How to make sure you choose the right curtains for your walls

Choosing colours will be very personal and technically there’s no right or wrong, it all comes down to what you want your home to look like to make you happy. But here are some tips to guide you along.

Repeat the wall colour

You can go for the same shade, blending the walls and curtains together and making your room feel much bigger. Or choose a pattern that features the wall colour. This also gives you variety and choice when it comes to other accent colours in the room. Keep in mind, when we say “the same shade” you can actually go one or two (but no more) shades lighter or darker; the eye will see it as virtually the same colour.

Go monochrome

Monochromatic, doesn’t actually mean black and white, it just means ‘one colour’. Choose a solid-coloured curtain that is a noticeably lighter or darker shade of your wall colour. Patterns are more likely to go out of fashion and look dated than solid colours. A good example here would be mint green curtains with forest green walls.

Complementary colours

These are the colours directly opposite of one another on a colour wheel and they’re usually quite different. We recommend choosing a pattern that features a complementary colour to your walls as solid colour curtains could be quite intense. For example, yellow’s complementary colour is purple, but having fully purple curtains against yellow walls wouldn’t look as appealing as a patterned fabric that just has some purple in it. Alternatively, you may have patterned wallpaper in which case a solid colour curtain in a complementary colour would be perfect.

Embrace the versatility of neutrals

Neutrals are great with almost every colour and with other neutrals too, regardless of whether it’s a block colour or pattern, but you need to ensure you have multiple shades happening around the room in the form of furniture and other accessories or you risk a very stark look. Neutrals also work well to tone down very strong colours.

Choosing curtains for blue walls

Blue is one of the few colours that looks really good with black and very dark greys. Vibrant blues like royal blue go well with other vibrant colours such as red, orange and yellow but not so well with purple or green. Light blues work best with dark, cool colours or other colours of a similar shade.

Best options for green walls

Green is a great colour and offers a much wider visual range than others. To choose the right curtains to go with your green room you must first determine whether your green is warm or cool. And as always, neutrals never fail.

Medium-warm greens range from yellow greens to dark olives and work well with charcoal grey curtains. For contrast try a pattern featuring a complementary colour in the violet spectrum.

Light and dark warm green walls have a fresh look. Lighter shades can accommodate a variety of different colours whereas darker greens benefit from something lighter to brighten them.

Medium cool greens have blue undertones and can vary into the aqua or teal realm. A great match for these shades are colours with red tones.

Light and dark cool green walls range from mint green to a deep forest green. Lighter shades pair well with dark and medium warm greys. Darker shades look fabulous with orange tones such as peach or salmon.