DESIGN

A room’s décor does not end with paint, furniture and flooring. On the contrary, in most cases, there are the accessories that add character and make a space much more fascinating. And of course, one of the most important decorative features is soft furnishing and window treatments. Window treatments have tremendous impact on a home’s décor. Think for example how much space curtains take up and you will find out that their patterns and colors have as much or more influence over the decorating scheme as the wall paint, furniture and artwork.

Before opting for curtains you should first consider what the function of the window treatment will be. Do you need to block the hard sun-light that enters the room or do you simply want to disguise the angles of the windows with a soft, semi-transparent curtain? Do you need to provide privacy or not?  Moreover note, that if the window is frequently opened and closed, you must choose a design that gives you easy access to the window.

Secondly you have to think of the style. The window treatments should fit in well with the overall decorating style and color scheme. There are curtains with patterns, textures and colors to match any mood and décor style and hundreds of possible fabrics to make your window treatment unique.

Let’s see a selection of curtains, suitable for the living room, from ctwotop.com.

• Curtains with lace and embroidered details. The shimmering gold fabric will bring an air of luxury and wealth to the living room. The embroidered decoration make the curtains seem like high-priced handmade textiles. 

DO IT YOURSELF

Make a decorative bowl or fruit bowl recycling old vinyl records. Vinyl is a plastic material that melts at high temperatures. So, if a vinyl record is placed in a hot oven or left under the sun, it will melt and become flexible. When it is still hot, you can shape the record with your hands. Please, keep in mind that the disk will be ruined and will become unplayable. Before, recycling the disc we suggest to check the internet, to make sure that the old disc is not collectible and thus valuable.  

DESIGN

Two new brand textile projects are part of the 2015 Nodus rugs collection which will be on show next April at the Fuori Salone in Milan. The visual poems by Raymundo Sesma for NODUS, a collection of five rugs, named UNIDAD TRANSVERSAL are hand‐knotted in Nepal. They have a knot density of 100 knots per square inch and are made of 100% wool. Their size is 170x240 cm and their production time was 3 months.

ADVICE

Readers’ question

“My husband and I really need help with the open plan living room / kitchen area of the flat we just purchased. Please find attached the floor plan for information. However the actual photos of the space might be more helpful as for example the doors opening to the Juliette balcony are not right in the centre but more to the right.　

We would be very grateful if you could suggest some layouts that make the kitchen and living room feel as one -furniture, colour of wall etc as we are finding the space quite challenging.