Curtains open on a whole new look

DesignSolutions: Running curtains across a whole wall give a fresh style to a room, Eoin Lyons discovers

Helen Kilmartin of Minima is not an interior designer, but brings in some of the best contemporary furniture to this country. And she's certainly shown this flair at her home in a period house along the Grand Canal at Herbert Place, Dublin 2.

The building doubles as the Minima office and amongst the most effective decorative features in the place are the window treatments in Kilmartin's living and diningroom.

The living area is a pale light space and the curtains here are white; the dining area is darker and so curtains are a grey colour. In both, the curtain fabric covers not just the window opening but also the whole wall.

"It makes for a dramatic look," says Kilmartin. "We tend to be very mainstream when it comes to curtains in this country. It's not so hard to do something different.

"The curtain track is attached to the window frame, so there was no need for drilling into the ceiling; it sits out from the window and is recessed back against the wall on either side.

"The result is a panel of curtains on either side that dresses the whole wall."

The curtains are goblet pleated and made from muslin in the livingroom and silk viscose in the diningroom.

Both are lightweight, quite translucent, fabrics from Baumann, a Swiss company, and are probably the best materials for this kind of treatment - anything else would be too heavy and enclose the space.