The next time I decorate by a colour of the year will be the first time. Don't hold your breath. I have nothing against this particular colour but it doesn't work with all the things I've collected over the years, and I am not about to discard carpets bought after hard bargaining with dubious merchants in Istanbul or Islamabad because they don't "go" with a paint colour that someone voted "colour of the year." In its place, I think the colour would be quite nice (better than this years choices, certainly). It's just that my place isn't the right place for it.

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!

Heatherly Designs can do the bed. Xavier furniture have very similar bedsides. Good luck.

I would choose the curtain heading to suit the house. S fold for a modern home, inverted box for more modern classic style and pinch pleat for a period home.