Whether you’re redecorating your living room or you recently moved to a new place, there are many decor decisions that you’ll need to make. Just like a sofa or rug can create a huge impact on your design aesthetic, curtains are an important part of any living room, dining room, or home officemakeover.
Drapery lives at the intersection of fashion and functionality, keeping your home private while adding flair to your living area. Learning how to pick the perfect curtains is a vital part of your living room decor planning.
Pepper Home has the tools and information you need to get started along with many options for custom curtains that can be tailored to your interior design tastes.
How Do You Choose a Living Room Curtain Color?
Keep a Consistent Color Scheme
Determining the ideal color and pattern of your curtains is the first step in the living room curtain selection process. Ask yourself which theme you’ve chosen for the room and which colors can make it come alive.
You want to keep a consistent color scheme so that all of the scenery in the room flows together. If you’ve already purchased a statement piece like a couch, this can help inform the rest of your design decisions for the area.
There are plenty of expert opinions on how to choose the perfect color scheme that you can reference. You can also order fabric samples from Pepper Home to compare options with the furniture and decor you’ve already selected for your space.
Experiment With Patterns
Don’t be shy when it comes to trying out new patterns. A patterned curtain can be a bold accent piece in a room or a subtle soft complement to the rest of your decor.
Part of the beauty of decorating a room is that you don’t have to worry about permanence. Depending on your mood or the time of year, you can rotate out your curtains and try new patterns.
Choose Timeless Colors
Although you’re always welcome to experiment with fun colors, it’s always a wise idea to gravitate towards timeless colors.
There’s a reason certain colors are considered classics. The colors in your room affect the tone of the space and can even impact the mood of your guests. Timeless colors tend to promote a peaceful environment. This will not only help you coordinate your curtains with the rest of your decor more easily, but it will also ensure that your living room is always in style.
Neutral tones such as blacks, whites, taupes, and greys will always be chic. White curtains can be refreshing in the summertime, while a bolder window curtain panel might stand out in the fall. Other muted tones tend to complement each other well even if they’re on opposite ends of the color wheel, such as a rust red and olive green.
You can always use vibrant and deep colors to make a portion of the room stand out or to use your curtains as a statement piece. However, if you want your curtains to blend in with the scenery, classic colors are key. These can be incorporated into solid-color designs or patterns.
Pepper Home offers over 30 patterns of curtains, so you can find the perfect combination for your space.
Consider Your Wall Design
It’s important to compare and contrast your possible curtain colors to the walls in your room. A dark curtain will pop well on a lightly colored wall and vice versa.
However, a patterned curtain can be risky to pair with patterned wallpaper. Even if you’re looking into a maximalist aesthetic, understanding which patterns clash attractively can be essential when trying to avoid unruly chaos in your space.
How Do You Measure Living Room Curtains?
Use a Sizing Chart
Referencing a typical size chart for curtains is a useful way to ensure you buy the right length to cover your windows fully. These sizing charts can also help you better understand curtain basics, helping you make informed purchases. Using a sizing chart is a wonderful way to start envisioning your new custom curtains in your living room as well.
Make Measurements at Home
When you’re drowning in recommendations, it can be overwhelming to wade through advice on back tabs, rod pocket curtain panels, tab top curtains, sun zero options, and beyond. Before you install your curtains — or even purchase them — be sure to measure your window panel. Home designs are unique, and what fits in some windows may not work in yours.
Take your window measurements at home and reference your size chart to get an idea of what size curtains you will need. This can also help you choose the number of curtain panels you would like to purchase. Depending on the size of your window, you may only opt for two panels. However, larger windows may require more.
Our curtain measurement and installment guide can help you perfectly place your new curtains in your home. This guide will also help you choose between styles like a pinch pleat, tailored pleat, ring top, rod pocket, and grommet top when installing your curtains, yet another important design decision that can drastically alter your curtain aesthetics.
Use Pepper Home’s Curtain Calculator
Pepper Home has created an easy and convenient curtain calculator to help you find the perfect curtain for your windows.
You begin by choosing your preferred style of curtain top from ring top, rod top, or pinch pleats. Then, you will choose your preferred tailoring — for example, you can decide whether you’d like your curtains to end at the floor or bunch up for a more dramatic effect. Lastly, you will insert your window measurements to find the correct size of drapes for your space.
How To Match Window Curtains to Your Home Decor
Use Neutral Colors for Subtle Accents
Neutrals pair well together and are typically timeless colors, as we mentioned above. Since curtains are a larger design piece, neutral colors and patterns tend to pair well with many different types of decor. This is especially the case if other pieces of furniture you already own are more patterned or colorful.
However, if your living space is already quite neutral, an intricately patterned curtain can make for beautiful wall art. Similarly, a brightly colored curtain can be an excellent statement piece in your home.
Choose the Right Materials
Making sure you have the perfect curtain hardware is not only important for installation but design purposes as well. Choosing rods and rings that flatter your curtains, your valance, and your living room decor is a vital step in the design process.
Consider Fabric Textures
Much like color, fabric texture is important to keep in mind. While you can never go wrong with our 100% cotton curtains, you can add an interesting element to your room through velvet.
Keep in mind that just like color, fabric textures can clash as well. Beyond that, certain fabrics like sateen, jacquard, damask, or faux silk may be overwhelming in any space or make a design look less refined.
Pepper Home offers cotton curtain, linen curtain, and velvet curtain options, so you can find a fabric texture that fits the season. Linen is an ideal curtain panel pair for light summer breezes, while lush decor like velvet drapes can be divine during the holiday season.
Consider the texture of other large elements in your living room while choosing your curtain materials. If you already have incorporated velvet in this way, consider how this will pair with velvet curtains.
Trim options like pom poms, tassels, rick racks, or bands can help add a textured element to your design without overpowering other elements in your room.
Accessorize Your Room
Another effortless way to incorporate your curtains ideas with your decor is assembling matching accessories throughout the room.
Pillows are an easy and functional way to bring your curtain set into the rest of the decor fold. Throws are also an accessible and functional finishing touch to bring the room together. With each curtain that we offer, we also curate the perfect room accessories to pair with it.
Rugs are a unique piece to consider when accessorizing your living room. Being another large piece of fabric in this space, you don’t want rugs competing with your curtains. If you have a patterned rug, we recommend considering a solid-colored curtain that compliments the colors in the rug.
However, if you have a solid-colored rug, both a patterned or solid curtain would complement the rug — with the right colors, of course.
Talk to a Design Expert
Make use of the people who have dedicated time and research into design expertise. Pepper Home offers you complimentary design expertise from artisans who truly understand these products. Don’t hesitate to reach out with questions or for design suggestions.
Should You Choose Blackout or Privacy Curtains?
Install Blackout Curtains in the Bedroom
Our cotton blackout curtains are 100% opaque, blocking out all light coming through your windows. For this reason, we recommend using blackout curtains in rooms specifically meant for rest, such as bedrooms or nurseries.
This will help to promote healthy, undisturbed sleep by blocking out sunlight and artificial lights, even helping to dampen noise coming from outside.
Use Privacy Curtains in the Living Room
For the living room, we recommend using our privacy curtains instead. Our 100% cotton privacy curtains block 70% of light, which allows you to close your curtains for privacy without plunging your room into complete darkness. A little natural light from your living room windows can be pleasant, while the subtle light filtering provides more privacy than semi-sheer curtains, sheer curtain panels, or window treatments.
Conclusion
Decorating your living space is an endeavor, but it can be a fulfilling and entertaining one. Creating an environment that expresses your style is an exciting task, especially when you have a little help. That’s why we have put together this guide to help you pick out a living roomfocal point — your curtains.
Once you have decided what color scheme your living space follows, you can compare different styles of curtains to see what fits using photos or fabric swatches. You can use our custom curtain calculator to make sure you purchase the right size drapes based on your window’s measurements.
If you’re looking for a specific design or want curtains that are unique to your tastes, Pepper Home offers customizable curtains for any style and space. Our custom curtains and pillows are sustainably made to order in the USA, and all creations ship in seven days or less.
Sources:
The Art of Color: Color Wheel & Color Relationships | Maryville
What Is Maximalism? Here's How to Do Maximalist Design | The Spruce
How to Select Curtains According to the Wall Colour: 8 Steps | WikiHow