Curtains put the final touches to your room style.
They can make a style statement on their own, using slightly more unusual headings such as goblet headings or French pleat headings along with trimmings down the leading edge of the curtains gives a highly individual look.
As a very basic guide if you have a lot of pattern going on in your room already, ie in a wallpaper, lounge suite, or bedding to avoid clashing styles and colours stick to a plain colour for the curtains and follow through with matching throws and cushions to emphasise the colour choice.
Large patterns in curtains or wallpaper generally suit large rooms or are best used on a feature wall with a plain background in a small room they could be somewhat overpowering and make the room seem smaller.
Small patterns suit small rooms and can give the illusion of larger space, small patterns in larger rooms can look spotty.
Alternatively if you have plain wall, floor and ancillary furniture colours add a splash of colour and pattern as accent colour using your curtains, cushions and throws.
You will get a feel for the colour and can easily tone the level down or raise it up by adding or taking these items away.
Think about offering a balance - too much light colour looks washed out and clinical, too much dark looks oppressive and heavy.
If a combination feels too strong then concentrate on using the paler shades and adding plenty of white or cream to cool a scheme down and just a few darker accents.
Pastels always mix more comfortably than other shades.
Layer whites and creams together they will create more depth of tone.
Use neutrals to pale down a scheme rather than on their own where they just look bland.
In a room where light should be maximised use large areas of light colour and balance these with dark highlights and visa versa.
If using dark colours in small rooms make sure the lighting is adequate to stop it from looking gloomy and dull.
In addition, artificial lighting affects the quality of a colour in a room.
The yellowish tone of light from standard bulbs will warm any surface on which it falls.
Fluorescent lights from strip lighting cause a harsh bluer light.
It is a good idea to colour-match fabrics in good daylight and compare under the artificial light of your choice.
Colour is a very personal thing.
What one person sees as vibrant another would see as too bright.
Think of your personal preference and use that as a base to build your colour schemes.
Memories invoked by a particular play a part in this.
With regard to curtains look at what you are trying to achieve.
Is it insulation, control of light, camouflaging an ugly view, privacy or simply decoration? If you have a stunning view through the window - emphasise this by dressing the window appropriately to the size of the room.
Make sure the window is not blocked by a large piece of furniture.
The function of the room must also be taken into account when choosing colours for your curtains.
As a rule of thumb, rooms that are not used all the time can take stronger colours.
Smaller rooms or those with small windows would benefit from pale, reflective colours.
Check out what direction house faces - eastern rooms need subtle warm colours yellow muted orange work well make most of early morning sun and work well as sun moves away later in the morning.
West facing room benefit from cooler scheme, blues, violets to a green which will tone down the intensity of the light in the afternoon.
South facing rooms will get the best quality light all day and therefore somewhere between the warm and the cool will be fine.
North facing rooms are obviously the darkest rooms and need the best artificial light and warm colours.
They can make a style statement on their own, using slightly more unusual headings such as goblet headings or French pleat headings along with trimmings down the leading edge of the curtains gives a highly individual look.
As a very basic guide if you have a lot of pattern going on in your room already, ie in a wallpaper, lounge suite, or bedding to avoid clashing styles and colours stick to a plain colour for the curtains and follow through with matching throws and cushions to emphasise the colour choice.
Large patterns in curtains or wallpaper generally suit large rooms or are best used on a feature wall with a plain background in a small room they could be somewhat overpowering and make the room seem smaller.
Small patterns suit small rooms and can give the illusion of larger space, small patterns in larger rooms can look spotty.
Alternatively if you have plain wall, floor and ancillary furniture colours add a splash of colour and pattern as accent colour using your curtains, cushions and throws.
You will get a feel for the colour and can easily tone the level down or raise it up by adding or taking these items away.
Think about offering a balance - too much light colour looks washed out and clinical, too much dark looks oppressive and heavy.
If a combination feels too strong then concentrate on using the paler shades and adding plenty of white or cream to cool a scheme down and just a few darker accents.
Pastels always mix more comfortably than other shades.
Layer whites and creams together they will create more depth of tone.
Use neutrals to pale down a scheme rather than on their own where they just look bland.
In a room where light should be maximised use large areas of light colour and balance these with dark highlights and visa versa.
If using dark colours in small rooms make sure the lighting is adequate to stop it from looking gloomy and dull.
In addition, artificial lighting affects the quality of a colour in a room.
The yellowish tone of light from standard bulbs will warm any surface on which it falls.
Fluorescent lights from strip lighting cause a harsh bluer light.
It is a good idea to colour-match fabrics in good daylight and compare under the artificial light of your choice.
Colour is a very personal thing.
What one person sees as vibrant another would see as too bright.
Think of your personal preference and use that as a base to build your colour schemes.
Memories invoked by a particular play a part in this.
With regard to curtains look at what you are trying to achieve.
Is it insulation, control of light, camouflaging an ugly view, privacy or simply decoration? If you have a stunning view through the window - emphasise this by dressing the window appropriately to the size of the room.
Make sure the window is not blocked by a large piece of furniture.
The function of the room must also be taken into account when choosing colours for your curtains.
As a rule of thumb, rooms that are not used all the time can take stronger colours.
Smaller rooms or those with small windows would benefit from pale, reflective colours.
Check out what direction house faces - eastern rooms need subtle warm colours yellow muted orange work well make most of early morning sun and work well as sun moves away later in the morning.
West facing room benefit from cooler scheme, blues, violets to a green which will tone down the intensity of the light in the afternoon.
South facing rooms will get the best quality light all day and therefore somewhere between the warm and the cool will be fine.
North facing rooms are obviously the darkest rooms and need the best artificial light and warm colours.