RIAD

I have coveted this fabric for way longer than I would ever admit. I ordered one yard to make pillows for the sofa and it literally took months to come in. Finally it now lives on my sofa, in my house, in my life.

Some girls have all the luck!!!!!

More pictures to come soon, I am making some white linen pillows to go behind these little babies, but I really could not wait to get this picture on my blog.

It's from Kravet's Windsor Smith collection and I love the simplistic Moroccan geometric design. It gets my vote for fabric or the year.

Happy Weekend!!

Sew-a-thon

A friend I work with "hired" me to re-cover her patio cushions. I needed some dollars bills to help pay for my completely out of budget wedding invitations, and she needed some new patio cushions. The arrangement worked out great. This has been by far my biggest sewing project, so big that I had to call in help to get it done in time. Clare and I spent a many of hours staring at each other across this table....

We piped, hemmed, measured, cut, drank lots of coffee and wine till the wee hours of the night. I am really happy to publish this post because it means the long hours in front of my sewing machine and the tons of brown thread all over the house are over. But it also means that someone gets to enjoy her beautiful patio furniture again!!

Now if I could just get my patio to look like this!!!

Dreaming in Patterns

I just had to share my 2 latest obsessions with you guys......

Fabric from Kravet - Riad - Windsor Smith Collection. I just ordered one yard of this beautiful fabric to make throw pillows!!! I can not wait to show you guys pictures.

Wallpaper from Zoffany - Cordoba - Grand Tour Collection. Honestly you could put this wallpaper anywhere and it would look amazing.

(Gwyneth Paltrow's home)

Ikat It

Let me start this post with a confession: I am addicted to throw pillows. While I realize that this is not as bad as being addicted to other illegal or highly expensive things it is still a problem. The top of my closet is filled with little throw pillows that have been replaced by my habit of buying a better one. With that said I have brought my nasty little habit to Britt's house and yes one of his closets has the beginnings of being filled with pillows. So back to the reason behind this: finding throw pillows for this brown sofa has been nothing short of a thorn in my side. I have tried and tested many different styles and pillows but nothing worked like the image I had in my head. It's been almost a year and still not the perfect choice, but some good ones.....

Ikat believe it, think I may have found the solution to my design dilemma on ebay. I found this beautiful fabric that I will re-cover some of my "old" pillows with. It's Victor "Barbados" Ikat-design upholstery fabric.

Ikat is a style of weaving that uses a process kinda like tie-dye on the threads before the are woven. This process creates these amazing designs seen in the fabrics below. When used in moderation Ikat fabric can turn a boring room into something to talk about. Here are some of the professionals using this fabric in rooms.

Happiness is Homemade

Thanks once again to ebay for getting me one step closer to finishing Britt's master bed room. Who am I kidding I will never really be "finished." I found 10 yards of this amazing fabric on ebay for only $75 dollars. Amazing because of the simple fact that 1 yard would have cost me that much if I had purchased it in the stores. I emailed the seller and she sent me a sample of the fabric, the second I got it in my hands I knew it would be perfect. It's a deep rich Robin's Egg blue color with threads of chocolate brown running through the fabric. It arrived in the mail in less than a week.

A few weeks (or maybe months) later they are hanging up!!! Over the thanksgiving holidays I took my sewing machine out and finally finished one of my many sewing projects. They came out perfect, and Britt loves to pull them closed on the weekends so he can sleep late. I am still throwing around ideas for throw pillows (ha ha) but this is what it looks like for now.

We are making great progress considering 10 months ago this room had a 42" TV hanging on the wall and the mattress was on the floor (everyone scream with me "bachelor pad"). And 6 months ago it looked like this...

Don't you think with all the money I saved him on curtains we should take a trip to Zgallerie to purchase some art work for the room??? Pleassseeee

I'm So Excited, And I Just Can't Hide It...

I am not gonna lose control, but the new curtains came in this weekend, and I think I like it. Really, I think I LOVE them. I ordered them from W. Home Furniture in Lafayette, they were so helpful and have great prices on quality curtains!! I dashed over to Lowe's to pick up some new curtain rods, and started drilling holes. After a few hours of ironing, pinning, and hemming they are up and beautiful. I was nervous about the stripes but they add much needed pattern and texture to the room. Look how amazing.....

I bided a happy farewell to the plastic vertical blinds hiding our beautiful windows. Whoever invented vertical blinds should be spanked. Up next on the grown up shopping list is an area rug. I have no idea what or where to begin looking, I think my brain needs a break.

The Fabric Of My Life

I am slightly devastated today. I just about spent several hours of my life franticly searching for this amazing fabric that I posted about here. I had to have it, I had finally found the perfect curtain for Britt's bathroom makeover. Mission almost accomplished. I put my detective hat on, visited my favorite local fabric stores, and after coming home with nothing more than a sample of something that kinda resembled what I was searching for I decided to hit the internet. Hours later I stumble upon Schumacher Fabric and bam, jackpot, rejoice - I found the beautiful Gordian Weave in Ebony and Greige:

Insert problem here (brace yourself) one yard cost $272, yes only 36 inches. I would need about 3 yards, so this amazing curtain that my little heart was set on would end up costing over $800. Not gonna happen people, hence my slight devastation today. The fabric must be weaved in gold or something, on my modest budget I could never image why 36 inches for fabric could possible cost that much. Of course I am not a professional designer, nor heir to any riches, just a simple business woman by day with a passion for beautiful things. I guess I will stop my complaining and start looking for an alternative for the fabric. They have some beautiful fabric out there. So, all my amazing blogshere buddies: suggestions are needed!!!

A few choices from Kravet & Duralee averaging around $60 per yard

Fabric Obsession

I found this gorgeous Graphite Trellis linen fabric at Interior Fabric in Lafayette and have become completely obsessed. I need to use it somewhere, somehow, someplace!! They would look amazing as curtains in the master bedroom I am redoing, but at $25 a yard that would get a little pricy. I could recover an old ottoman but I question my expertise for that project. Should I settle for a simple throw pillow or start saving my money?

Stock Photo from L&S

 

Picture I snapped at the store with my iphone