well as many of the household names like Colefax & Fowler, Jane Churchill,  Ian Mankin and others we have a few less well known and interesting designers as well.  If you’re in the area (Lots Road in Chelsea , right by the Design Centre), then pop in for a browse, some advice and a coffee.  We’re right next to sofa.com so you can browse for a new sofa, bed or chair at the same time!

Thick curtain fabric (velvet for example) and interlining will keep your room warm

My central heating kicked in automatically yesterday morning.   I’d set it so low that it would only kick in when it was really cold.  Guess what?  It was really cold.  It was an unwelcome reminder that the summer is over and autumn is upon us.  Beautiful though it is,  Autumn is the beginning of the chilly long dark nights and it’s when most of us start thinking about being warm and toasty in the evenings and not playing frisbee in the park or organising an BBQ.

At The Natural Curtain Company, this is the time of year where we get 2 types of phone calls which tell us Autumn is here.  We get calls from people wanting us to come and fix their boilers (British Gas’ helpline is one digit different from ours!)  and we have customers asking about thermal curtains, thermal linings, interlined curtains, blackout curtains and any other way to make curtains or blinds as insulating and warm as possible.  Well the good news is that are plenty of ways your curtains and blinds can keep your house warm AND cut down on your heating bills.  A thick curtain fabric (velvet for example) , thermal lining , blackout lining or interlining are all ways to insulate your home.

You can read more at Natural Curtain Company website here

Gorgeous Silk lampshades. Lampshades avaiable in all our fabrics.

New – lampshades in any curtain fabric.

We’re excited.  It’s been a long time coming but now we can offer lampshades in almost any curtain fabric and almost any size.  We know that this has been top of many of our customers’ wants list for some time so we’re very pleased to get this service up and running.

You might want to match your curtains or blinds or you might want to design your own lampshade.  You can do this by using your own fabric or even some vintage fabric.  We can do it for you and advise you how much fabric you will need.  Call us for details or for a price.