There is no better way to be sure that these items are in the fabrics, colours, patterns and styles tha t reflect your personal taste than by making them yourself. Bedroom furnishings can be as simple or as adventurous as you want. You can choose silk for elegance, a floral cotton for a country-style look, or white chintz for softness and diffused light. If your bedroom doubles up as a study or sitting room during the day, you can camouflage the bed with a close-fitting, functiona I cover. Top right A bedroom with an atmosphere of rich elegance which comes from the bed drapes, the colours and patterns as well as the generous amount of furnishing fabric. Above Simple lines in bold strips using primary colours and tones are extremely effective on these twin beds.

Left A child’s bed is draped with soft voile canopy which is contrasted with a bolder coloured bed linen. Bedspreads can be made in two basic styles-throw-over or fitted. Either style can be floor length and edged with pleats, fringes or braiding. Alternatively, it can be made to come half way down the sides of the bed over a contrasting balance. You can use almost any type of fabric, as long as it is crease-resistant and has enough body to hang well. Throw-over bedspreads are the easiest type to make, consisting simply of a plain rectangle of fabric that covers the bed from head to foot and hangs down the sides to the desired length. You can make the corners square or curved, and you can leave the hem plain or trim it with edging in contrasting fabric.
A fitted bedspread is made from five pieces: a top panel and a skirt consisting of four side panels of fabric.One of the long side panels is made in two pieces with a flap opening so the cover is easy to put on the bed. Bed canopies It is a straightforward project to transform an ordinary bed into one that is unusual and mysterious with the addition of a fabric-covered canopy. You can make your own supports for the drapes with four lightweight, wooden curtain poles. Simply fix them to the ceiling above the head, sides and foot of the bed, making sure they overlap at the corners. Select lengths of soft, fine-woven material for the canopy cover. Loosely drape it around the poles, or make up the lengths into curtains with deep-cased heading through which the poles can be inserted.