My advice would be to get rid of the blind as you won't use it once you have the curtains - perhaps you could use it elsewhere or have it as a spare. You would probably find that without the blind you will use the access more often. I would do full height and full width drapes - an inverted pleat is attractive with heavier fabrics but if you have the light fabric on the top keep it simple. How about putting your sheer lighter drape on the side closest to the bedroom and have the blackout lining behind. This gives softer look in your room. You would probably find that without the blind you will use the access more often. If there is a lot of sun take care with the pure linen cotton and natural fibres as they will rot with light and sun. There are many synthetic linen look alternatives that are less expensive, last longer and have the same look. I feel your room could do with some texture - you could possibly have a subtle self coloured stripe in the drape - or go plain and have the interest in your bedding. If you want to go soft grey drapes I would go for a darker charcocal or midnight blue/ teal colour on your walls which would look awesome with a soft grey linen look curtain and natural bedding. You could introduce soft mustard, peachy pinks and soft apple green linens in your bed cushions.

Hello Karly, It looks like you may be planning a change in wall colour - I would go ahead and do this then think about the curtains. You may be able to have a bolder colour which helps have a dramatic feel or go lighter - Resene have a good range of whites which can be done in double or triple strength. Check out his link as it gives you a range of looks using neutrals.http://www.resene.co.nz/ebooks/HabitatPlus06/index.html?page=1 The latest Resene habitat on line home of the week shows some interesting options if you are interested in blue / green/ grey hues such as 'Inside Back' http// habitatbyresene.co.nz/lee-kristin-modern-barn-life Curtains should hang full height and puddle a little on the floor but not too long as you have an access way with the door and need to safely walk past the other window. Pelmets are unnecessary and won't give the softness required but an inverted pleat heading gives a tailored finish with the same effect. Look at a natural linen look sheers as real linen tends to rot and is more expensive. You are better with a cheaper polyester linen look as it is more durable - and less likely to shrink if washed. Traditional curtains are more likely to date depending on the pattern. All the best.

Put a rug under your work area and hang some heavy curtains would be cheaper. But all 3 better

I'm with your hubby I'm afraid. Double glazing is mostly a way to deal with cold radiating into a house, and heat leaking out of the house via conduction which is not the problem in Perth. Sure it will prevent heat from radiating into the house via the windows but mostly that's not how houses heat up in Australia. What causes a house to heat up is sunlight warming up the ambient air inside the house via a greenhouse effect which double glazing will not prevent, or hot air being born into the house on the wind. So double glazing will only prevent this if you intend to shut the house up all day. In which cause it's just the lack of air movement not the insulative properties of double glazing doing that. Single glazing would also do that. In Australia what matters most is cross ventilation in order to create a restful environment. Evaporative cooling works effectively when you have good cross ventilation as it's the evaporation of the water vapour causing the cooling effect. Additionally you do not want to shut up a house with evaporative cooling as you'll get condensation and mould inside the house. So if you are 100% on double glazing it will only be effective with refrigerated air conditioning as it's relying on preventing air exchange between the inside and outside of the house to work and preventing conduction of ambient air temps. Double glazing is not popular here for a reason, it's the wrong solution for our climate. Cross ventilation and proper solar management is the correct solution for our climate. So I'm with your hubby I think it's wasted money that would be better spent on controlling the direct sunlight to the home and proper ventilation.