While choosing drapes for your living room, there is a thought process that is essential before you head for the market. Keeping these basics in mind will ensure you get a fantastic looking living room without having to spend the earth.

Basic Color Scheme

Keep the basic color scheme of your living room in mind before everything else.

Do you have sober colors or bright ones?

Does your living room have shades of a single color family, or do you prefer contrasts in each item that you place?

In case of a single family of colors, it would be prudent that your window drapes also reflect the same standard. Accordingly, you could go for a different shade of green, blue or whatever the color that you have used in the rest of the décor.

Contrasting colors are a different ball game. Keep in mind that contrasting colors look best in case of larger rooms as they tend to make the room look smaller than it actually is.

Going for combinations like white and black, green and yellow, off white and gray, and so on will give a very different and vibrant life to your room settings.

Fabric

Fabric available for window decor in case of living rooms comes in an extremely large variety of tapestries, colors and prints. You can be well excused for getting confused when it comes to choosing the right fabric for your living room drapes.

Naturally, there is a huge cost variation as well, depending on where in the spectrum your choice lies.

In general your drapes fabric should match that of the other upholstery in the room.

You can choose rich fabrics such as velvet and silk, or combination fabrics that are rich as well as elegant.

In case you desire more staid surroundings, cotton fabrics for window drapes and curtains come in a large variety of colors and designs.

My personal favorite is the middle of the road option offered by silk sari curtains. These are silk curtains that were basically designed as Saris, the traditional six yard dress of Indian women. These traditionally woven have been beautifully modified to fit in as excellent silk curtains and drapes. They offer the best of both worlds – the elegance and the richness of silk at rates that are nowhere near the high end cost of silk upholstery.

Design

As a rule of the thumb your curtains should complement your furniture. In case of plain furniture, you could go for printed curtains. The size of the print can be large in case you want to make a bold style statement. You can even go for bold colored, contrast prints such as those of flowers etc to brighten up the room.

If subtle elegance is your style, then go for smaller prints that mesh with the fabric. By small I mean a couple of inches in size on the outside. You could even go for designs that are woven into the cloth as compared to simple printing, as these have a longer life.

Enjoy your living room decoration!