Pattern Inspiration - Stripes

Coastal Living Photo Jean Allsopp

Wow! If you've ever looked for inspiration for stripes, it's literally unending. I had to make myself stop to keep this post at a manageable size!

If you're interested in adding stripes to your decorating, or not sure if you are or not, here's a little inspiration to help you decide.

A striped rug (or pillow, or window treatment) can be a great inspiration piece/starting point for a room. In this room you can tie the color of the walls, accent pillows and curtain rods back to the rug...

Coastal Living Photo Jean Allsopp

BHG.com painted some sassy stripes on the table in this dining room makeover...

It actually wouldn't have occurred to me to use the navy and white stripe with the turquoise, but it's working for me. Notice the striped lampshade?

Coastal Living Photo Jean Allsopp

Black and white striped pillows add a bold graphic punch to this space...

Pottery Barn

Striped window treatments...

Coastal Living Photo Jean Allsopp

Stripe on stripe. Mixing the wide, bold stripe on the chair with the thin striped rug...

Coastal Living via myhomeideas.com Photo Tria Giovan

Stripes mix well with other patterns (First 2 images from Calico Corners) ...

Waverly

Sarah Richardson did stripes of tile in the shower of this lovely bathroom...

A striped ceiling in this sunroom designed by Carleton Varney...

House Beautiful Photo Mikkel Vang

Designer Sabrina Soto used a striped daybed in this whimsical, color-infused girl's room for the HGTV Green Home 2009. I think a little girl would just have to be happy in this room, don't you?

This striped wall treatment may take some time and planning, but it's so much fun!

Southern Living Laurey W. Glenn, Robbie Caponetto / Styling: Matthew Gleason

A striped kitchen floor

Domino via Simply Seleta

Striped rugs can go casual...

Midwest Living (Photo Kim Cornelison)

or more formal... (Designed by Knight Moves. To see the rest of this home, go here.)

I just received my FLOR catalog in the mail and I really liked this side by side striped rug that they showed for a different take on stripes...

You can paint stripes on your stairs, or purchase one of the many striped runners at Dash and Albert

Can't find a striped fabric you like? Make your own stripes like Jesse Kate Designs did with these pillows. Love this idea! via One Pretty Thing

A felt striped table runner from Woman's Day. Tutorial here.


Add some striped metallic sheen to your lampshade with instructions from BHG.com
And, just for fun, how about some striped candles from Five Stripes

or striped chairs from West Elm

Fabric Sources - Expand Your Options

I was reminded again yesterday of how much differently I shop for fabric than I used to. Before when I needed fabric I would automatically go to the fabric store, and there are many times when I still do. But I also keep an eye out for fabric in other places. I find myself looking at anything that's made from fabric and, rather thinking about what the item is, I focus more on type of fabric, color, pattern, and dimensions/yardage to see if there's enough for my project just as if it were fabric off the bolt. I'm especially interested when it's on sale or clearance or at a store like HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, etc. where I'm also likely to get it at a lower price.

When you shift your focus and view everything as fabric, it really expands your options. We've seen a flurry of drop cloth drapes throughout blogland (the ones shown below are Traci's from Beneath My Heart - click here to see her tutorial) and in this post we saw a pillow made from a beautiful rug. In this post, a lampshade made from silk drapes and a bathrobe!

Clothes are something to consider. Shirts can make cute pillows, cutting the pillow out with the shirt buttoned for maximum use and also so that the buttons become a decorative item on the front of the pillow. Since the sweater pillow craze, clearance sweaters are also constantly catching my eye. Skirts? What could I make from this skirt that I no longer wear? A pillow? Recover a lampshade?Fabric strips to embellish something else?

Sheets, duvet covers, tablecloths, fabric shower curtains, placemats, scarves, throws, towels, clothes/sweaters, drop cloths, rugs... you get the idea. Depending on your project, nothing is really off limits.

Furniture manufacturers routinely send furniture stores who carry their line a list of discontinued fabrics, which the furniture store then pulls from their display. Many, not all, furniture stores will give these away rather than throwing them. Definitely varies by store but it doesn't hurt to check. The fabric photos in this post are a hodge podge from my stash of furniture store discontinued samples that I've collected over the years. You don't get to choose, you get what you get, but some of these fabric samples can be great for smaller projects (pillows, art, etc.) and can be used for projects of a slightly larger scale if you collage a few fabrics together.

So how about you? Are you strictly a fabric store shopper or have you been known to use an unexpected source?

Laminated Fabrics

Amanda Nisbet Design via decorati.com

I was paging through the Fall 2008 BHG Decorating magazine and noticed a kitchen by Amanda Nisbet where the roman shade and banquette pillows were made out of laminated fabric so that they could be wiped clean. Unfortunately, I couldn't find the Decorating mag room photo online to show you, but she also used laminated fabric on the banquette in the above photo. Don't you think that's a great idea?

In the room that inspired this post (not shown), she used this David Hicks fabric for the pillows and roman shade (which does not come pre-laminated) and I'm assuming she had it laminated somewhere like this.
Since this blog is all about trying to find lower cost options, I did some research. It was discouraging, and I almost decided not to do the post because I hate giving ideas and not being able to give you budget-friendly options for implementing them. But. Decided to share what I found at least. These are cotton fabrics with a laminate overlay.

warmbiscuit.com . These are a few of their laminated options. They will also laminate other fabrics for you, but there is a 15 yard minimum.

freespiritfabric.com . A couple of their laminated fabrics. They do not laminate other fabrics.

fabric.com. A couple of their laminated fabrics. They do not laminate other fabrics.

Of course there are many other uses for laminated fabrics, but using it for window treatments or pillows was something I hadn't thought of before (maybe because I don't have children? :-)).

What do you think? Would you use or have you used this type of fabric in this way? Know of any more sources?

Design Your Own Fabric

Image: Spoonflower.com

My husband is always telling me that I should design my own fabric, furniture, rugs... pretty much whatever I'm looking for at the time. It could be because I'm always saying "Well, that would be perfect, if only..."

Absolutely no chance of me starting my own fabric or furniture line any time soon (ever) but it looks as if I could design my own fabric, if I so desire.

The two sites below give you the chance to design your own fabric. It doesn't appear to be an expensive process like I thought it would be, at first glance, especially for a one-time special project. I'm considering it. If I do it, I'll share the results.

Spoonflower

I originally saw this source on High Heeled Foot in the Door

Fabric on Demand

Do you think you would use either of these resources for a project? If so, what?

Or have you already used them or a source like them? I would love to hear about it!

I'm linking this to Julia's HOOKED ON FRIDAYS. Check it out to see what others are hooked on!