Ah...the bed curtain! I've wanted a four poster for years. As a little girl living on Nauru Island where my Father was head engineer in the phosphate mines...Mum and I were shipped up when, after WWII, all was sanitised and there were two "European settlements"...pre fab cottages available for the families. I loved island life..running around in the nuddy with a whole little gang of 2-5 yr olds of chocolate and vanilla kids...delicious! Unfortunately the giant mozzies found the vanilla kids to be quite delicious too and I'd come out in these horrible bolis. Dad mad me a square double sized four poster bed...painted dark blue and Mum, who was obliged to sew all our clothes...(no shops on Nauru) made a canopy of mosquito netting to cover the top and enclose the sides of my bed...the netting would tuck in under the mattress all the way round...and I became a moth in a crysalis for the night. The idea of the square bed was to allow me to stretch and roll and never be near the edge..sadly.it didn't work! My mozzie bites became infected, I endured penecillin injections in mozzie season and, during te day I wore nylon neck to knee PJs from then onmwards. Have no idea what Mum was thinking, such sweltering remedies against the mossies...cocooned at night by heavy cotton netting and totally covered by day in the hottest/latest fabric available. Life became miserable./ We moved back to Melbourne...and life went on. No mre fairytales...until I bought a 1924 old timber cottage in a very cold climate....wishe I had that 4 poster. Instead, since the VJ board ceiling shed fine dust on me during the night, I sewed a canopy to drape the whole ceiling in Arabian Mights style...it works as a dust catcher...and I fear, as a spider haven as well....bit its lovely with all the coloured lights above it and the mirror ball central light holding it up ibn the middle so it drapes from all four corners. DUST did I say? Yes, unfortunately it requires a lot of spraying and laundering ...but its worth it to me! LOVE my "Ceiling Curtain". The best feature is that it hides the dark VJ's on the ceiling...lucky its a 10ft 6inch high one...until I can get it plastered....and then insulated. I would do it all over again even in a brand new home. Its lovely and at the same time contributes to the practical aesthetics and the necessary "make do's" of having a limite budget. Soon though, soon, I'll be colouring the world!

I feel you for delivery to country areas. Early settler have four poster beds and do delivery. I've also had no problems delivery from Wayfair, West Elm and Pottery Barn.

Hi there! I know how you feel so this is what I would do.... Choose the bed that doesn't fight with the white shutters eg unfortu ately the leather..beautiful, my choice but the criss cross padded buttoning will have the horizontal stark white shutters above .I would want that stunning leather bed be the hero piece. Personally if possible I would change shutters to black same as wall if they have to be there. Sorry I'm not answering your question however although it's not my favourite, the plainest wooden style would probably be the easiest (but not the most stylish) choice. Good luck and all the best!

Might be helpful if I talk through the parts we like and dislike with the existing rooms: - Lounge: gorgeous old fireplace and morning sun through the windows, great natural light. We spend a lot of time here - Dining: no windows and existing walls block off indirect light from the other rooms, thus why we thought it would be great to knock down some of those internal walls. If that becomes too difficult we'll need to at least do a skylight - Family: my least favourite room, mostly due to the coldness. As mentioned before, its really just being used as storage atm and long term plan is to replace it with something warmer/better constructed - Kitchen: pretty pokey, would love for it to be open with the living, dining and outdoor areas. Great view right onto the backyard from the current kitchen sink windows - Bed 1: gorgeous morning light, pretty happy - Bed 2: gorgeous afternoon light, not really used atm - Bed 3: pretty small, ok natural light. We're using it as a study currently - Bathroom: pretty old and feels abit cramped (that may just be the layout), but doesn't bug us as much for some reason, so happy to leave for later - Backyard: Flat. Very leafy and overgrown. 2 or 3 massive trees, but otherwise mostly shrubs and weeds. We're aiming to tame the weeds, plant some veggies and fruit trees and keep a few chickens for a permaculture/food forest kind of feel :) @oklouise - the block is about 16 m wide and 45 m long. From the front bedroom wall to the front fence is about 10m. From the "Family" room wall to the side fence is about 2.7m. We're in Sydney in quite a leafy suburb so I guess moderate/warm climate? And yes, we are looking into what we can do with the trees with council @Kate - thanks, we had actually thought about rotating the house initially but it turns out with the current orientation, the windows in the Lounge Room and Bedroom 1 get gorgeous morning sun, so definitely keen to keep that. We're doing laundry at the moment in the outdoor shed, which is fully plumbed and yes, existing bathroom is quite old but not bothering us too much at the moment. We're checking with an electrician and a plumber on the general state of things there Thanks for all your suggestions and questions so far - let me know if you have any great ideas!