Read how these Laura Ashley Design Service curtains transformed Sally's home... read more
When we found out Sally Fazeli needed a new set of curtains we knew she had to have something a little more individual to really complete her home so we sent our lovely Interior Designer Kate from the Laura Ashley Design Service round to show Sally what fantastic work the design service team can do…
From the knock on the door welcoming the lovely interior designer into my home to the moment, the delivery man came with the final product, Laura Ashley’s level of service surpassed all my expectations.
Although renowned for their floral, country and vintage designs with a quintessentially British feel, they offer such a beautiful array of minimalist and simple designs too. The latter is definitely more up my street.
The consultation part
When Kate the interior designer came into my home for our initial consultation, I remember her entering the living room and just taking a moment to absorb her surroundings – allowing her creativity to come to the fore and envisaging the final picture in her mind.
She opened some large sample books overflowing with beautiful fabrics and designs. I was taken aback by the sheer number of options but thankfully Kate was decisive and unfazed; flicking through with an assured assertiveness that said ‘I’ve got this’. Whilst engrossed in lots of interior talk about the living room Kate landed on the plain linen fabrics all in beautiful neutral shades of creams, whites and greys. I explained how I love greys but wasn’t sure if grey and beige (the colour of the carpet) could go hand-in-hand. However, Kate was reassuring and insisted I could absolutely go for grey as the carpet had lots of grey flecks in it too.
Decision made, well kind of; I knew I wanted grey linen curtains for the living room but what shade?
We pulled numerous swatches from the books and held them against the carpet and close to the large bay window to try and envision what that colour might look like. After going back and forth on different colours I decided on a lovely light shade of grey linen called Austen Dove Grey.
One aspect that I really liked about having an interior designer on hand was that it gave me encouragement and conviction with my choice – ask anyone and they’ll tell you just how indecisive I am.
After we had decided on the living room curtains and all the other finer details like headings and linings, it was time to venture upstairs to my most loved room at the moment – our bedroom. It has two large shutter windows that are parallel in size. I love how light it is in this room and it was really important to me that we kept it this way along with all the neutral tones too as it makes it a really peaceful place to be in.
Although I knew I wanted white or white-ish curtains for our bedroom, it was important we went for the blackout lining to ensure a good night’s sleep can be had by all – especially in those light summer mornings where the sun is up at 5 am.
The white we chose for our bedroom was called Bacall White and we went for the same deep double pleat heading like the living room curtains.
Receiving our mood boards
Once we were happy with all the choices, I was then given a couple of weeks to make sure I had made the right decisions, not only with fabrics but lengths, finishes and headings too. To help with this Laura Ashley sent me a beautiful box enclosed with my mood boards and more information about the design service. It was a done deal, no changes to be made as I was certain we had made the right choices.
The final and most exciting part – the curtains arriving!
The day they arrived was like Christmas had come early and I couldn’t wait to unpack them. My first initial thought was, ‘wow, the quality is absolutely amazing’; so cosy and thick.
They were really easy to hang as everything was already prepared with the hooks inside the pleats which I wasn’t expecting… added bonus. The deep double pleat headings on both sets of curtains frame the windows beautifully and add that little touch of detailing on what are beautiful but otherwise fairly plain curtains (just what I like!).
It was only once they were up did I realise just how much of a difference it makes to invest in THE most perfect pair of curtains for your room. My previous long, white budget curtains looked fairly nice but you could tell the quality was pretty low and they were definitely too transparent at night when the light was on – not great for a bedroom! These new curtains added a real sense of luxury and opulence to our rooms and they must stand out to others too; as demonstrated by the comments I’ve had from friends and family. I certainly enjoy being reminded of their quality when I draw them or open them each day.
You can see in the pictures how they really set the room off and have become a stunning focal point to look at. I honestly can’t thank Laura Ashley and their design service team enough for all their advice and support along the way – particularly Kate and Cat. I couldn’t be happier with the results and now I’m super excited to decorate our living area to complement our new beautiful curtains! Such a fabulous door-to-door service that you can invest in with confidence 😀
With many thanks,
Sally x
Brass Trimmed Rhombus Jewellery Box | Grafton Natural Cushion | Hexagonal Hanging Mirror | Small Hexagonal Brass Terrarium
We’re glad Sally is so pleased with her new curtains, we think they look fab! Great work Kate!! Have you used Design Service in your home? Let us know below or on Twitter @LauraAshleyUK