I have had a love/hate relationship with curtains in both my houses (both houses gutted and extended). In our current house our family/kitchen/dining room is quite big and has two sets of cafe doors and two big double windows. I had NO curtains/blinds on them for TEN years because I didn't like anything I saw! We had a film crew use our house and they put up sheers on all the windows/doors that are a beige/mushroom tone similar to your grey sheers. (My walls are Dulux white opal.) We loved them so much we kept them. They are relatively dust free (unlike shutters) and they don't impose or darken the room which was what worried me (I like airy, not closed in). My couches are red and I have a bright colour palette generally. But the thing is you don't want the curtains to dominate, or the room/s to look too busy and because the couch is the same tone, you can now decorate to your hearts content with other colours with cushions and vases, etc without losing that restful Hampton's feel. I say stick with your curtains. Good luck! Kerry

Can't resist saying something about sliding rugs, they all slide , I have all wool Persian rugs , Afghani rugs and machine made rugs they all slide, you either put a really heavy table on it or you get non slip underlay . As for feather filled cushions , it again makes no difference cheep IKEA ones are actually better then Coco republic ones , they all slide on leather sofas.

I have to tell you, we had one of those windows in our old main bedroom and the light was annoying coming around the edges. We ended up putting beautiful timber louvres in bedrooms in 2 homes we built and they are the best things ever. Adjustable to light and weather for airflow too.

We've moved into our build 6mth ago, with a new window splashback. We don't have a view out it. We have a 4.5m wide house and needed to give the illusion of extra width. The extra light is nice. At the moment we are looking onto a blank beige wall of the house next door. I'm toying with faux green wall or having a mural painted. I like to take my time with these decisions. Anyway- home truths. No I don't clean it each time I wash up. When I do, it is dirtier on the outside anyway. Do I see the spots? No. I used to have a solid glass splashback in our last house- it drove me nuts! I think because your eye is drawn outside, it detracts from the splash. Whereas with solid colour anything- all you see is the splatters. We got toughened glass. My stove/hob is not against it. Go for it- you will love it.