My oh my, It seems like forever since we spoke on here! Christmas & New Year were hectic, but absolutely lovely, and the January diets have begun! (okay, who we kiddin' we're not really on diets?). We hope you all had a lovely festive season, too! It's going to take at least a year to recover, don't you agree?

Right, so, New Year, new start? Yeah, it's something we've been promising ourselves since god knows when. But, we do often find that after christmas is the perfect time for that clear out, and re-decoration! Don't worry, it's really not as scary as you think. Be ruthless. Are you really going to use it? Do you really NEED it? Maybe you could sell it & give yourself some money after the Christmas crunch? Have a clean, get rid of all the left over glitter. Then, take a step back, relax, and think about how, for once, your home could have a new start! We bet the lounge is looking bare after taking all the decs down, right? And the dining room, suddenly so empty and turkey-less. Well, have you ever thought about how shutters or blinds could instantly bring back the character and cosiness to your room? We didn't think so.

So, to inspire those christmas missing rooms, we've picked our favourite inspiration to give you ideas for that new start your house would really, really like. 

All images via Pinterest

See just how much they can 'make a room'? For more inspiration check our Pinterest page here! And any info, check our site here! 

Have a great evening,

Jade

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Okay, just incase you hadn't noticed, Christmas day is next week! (exciting, we know!). Despite being a pretty darn happy time of year, our bank accounts get wiped out, life becomes hectic, and the only luxuries we can afford to spend seem to be the new xbox's, Play-stations and iPads for the kids. 

At Cumbria Shutters, we understand it can be a little disheartening seeing your money go elsewhere, rather than on improving your home! So, as we're feeling extra lovely and festive, we've got a fabulous, and free (yeah, honestly) christmas present for you!! 

We have 100 of our gorgeous £100 vouchers to give away to spend on our blinds and shutters! Thing is, it's only first comes first serve! So...HURRY! They make the perfect present for yourself, friend or relative! 

To enter, all you need to do is head over to our Facebook page and 'like' it here, and give us a cheeky follow on Twitter here! One last thing, so we can send it to you in the post! : Enter your details (name, address, telephone number so we can let you know you're a lucky one, & email address) here! 

Fingercrossed you get there in time! You have until the 24th December to enter!!! All vouchers will be sent out in January.

Jade

Social Media Marketing Manager

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Here at Cumbria Plantation Shutters we're all about creativity, ideas and designing something specifically for, you. Every design we create is unique, so unlike larger corporations who offer the same thing to everyone, we alter our shutters to every individuals' tastes. Whether you like bright green (we never judge) or something more natural, we guarantee to come up with something rather fabulous. 

Okay, so when it comes to your imagination, the best way to explore it is to put all your ideas on one page and work out what-you-actually-like. Some of you may be lucky and know exactly what you want. But often we find that as soon as another suggestion comes into play, we get confused and lose track of where we are. The best way to combat this is throw it all onto a 'moodboard'. I'm sure a lot of you have made one of some sort before, particularly those of you with creative minds. But you may be a little lost when it comes to creating one for shutters. To some, it may seem a little pointless. But think about it, windows and shutters are the main attraction to either the inside, or outside of your home. 

To prove this, what i want you to do now is, shut your eyes and:

1. Imagine your house without curtains

2. Now take away any shutters (if you have some currently)

3. Then get rid of the windows all together (so it's just a wall)

Right, be honest here. It looked funny didn't it? Thought so. Just goes to show that your home wouldn't be the same without that space. Unfortunately though, we tend to over complicate things when we come to designing shutters for our windows, making it tedious and unenjoyable. Here at Cumbria Shutters however, we want to make it fun. We want to make it exciting. But most importantly, we want you to enjoy designing shutters for the centre pieces of your homes - yep, your windows.

Our rather talented MD, Kevin will always design something to your tastes. But what are those tastes? Well, what i'm going to do now is show you the easiest, quickest way to create a moodboard online, so you've got something prepared for a designer when they come to your home. Ya ready? LET'S GO.

When we put ideas together for things like shutters, we need to make sure it is all related. Basically, if we're talking about shutters, there's probably not a lot of point throwing in some pictures of cats? I mean, if you really want to, feel free. But it might not help.

From our end, things we would include in a moodboard for shutters are:

• Colours
• Materials 
• Other shutter designs
• Other home interiors
• Textures 
• Items to represent the atmosphere you want to achieve (i.e light to represent fresh, fire to represent warmth)

To make one, we suggest using Roomstyler. It's easy, free and has material, furniture and paint samples ready on the moodboard maker.

For ours, we wanted to create something 'shabby chic' style. Yet, also something fresh and exhilarating hence 'sea side' images and florals. As well as using images from RoomStyler, we also used images off our Pinterest. 

What do you think of this moodboard? Granted, it's very girly, but it sure would help a designer understand your interior 'style'. Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or contact us through Twitter and Facebook!

Have a great evening, and enjoy getting creative!

Jade

Social media marketing manager

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