Help me stylise my new front room

[jenk1]

we are moving house in the next couple of weeks.

We have bought a 3+2 dark brown leather suite, the front room has a lovely huge bay window.

HELP, ive never had a bay window before, i dont know what is best,vertical blinds,net curtains.

I dont even know what goes with brown cos i dont actually like the colour but i was outvoted by DH and the kids when we looked at furniture.

Can one of you utltra stylish people give me any ideas?

Oh, DH wants a dark wood laminate floor but im not so sure.

TIA

We have wooden venetian blinds in our bay window, no curtains

what is house like? modern? period?

what is front room to be used for? adult-only relaxing space? family room? dining room as well?
how big is it?
which dircetion does it face?
what else do you have to have in there (tv, bookcases, toyboxes?)

Gut feeling is dark floor + dark suite will be too much and a lighter floor, maybe oak rather than yellowy pine, would be better.

And there's never any excuse for net curtains - there are heaps of better alternatives. Is it overlooked, or right on the pavement or something?

We have a dark brown wooden floor and a dark grey sofa. It is a bit too dark actually, and I am planning to brighten it all up with a red rug and red cushions. I have bought a red painting for the wall. I'm not sure what to do with the curtains though.

What direction does the window face? Does the room get sunlight? What are the floorboards like? I always prefer stripped floorboards to laminate tbh.

We've just finished decorating our front room and that has a big bay window.
We had a black leather suite. We've kept the floors bare so just floorboards, painted the inside of the bay white so it brings out the brightness.
We're on quite a main street as we over look the village green but we bought a voile for the window so that it let in as much light as possible and a mumsnetter is making me some fabulous curtains.

I can do some links for you if you like.

thanks everyone

Its a modern house only 10-15 years old.
Not sure about the sunlight cos its been raining since we got the keys!!

Front room will be used for dining as well at the back.

If you could provide some links nbg id be very grateful

oh, and the Dulux Virtual Decorator is really handy for visualising colours.

We have one brown leather sofa and one cream one, carpet in a kind of sandy colour and creamy walls and curtains.
TBH we don't need a bright 'accent' colour as there are so many pictures, bookcases etc that the room doesn't look stark, but we do have textured cushions in all shades from cream through coffee to chocolate.

Bay windows can be tricky - voile for privacy plus thick curtains is a good idea or, if you have the budget, plantation shutters.
We have a hedge in front of the bottom half of the window outside and light Roman blinds from Ikea on the top half, then curtains as well.

If your windows are right on the pavement, self-adhesive window film (these are the best people) can look great on eg the bottom half of tall sash windows.

Ok, well our room lets in alot of light because of the window.
I wanted this wallpaper but it was agreed that it would make it seem too dark and spoil the room.
So we went for this
It has really made the best of the room.

this is good to take ideas from and you can compare furniture colours so you'll se what goes.

I like these as an alternative to nets
LA
Pedlars

HTH a bit.

Hi how about calling in a curtain maker for advice, see if you can get a recommendation here or try a thread on G Housekeeping section. They can offer ideas about how best to dress a bay window. Venetian wooden blinds or window film are both good alternatives to nets and you can add full length curtains to finish off the look if you prefer to have some fabric in the room (this is good for softening sound and adding warmth and texture). Might be worth getting a book on curtains/blinds from the library or amazon for inspiration. L Ashley do offer design advice but this limits you to their range. An Interior designer can help and this is not nec as expensive as you would think (this is what I do and I charge a reasonable hourly rate but get a lot done in this time, as well as a free intital meeting)... Good luck and try to enjoy choosing your scheme...