Houndstooth

You really should make some curtains for the little princess in your life with some fabulous pink houndstooth...

O at Home

And I just so happen to have some available, lucky you!

What's that? No princesses? Good think I have a roll of black, because little princes like houndstooth too.

Email me for available yardage and pricing.

Fresh From the Basement!

If you'd like to partake in my fabric liquidation, you really should be checking my sidebar more often, or follow me on twitter.

Many of these are already spoken for. But please feel free to email me if there's something you're looking for in particular. And don't forget to check out my sidebar for even more fabrics ----->

Vintage Fabric For Sale!!

I always think my husband is being silly when he complains about my hoarding, which I like to call 'collecting.'

Then recently I went down in to the basement for a few yards of fabric for a client. I must have been wearing a fresh pair of eyes that day, because it really hit me just how much stuff we have.

We'll be downsizing quite a bit this summer when we move to an apartment. I refuse to pay like $1000 a month for a storage unit, so I've decided the time has come. I'm going to sell my stuff. First up is fabric, because I have a truly shocking amount in my 'collection.'

I pulled out a sampling of the collection from the basement yesterday to photograph some pieces for clients, but some of the stuff you see here is for sale. The fabrics posted in my sidebar are for sale.

And big thanks to those readers and twitter followers who already purchased about half of the fabrics I posted within the first few hours!! WOW!

Most pieces are between $10 and $30 a yard. Shipping, depending on the yardage, is between $5 and $15.

Please email me (pearlstreetinteriors(at)gmail.com) for pricing and more photos. I'll be updating the sidebar often, so keep checking back. I'll also post updates on twitter.

My Decorating Process - Fabric and Color Inspiration

One of the projects I've been working on here in Arizona is my parents' bedroom. A few of you have asked me about my design process, and since this project will be in major fast forward (less than a week, start to finish), I thought it would be fun to document and report on the project day by day.

When I'm decorating a room from scratch, I always like to start with fabric. I am so inspired by pattern and color. Put a piece of pretty fabric in front of me and I can dream you up a room in about 30 seconds flat!

So when a couple weeks ago my mom asked me to start brainstorming ideas for her bedroom, I knew I needed to look for some fabric inspiration. Right bef0re we left Delaware, I stumbled across about 18 yards of remnants of this gorgeous Barbara Barry for Kravet linen, "Poetical', and that was the starting off point for the room.

It's gorgeous - a little bit modern, but still with a floral and feminine feel. The gray and creamy white colors are perfectly neutral and were a great jumping off point. I emailed my mom a photo of the fabric when I found the remnants and she gave me two big thumbs up.

I brought all the fabric with me to Arizona. When I got to my parents' house, mom and I sat down with my new collection of Ralph Lauren paint chips, and we brainstormed color palettes.

We decided on a very pale blue/green/gray for the walls, called 'Mountauk Driftwood'. My parents four poster bed would be painted a dark and moody slate, called 'Smoked Glass'. The en suite bathroom walls would be a dusty gray called 'Hopsack', cut 50%. Other accent colors would be a gray green called 'Kauai' and a deep aubergine called 'Persian Violet'. These colors would be used on bathroom cabinets and other accent pieces.

Next step: Painting!

Reader Request: Ikat Fabric for Drapes

LGN reader Meghan is decorating her toddler son's room and has fallen in love with these ikat drapes available at Horchow for $250 a panel. Yipes!


She would love help finding the same panels for a (much) lower price, or some similar fabric with which to make her own curtains. Meghan's especially fond of the green in the fabric, which coordinates with a vintage green dresser she recently purchased for the nursery.

I think Robert Allen's Khandar has a similar feel/color scheme and I actually like this pattern more than the Horchow drapes. Available here and here.


Here's a different colorway. This one is an outdoor print, which would still work fine as drapery.


Let's help Meghan! Do you recognize this pattern?


And, on a related note, check out Janell's incredibly thorough series on sewing drapes. Her finished panels (also an ikat pattern!) look so professional. A must read if you're considering tackling your own curtain project!

Richloom's Invigodk in Confetti

I received all kinds of emails about the fabric that reader Banks used on her pelmet box:


Banks also used the Invigodk pattern to line her freshly painted china hutch.


She also had some of the fabric laminated and upholstered her now kid-proof dining chairs!


Banks was kind enough to hunt down the maker and name of the fabric. It's milled by Richloom, called Invigodk in Confetti. She bought her yardage at Forsyth Fabrics in Atlanta. For those of us not local, the fabric is available online at Orien Textiles.


And in related news, I found myself in Pier 1 a few days ago and remembered that Banks had mentioned that there was a chair there in the Invigodk pattern.


I think it's pretty. Even though I think you lose a bit of the pattern with the tufting, I still like the details.


It's a pretty small slipper chair and would be perfect for an apartment or dorm room. Or a nursery. It's on sale for $199.


Thanks for all the investigative work, Banks!

Kravet's 'Lutron' in Espresso

I spent the better part of today [wrestling my kids] in fabric stores.

I'm totally loving these colors...

Help

Does anyone know who mills these fabrics? Or alternative places to purchase them? I need lots of yardage and better pricing than what I've got here.

Bocce in Linen, available at Calico Corners.


And this unknown pink and orange pattern, available at Hickory Chair, as seen on these Suzanne Kasler chairs...

WANTED

I'm 99% sure that P. Kauffman makes this gorg trellis linen. I am OBSESSED. I want to use it for a project ASAP, but can't seem to find it online anywhere other than at L&S (and I can't pay $25+ per yard since I need so much).


The style name is 'Fioretto' and the color I need is 'Graphite'.


Have you seen this fabric?

Other Uses of Crewel?

I'm so happy with the crewel fabric on my newly reupholstered ottoman, it has me thinking about other places to use the beautiful embroidery. I'm loving the texture it adds to a room...

How about on DIY shades?

via the Natural Curtain Co

Or as a bedspread?

via Domino

Maybe on an upholstered headboard?

via Domino

Here are some great crewel fabric options available on eBay -

vintage yellow

floral bedspread


black floral

Schumacher table cloth


floral trellis

On Sewing Pinch-Pleated Curtains...

Thanks for all the great feedback on my new curtains! I love all the support that I get from blogging! I was a little nervous about trying to make pinch-pleat drapes by myself, but I wasn't about to scrounge up the cash right now to pay a seamstress for the job. And surprisingly, the project was FUN! And I learned a lot about sewing. Honestly, I think I'll probably make my own drapes from here on out. The first panel took about three hours start to finish, but the second took less than an hour! Why pay someone $150/panel for labor when I can do the work myself?



Here are the details:

1. The hardware was a Target clearance aisle buy. I did my best to cover up the 'Tuscan' look (below) with black spray paint and I'm happy with the hardware, for the most part. It works.


2. The fabric is made by Braemore and was purchased at Zimmans. I haven't looked online yet, but I'm sure it is available somewhere on the interwebs. The stripes are 6.75" wide, if that helps.

You can see the vertically striped fabric rolled up here in this before picture. I just love a good before shot! :)

I really wanted horizontal (railroaded) stripes because I think that often vertical stripes get lost in a pleated drape (which I also wanted). I searched high and low for horizontal, thick (at least 6") stripes in a black and white pattern, but no luck. The Braemore fabric I decided to go with runs on the vertical, like most stripes. So I ended up cutting 54" lengths of the fabric and sewing two pieces together to get one 108" long piece of fabric with horizontal stripes.

After piecing together the vertical striped fabric to make railroaded stripes.

I was worried about the seam being super obvious - but it's really not. I have to inspect the drape with my hand to figure out where the seam is. The trick is to press the fabric really well and to line the drape.


3. I'm not going to give a full tutorial on making pleated curtains for you guys, because there are tutorials all over the web. I will say that I learned how to do a blind hem stitch and I used this pleating tape and these 4-prong pleating hooks to get my pleats perfect. I am so, so happy with the way my pleats turned out. They were easy and look very professional, thanks to the tape and hooks.



Hope that answers most of the questions. Let me know if I missed anything and I'll answer in the comments section.

Thanks!

Lee Jofa Mystery

Anyone know the name of this Lee Jofa print?


Can't find it for the life of me...

Bridging the Gap with Fabric

I knew that I wanted to redo our living room after moving, but we are on a really tight budget for the next year. I decided to restrict my decorating budget to the amount we got from our moving/yard sale and then anything that I could sell on Craigslist or eBay. Not surprisingly, I don't have enough to buy a new sofa or even to slipcover my blue Craigslist wing chairs liked I had hoped to (though that is the eventual goal). So my new goal was to find some fabric that tied in all of the colors I already have and some of the colors I want to have in room and to reupholster my coffee-table-turned-ottoman with the new fabric.

Shopping for a specific fabric is infinitely easier if you have another fabric swatch to reference. My favorite trick is to snip off the color windows from the selvedge, especially if the print is very colorful and large. Here are the color windows from a bold fabric I'm using in another project (a kids room):


Often though, you won't have a fabric swatch of your upholstery. Before I had paint decks, I would take pictures of the upholstery I needed to match and then go to the hardware store to pick up paint chips that match the colors in the fabric. It is so helpful when you are looking for a particular combination of colors!

Like I mentioned, my citrus green Lee Industries sofa will be staying.


As will my blue Craigslist chairs (that were originally purchased with the thought of getting them slipcovered).


I've been so obsessed with peacock blue lately. This image (that I've blogged about before) has really stuck with me. I was hoping I could find a way to connect the blue in my chairs with a more teal color.


And here are some of the interiors with similar bold colors that I knew I would be working with: green, blue, orange, black and white.

Celerie Kemble Interiors

MMR Interiors

Design by Miles Redd

I knew that I wanted a floral or something with a bright pattern for reupholstering my ottoman. I considered a vintage or antique suzani at one point, but that was a bit of a risk, and could get a little too pricey for my budget.

This Donghia fabric was in the running, but ended up getting scratched because of the price per yard:


I decided to head out to Zimman's fabric store in Boston and my heart skipped a beat when I saw this crewel fabric:


Sofa green? Check.

Wing chair blue? Check.

Peacock blue? Double check!!

Even a little coral for good measure. And all in a big, bold embroidered pattern with lots of black, white and gray.

This fabric (on the roll) was still on the pricier side - $49.99 per yard. Lucky for me, the people at Zimman's are customer service geniuses and told me that they had about 1.5 yards in the remnant section, the exact yardage I needed for my ottoman. I ended up paying about $30 for the remnant.


I reupholstered my ottoman over the weekend and I think I'm in love. Come back tomorrow morning for the pictures. And stayed tuned for more progress in my budget living room!