Do you have a default design setting? A certain style of colours or prints that you return to again and again? I know I do, and it was brought home to me even more clearly with a project we’ve been invited to work on. The Natural Curtain Company invited us to create a mood board on Pinterest of our dream living room. It was funny to me to see how similar what I’d like is to what I have already done – twice!

My default is to go for pinks, yellows and greys, with a mix of vintage furniture and a couple of contemporary elements, like a coffee table. The above isn’t my living room, but I do have those cushions. I always want a velvet sofa in a mustard or pink – this I don’t have, but maybe one day. And I’m consistently drawn to prints with a graphic, often 50s feel.

The Natural Curtain Company wanted me to pick some fabrics from their made-to-measure curtain service. Now the current curtains in my real-life living room are a kind of dusty pink velvet, and I made them myself. It took a month of crawling round the floor with a mouth full of pins, fending off the ‘help’ of the cat. I’m immensely proud of them, and they do keep out the draughts… but I’d never do it again! Made-to-measure all the way!

The fabrics on offer at The Natural Curtain Company actually fit beautifully with my own aesthetic. I was particularly drawn to a set of prints by the ever-wonderful St Judes. Their prints are rustic without ever being twee and the scale of the prints themselves are versatile and very liveable. I was sent samples of the new Stellar (above left) and Field fabrics (above centre and right). Quality-wise they feel great, and the colours – especially on Field – are rich but with a pleasingly natural background which will go with anything. They and lots more ideas for my dream living room – from vintage rugs to glossy black fireplaces – are on the Pinterest board. Go and have a look, then tell us, what would be in yours?

This post was created by My Friend’s House in collaboration with The Natural Curtain Company