It's spring, and I want to get my house up to speed. To that end, I want new throw pillows for the living room, but because I hate Crate and Barrel's fabrics this season, and because Pottery Barn's covers do not fit the Crate and Barrel-sized pillows I currently own, I've decided to enlist good old Mom's help with sewing some instead. I've found several fabrics that I love, but I can't decide.
Ooh, quick aside on the living room: Matt recently re-painted the "focus wall," as the previous owners dubbed it. Focus wall? I'd say so. It's a massive surface, and the first thing you see when you walk through the front door. After several major faux pas on my part in the area of paint color selection, I no longer have the privilege. I always have the best of intentions, but they never quite translate from my mind to the wall. In any case, he chose the perfect shade: Behr's Herbal Garden. It's a vibrant green and I'm shocked that we lived in relative contentment with the indigo monstrosity that it replaced for as long as we did. Here's the color chip:
And here we have photos to show you before and after two coats of the stuff...
Before: Do you feel like you're submerged in an ocean? That's the effect it often had on me. Sorry for the angle of this one...I was being art-y...or maybe just having a seizure:
After: vast improvement, n'est-ce pas? Nice that in both pictures, taken months apart, I still have all of the pillows piled onto the same chair. I do this since they wrinkle easily and then look like crap. I put them out for show of course, but god forbid someone actually use them...
So now, instead of having to decorate around an inky blue when the range of colors at my disposal is at its peak, I can base my palette on a springy green! It's thrilling stuff, isn't it?Anyway, here are some of the loverly patterns I've found:
Grass Trellis by Serena & Lily: possibly my favorite so far, but is it too plain? Too much green?
Chippendale Fretwork in Kiwi by Waverly: another favorite, but I'm having the same issue with the greeniosity:
Dandy Damask in Avocado by Michael Miller: Ok, I like green. I also love damask and its heaviness is lightened up by the bright color used in this pattern, but I'm not sure it goes well with the style of the living room, which is decidedly contemporary. Do you think it even matters?
Amsterdam Olive/White : I think I like this one better than the damask:
Lime Finery from Freespirit Fabrics' Freshcut Collection: See, I do like more than green! This is so pretty and I think yellow accents might be the perfect way to go in this room. Then again, these particular hues still have a lot of green in them...dammit!:
Mingei Floral in Pumpkin: I love the corals and pinks. It's feminine without being overly so, I think...I need to consider these things as I am outnumbered 3-1 by males in my own home, you know:
Pottery Barn does sell (at an outrageous price) fabrics by the yard, so a PB pattern may be a possibility after all. I love this one, "Nora":
Groovy Petals from Freespirit Fabrics' Freshcut collection: Hmm. I like this one in general, but it might be too vintage looking, and the pretty cream background somehow just looks dingy to me. Maybe for a girl's bedroom or something other than the living room?
I'm also thinking that in addition to patterns, I could do a few solids to break things up. For those, I am loving the idea of some butter-colored matelasse, kinda like the fabric of the bottom coverlet from Neiman's:
Grass Trellis by Serena & Lily: possibly my favorite so far, but is it too plain? Too much green?
Chippendale Fretwork in Kiwi by Waverly: another favorite, but I'm having the same issue with the greeniosity:
Dandy Damask in Avocado by Michael Miller: Ok, I like green. I also love damask and its heaviness is lightened up by the bright color used in this pattern, but I'm not sure it goes well with the style of the living room, which is decidedly contemporary. Do you think it even matters?
Amsterdam Olive/White : I think I like this one better than the damask:
Lime Finery from Freespirit Fabrics' Freshcut Collection: See, I do like more than green! This is so pretty and I think yellow accents might be the perfect way to go in this room. Then again, these particular hues still have a lot of green in them...dammit!:
Mingei Floral in Pumpkin: I love the corals and pinks. It's feminine without being overly so, I think...I need to consider these things as I am outnumbered 3-1 by males in my own home, you know:
Pottery Barn does sell (at an outrageous price) fabrics by the yard, so a PB pattern may be a possibility after all. I love this one, "Nora":
Hot Pink Paisley by Doodlefish: Um, I don't even think it requires stating that this would be instantly vetoed:
Groovy Petals from Freespirit Fabrics' Freshcut collection: Hmm. I like this one in general, but it might be too vintage looking, and the pretty cream background somehow just looks dingy to me. Maybe for a girl's bedroom or something other than the living room?I'm also thinking that in addition to patterns, I could do a few solids to break things up. For those, I am loving the idea of some butter-colored matelasse, kinda like the fabric of the bottom coverlet from Neiman's: Aside from pillow covers, I might spruce things up by actually making use of the centerpiece glassware that I was thankfully too lazy to sell after using at our wedding reception. I love these simple redbud branch designs:
I realize that you can barely see the branch centerpiece in this photo, but don't you also love the chairs? They make me want to hit up the nearest antique shop for something cool to paint and reupholster!
Just thinking about all of the bright, fresh changes makes me happy!!
Just thinking about all of the bright, fresh changes makes me happy!!
What do you do to ring in spring? And do you have any budget-friendly ideas that I can steal? :)
8 comments:
Obviously I vote for the hot pink paisley one because it's the bomb, but I wouldn't get away with it either. So any others with pink that Matt would allow get my vote.
I am still considering changing our throws, too, with our new paint color but can't commit either. I LOVE looking at fabrics, though.
A budget tip would be check at places like Target before sewing some new pillow cases because sometimes that stuff sneaks up on you. Mom sewed me some awhile back and it cost more than just buying new ones. That's all I got.
OK. First of all, we obviously need more pictures of your house. From what I can see, it's gorgeous. So get on that chickie.
Second, all of the fabric you posted is gorgeous, but I have to say I'm just not in to the girlie pink floral prints. For my clothes? Absolutely. For my house? Not at all. That said, I love love love the Grass Trellis fabric. Not at all too plain and not at all too green. It's perfect. And mixed in with a couple butter-colored solid pillows? Divine. ;) A few yellow pillows would be awesome too, depending on how much space you have to put pillows, but again, I'm not really into the floral thing.
That's my two cents! And we expect pics when your projects are completed.
Oops, that was me that deleted the comment. What I said was that first, I love the new color of the room. Matt obviously has a great eye! I may be biased though because it is exactly the same color as our living room. Ours is called Svelte Sage.
Second, I vote for the yellow. I walked by a Pottery Barn recently, and they have a display of yellow stuff that converted me to all things yellow. It's so cheerful and lovely (sorry, I know lovely is your word but I'm borrowing it). I think yellow would really complement the green.
And third, I agree with Kristal -- I want more pics of your cute house!
I am loving the Grass Trellis. It was instantly my favorite!
I'm with Kristal; I'm not into girly decor, fabric or anything really. Although those fabrics are gorgeous... I think a few Grass Trellis pillows with some solid colors, some with texture, some without...
And I also love the redbud branches. Gorgeous decor for side tables and a centerpiece!
I like the Chippendale pattern the best, but I can see why you think there would be too much green. I agree with others that yellow would be a nice touch. But don't ask me for budget-friendly ideas. We are getting pillows made at C&B and the price keeps creeping up and now I think we are going to have to store them until people come over. And of course now we are seeing pillows in those colors all over the place for a fraction of the price. Grrr.
I've been obsessed with the color green lately. I love the green you chose for your wall! It looks great. As for the fabric, I really like the Dandy Damask in Avocado by Michael Miller. Good luck! Decorating is so much fun.
Thanks for your help, ladies! I think I've decided to go with the Grass Trellis pattern and punch it up with some yellows.
Kristal: I agree, I'm usually not into floral patterns unless they're extremely abstract, but some of the these just "spoke" to me - LOL! As for house pics, it's out of the question until I do some serious cleaning and decorating!
Julia: I love me some pink! I have a "girl room" (that I have to share with the dogs), so I try to get away with a more feminine style there :)
Kate: I am obsessed with Pottery Barn's use of yellow this season, too! I just framed a cool photo of a bold colored mural on the side of a building from our honeymoon in one of their frames with a bright yellow mat and it looks amazing!
Nikki: I love your idea of using different textures - brilliant!
Who knows when I'll get around to completing this project, but I'll be sure to post pics when I do!
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