How do you choose curtains?

[pookamoo]

I originally posted this in "Home Decoration" but it seems a bit quiet in there...

We've gone for a wallpaper with quite a bold pattern, so the curtains need to be plain, I think, but how do you choose?

The colour scheme of the room is the Lime White/Calke Green/Old White colour scheme here, and the wallpaper which is on one short wall of an L shaped room is Oakwood in Olive Green.

We have a very large double door (think doors into a conservatory, only it's an extension) and a single door that needs a curtain.

Whatever we choose for the curtains, we also need to use the same fabric in the extension, which will have a similar colour palette but not exactly identical (will include browns and reds with green less prominent).

I have no idea what I am doing!

Personally, I wander around the fabric shop with the dc (it's one of their favourite shops). They enthusiastically point to their suggestions and when one doesn't provoke an over-my-dead-body reaction from me, we take it out and decide if it could possibly work.

I've ended up with things I probably wouldn't have chosen if it had been just me, but so far we are very pleased with the results.

Not the most conventional method I'll grant you....

Liara I like it, but my DCs are 5 and 2, we would probably end up with "Heart Shapes" from DD1 and cars from DD2!

I recently had to choose curtains so I took some pictures of DS room on my phone and went into a local interior design shop with the pictures. They were really fab and came up with perfect suggestions. If their options had been really expensive, I would have taken their ideas and bought from elsewhere but as it happened, they were very competitive and I love the curtains!

Liara - like your approach, it must make for some interesting choices .

We did something similar with toilet seats which is why we have one that friends refer to as the 'Disco Toilet'!

There are a whole bunch of fabric sites online that send out free samples. I send away for samples in the right kind of colour, then when I hit upon a match, send the link to my curtain making lady. She works out how much I need to order and I shop around for the best deals on fabrics.

The problem is, I have not a clue about whether I need a plain or a pattern, or even what colour I should be going for? Green? Neutral? The patterned wallpaper means I think plain, and maybe a neutral, but where do you start?

Glad I am not an interior designer!
I do like alma123's idea though.

I ordered various samples as per Dannyd's suggestion but I was still clueless about what would look best. If you measure up for curtains, you'll be able to get a quote online from various places and then at least you have a comparison if you get a quote from a local shop.

My dc are 7 and 4, hence the over my dead body opt-out :)

The 4yo actually has quite good taste, the 7yo...well, how can I put it diplomatically, erm, likes bright colours.

But actually our red sofa has turned out really nice...