A curtain romance: why I am a fan of pelmets, swags, tiebacks and tassels

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I have recently moved into a period house and I need to organise new curtains for every room. I have no idea where to start, but I want to research and get creative. Do you have any suggestions?

Curtain design and making can sometimes feel like a mystical art. Do you, for example, know your pencil pleats from your triple pinches? And this is about as basic as it gets. How about the arcane world of passementerie? Passementerie is the fine craft of making elaborate and ornamental trimmings or edgings for furnishings (and clothing too).

We’re talking tassels and ribbons, we’re talking braids and cords. Beads and fringes and basically anything else fancy and shiny, dangly and delicious. Imagine an enormous kingly gateau, but plain, without icing. Passementerie is the icing. There are plenty more things to consider: where does one stand on pelmets? Tiebacks? Swags?

I have only just begun dabbling in producing more elaborate curtains myself. In my Paris hotel project, for example, I gave all the bedroom windows very simple rectangular hard pelmets made from fabric-covered MDF with a very wide and contrasting grosgrain ribbon trim, as an homage to the late interior designer David Hicks. The curtains themselves were made using matching fabric and trimmed in the same way.

It would be thrilling to have higher ceilings and more handsome windows to play around with at my home in the country. I don’t have grand proportions, but I still long for drama and swags and a Gothic pelmet. See Edward Harpley: this company makes beautiful pelmets that can be produced in any timber or decorative finish.

Naturally, not every room in one’s home will cry out for elaborate treatment. It’s worth noting, however, that a pelmet can feel strikingly modern: see the bathroom in Nina Flohr’s London townhouse designed by Veere Grenney, with its elegant, off-white, scallop-edged pelmet edged in green. Hard pelmets feel to me very tailored and smart: like dressing a window in a Savile Row suit.

Where to start in your own home? There is an enormous spectrum of choice available in terms of fabrics and trimmings and it depends on your personal preferences and everything else you’ve got going on inside, too. In a wallpapered bedroom, plain curtains in soft, drapey linen work very well. In a bedroom painted a plain colour, I like a print: something floral, say, or geometric. A large-scale print can be a bold, lively choice.

Then again, I also adore matching curtains to walls, a look created using fabric on walls in the same design as the window dressings. I am also a big fan of striped curtains. I like Dedar’s range of stripes (its plains are good, too) and the silky, soft feel of its fabrics lends itself well to delicate, floaty curtains. (My favourite is its Regimen stripe, which comes in many zingy colourways.)

Ticking is a more rustic, inexpensive and a completely classic fail-safe that works brilliantly in country homes. Tinsmiths sells a large variety, and its range of plain and patterned fabrics is exemplary, too.

But let’s think outside of the box. Consider things like fabric offcuts, antique wall hangings and bedspreads. I’ve been eyeing up, for example, a beautifully sunny circa 1980 Uzbekistan suzani, available via Nushka, as well as a panel of raspberry-red striped silk being sold by Katharine Pole. Both of these would make a lovely single curtain for a back door in a kitchen, say.

I am reminded of a curtain in Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, that I’ve always been fond of: a single curtain in red with grey stripes, that stands out beautifully against the gallery’s white walls.

Generally. I prefer brass poles: Jim Lawrence makes very smart reeded ones. And I’m never one to turn my nose up at an ornamental finial. Once again, Edward Harpley comes up trumps with some spectacular things: sign me up immediately for the Prince of Wales, Emperor or Osterley! I like my curtains to brush the floor, with a few extra centimetres spare.

The decorator John Fowler is often regarded as the master of the elaborate curtain treatment. Look at images of rooms created by him in the 1930s and 1940s and you’ll see what I mean. Fowler’s creations have more in common with couture gowns than your average pair of curtains: all dazzling shapes and complicated trims and looking almost sculptural, plus, naturally, hanging in the most pleasing, perfect way.

In fact, Fowler researched historic costume and collected Victorian and Regency dresses to inspire his designs, and you can see the influence in his interiors.

So, my advice? Consider unusual fabric options, and give good thought to the details. No, the full Fowler look is not for everyone, and after all, that exaggerated, excessive Brighton Pavilion style is rather a niche approach that would generally suit only the grandest of rooms.

But think of this look as a springboard: even a simple contrasting braid on a curtain edge can finish an otherwise plain and ordinary set of curtains wonderfully. (I like the French company Houles’ extensive range of trimmings, particularly its Greco and Palais Royal braids, woven in Greek key patterns.) Embrace pelmets. Or, simply, why not forgo the standard off-white cotton and line a pair of curtains in an unexpected fabric? Small details can elevate the humdrum to the remarkable.

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