Sheers and panels

Our house renovation is almost complete, and now, it's time to think about how to dress our windows!

Personally, I like decorating room by room, so thinking beforehand on what curtains to use for all the rooms in our house is quite the challenge for me.

I have an idea of how I want my curtains to look like - a neutral colour in a natural material that I won't get bored of over time. I'm not really into patterns, as I like the flexibility of plains where it can go with any theme.

But the thing that has left me scratching my head is on how to layer day with night curtains. You see, houses here are so close together, that day curtains are a must - it keeps sunlight in, but gives us the privacy we need during the day.

I was thinking of going for sheers and pair them with panels - but I really can't find much inspiration out there. Here are a few photos of rooms that have dressed up their windows with both sheer and panels that I will refer to as inspiration.

Velvet & Linen

This is from Brooke Giannetti, I love the use of this gauzy sheer fabric, layered with linen panels for night curtains. Gorgeous.

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe Howard

Phoebe Howard mentions in her blog to stay away from polyester when you use sheers, and she likes using double poles to pair sheer curtains with panels. Aren't the three photos above just beautiful?

The photos of the room below uses double poles with sheer curtains and panels. The room is just beautiful, so I thought I'd just put in all three for your viewing pleasure. :-)

The sheers bring that elegant and romantic touch to the room. I love the use of natural textures of linen, sisal, antique chairs and console. 

You can better see the double poles used here in this photo. I love the stripe on these chairs. 

Source unknown! Let me know if you know who the designer is!

The below room has a modern touch to the interiors as well as the sheers used. You can't really see it, but the sheers to filter in light and maintain privacy is hung as blinds and pulled all the way down to the floor. This is a gorgeous room.

via Eclectic Revisited

The below is one of my favourite photos of sitting rooms - you can't really see the curtains, but they have also used sheers and panels here.

via Mark D Sikes

A beautiful dining area uses sheers and panels here too. I love the ornate chandelier.

House Beautiful

Well, I guess I'll be referring to these photos when I'm making choices for my windows! Have a great week ahead!

floor cushions...

I got this message from a dear friend of mine...

"Amnah, what should I do when my idea of living room decor is not materialised because my husband's idea of decor is a sleeping mat and pillows on the sofa 24 seven? I can't seem to decorate it because it just looks like a big messy bedroom... should I move the TV elsewhere so that the living room does not look like a bedroom?"

My suggestion would be to either move the TV to a bedroom...

modern bedroom design

Or if you don't like the idea of having a noisy TV in your bedroom, how about getting comfortable and pretty floor cushions for that extra comfort the husband is craving for while he watches his favourite shows?

These would be my picks for flat floor cushions...

Pottery Barn

Kaboodle

Kaboodle

Etsy 

And oversized pillows look great too like the striped one in the photo above!

Here are some images of pretty rooms that look comfortable without the sleeping mats and extra pillows from the bedroom...

Home Design

Floor poufs and cushions make hanging out on the floor as comfy as sitting on the sofa in the outdoor room above.

via American Gypsy Living

On a good day, oversized floral pillows sit atop flat floor cushions neatly.

via Home Interior Design

These two floor cushions sit beneath the coffee table and can pulled out for extra seating when there are guests.

via American Gypsy Living

Textured floor pillows look great in this eclectic room.

source unknown

Floor pillows makes a room look more casual, inviting and less formal.

source unknown

source unknown

I really do like the idea of having floor pillows! It would be great for those lazy days enjoying my favourite shows on TV!

Happy Wednesday!

stripes!

If there was one pattern that I had to choose among all patterns, it would be stripes.

I am loving this pattern that never goes out of style - be it on furniture, walls or floors.

image from Ikea Family Live

This room has gone all out with beautiful grey stripes on the bed, the floors and even on the clothes hanging on those hooks. I love the beachy relaxed feel of this bedroom.

House Beautiful

I like large stripes on the walls - the stripes used in this room brings out a modern edge to this otherwise feminine room. I'm loving the colour palette of blues, greys and light browns.

HGTV

How about horizontal stripes on the wall? I love this bold and beautiful dining room.

la Brocanteuse: L'Orangerie

Stripes look great on upholstered pieces too. I adore this combination of a striped sofa and burlap pillows for an authentic and rustic feel.

Better Homes & Gardens

Colourful stripes look great on these wing chairs!

If you're not that bold to go big on stripes...

Washington School House

... they make a great pattern on throw pillows when paired together with plain ones.

via Luxe + Lillies

I love this breakfast nook overlooking a great view. Stripes on the throw pillows looks great.

Or you can bring in some stripes on your floors from rugs...

Tim Clarke inc

Ellen Pompeo's kitchen from Elle Decor

Ellen Pompeo's house from Elle Decor. Isn't that just gorgeous?

So what do you think of stripes? I would like mine on throw pillows and smaller pieces of furniture like a wing chair or a one-seater.

And I would totally consider using stripes in a kids' room!

Source unknown

Have a wonderful weekend!

bedrooms sheets

When it comes to choosing bed sheets, without a doubt, I would always go for plain sheets - preferably white, for that matter.

I always feel plain sheets will never tire me and I can always dress up the bed with throw pillows and quilts of different colours, patterns and textures. I also prefer soothing rooms that I can retreat to at the end of the day - that means soft and cool colours like white, blues, and light greys.

Here I'll show you my favourite dressed beds and what I love about them.

Better Homes and Gardens

The photo above has to be one of my favourite bedrooms - it looks so luxurious and sophisticated.  Bed sheets have a subtle pattern, and dressed with a frilly skirt and textured quilt. Beautiful.

via Conspicuous Style

I love whites and beiges. This bed has textured pillows and a lovely elegant pattern on the skirting. Gorgeous.

via The Pink Pagoda

If you have lovely wallpaper and patterned rugs, its best to keep your sheets plain white like the photo above. The olive green borders is a simple pattern yet pretty.

Source unknown

The photo above has to be another of my favourite rooms. Beautiful plain white sheets matched with a textured beige coverlet and grey throw.

Elle Decor

A white room - the pretty details of the headboard bring visual interest to the plain white bedsheets.

Source unknown

Plain white sheets paired with patterned throw pillows and a plain blue square pillow and blue throws. I love the casual elegance of this room.

 If you like more patterns on your sheets, here are some that I find pretty...

Ruemag

The photo above was one of the inspiration photos my sister and I referred to when we were doing the makeover of her room. We love the colours used - grey-blues, white and beiges. Notice that they also use white sheets, but dressed it up with a textured, patterned quilt and throw pillows.

via Create Girl

I love this blue and the simple pattern of these sheets. They dressed it up with a white textured throw and a plain throw pillow for that pop of colour.

via The Lennoxx

I find stripes are pretty too - this coastal themed room uses blue stripes with white sheets and a cute pillow with a starfish pattern.

If you don't mind bold colours and patterns, this zigzag pattern looks great, too. Notice how everything else is kept white and simple - except for the cool aqua blue nightstand. 

Urban Outfitters

So how would you dress up your bed? Plain and simple? Or bold and bright?

bookshelves beauty...

I've always loved the idea of having bookshelves in the bedroom so I'm planning to incorporate bookshelves in the room that I'm decorating.

I absolutely love this photo below. A plain white bed surrounded by leather books. 

Image from here

Even the windows have been kept simple with no curtains and just a simple iron rod so that it does not steal the limelight of those lovely books.

All those books reminds me of that scene of one of my favourite films of all time - Disney's Beauty and the Beast.

I digress.

Anyway...if you have a great collection of books, I would highly recommend you make them the focal point of your rooms. Keep your bedlinens simple so that the books become the main feature.

Martha Stewart Living

The room below has a whole wall dedicated to books...

image from here

Love this room made of brown and turquoises...

from here

This one is purple...

from Desire to Inspire

I like how they hung framed pictures on the bookshelves for some visual interest.

Image from here

Here's another example, using smaller framed pictures.

Image from here

One thing that I've learnt is that you can stack the books on your shelves horizontally and vertically to add visual interest. Also, a few pretty knick knacks here and there would break a sea of books with some of your personal style.

Images taken from here

The room I am decorating will not have enough space to dedicate a whole wall to bookshelves, so it would probably be just a few shelves on brackets. I do hope I can share the finished project with you all soon.

Have a great Tuesday!