Chairs and fabrics and pillows, OH MY!

Thanks for the greats response about the chair ladies and gent's! Reader (and the greatest older brother a girl could ask for) Joe has asked me a couple of questions and I am here to give him the answers!

His first inquiry was: I would have loved to see the choices of fabric you weighed at the fabric store. How come you went with this one in particular?

Well, that's a great question. I knew when I was still looking for the chair that I wanted a Damask print at first. I envisioned a large motif centered on the seat something like this...

But I found that it was hard to find a deep chocolate brown Damask. I found plenty of black and white ones like this... 

...but the color combination was going to be more harsh than I wanted. Black, white and yellow? No one wants a bumble bee chair. Not to mention, my bedroom decor is primarily chocolate and white. So I kept looking...

This was something interesting to me. It was modern and subtly country and geometric all at once. This was one of the front runners but I kept looking because I wanted the white to be a little more crisp...

This is a new fabric that my local store has online now. Had I found this in the store that infamous day, I may have chosen this instead. I love the mirrored effect and the fluidity of it.
Luck of the draw, I suppose!

Then I came across the same print that I had chosen for the ottoman slipcover I made.  In the chocolate and ivory. As I said before I wished that the white was a little more crisp but I decided to give it a shot because I loved my slip cover and I think it would be interesting to keep it cohesive.

It was still geometric with an organic feel and was feminine but not overtly.  And since I was unhappy with the Damask selection and anxious to start my project, I snatched it up and bought myself a yard! The rest is history. Check out what I did with this fabric in my latest project here and here. You can find these and many more fantastic home decor fabric options at JoAnn's fabrics.


On to Joe's second inqury: We're looking for cheap, fashionable throw pillows. Any suggestions?

Well I would never recommend getting "cheap" anything. Inexpensive?  Heck YES!  Well, right off the bat, there are those major heavy hitters for off-price retailers like Marshall's, TJMaxx, Home Goods and The Christmas Tree Shops.  Those can be hit or miss and every store can have a different selection, so if you're ready for a treasure hunt, make a day of going around to all of these stores and you can find some fantastic deals on some really interesting, high quality throw pillows.

If you're not looking to sweat it out and perhaps would rather shop online in your PJ's with your cat from the comfort of your own home, then, there are always those big guns like Target and Bed Bath and Beyond.

This thow is on sale for only $12.74 at Target right now! The best thing about this is the bold colors can really brighten up a room and since its a simple 2 color print you can pair it with another color pillow without making things look too busy. Perhaps we could pair it with this?

Its a super modern Dandelion pillow also from Target! Nothing wrong with killing 2 birds with 1 stone, right? 

 

In the opposite decorative direction, this fantastic houndstooth pillow cover is a little throwback to my friend Ms. Coco Chanel. I found this on the fantastic website that many of you are privvy to called Esty.  And this was from the Dreamwishes store. 

This could make for an adorable addition to a preppy kids room or a sleek all white bedroom with stark black and white framed pictures on the wall.

Dont forget about Ikea. They have some ecelectic options for throws.  I -the lover of all things retro- is coming to light with this polka dotted on...

And of course my favorite option is making a slip cover for a pillow you already have! Recycle... reduce... reuse!  If you cant find a fabric you like at your local fabric store, don't forget, you can always buy a single curtain panel and use the fabric from that! It might be slightly more expensive, but if you know of a curtain you covet but dont need new curtains... maybe this is your answer! 

One of the next projects will be making my throw pillows as I've mentioned in this other post! So you will get a play by play how-to. 

As always, stay tuned!