Sunday, May 1, 2011

Topeka Lipstick

OK, so I spent over an hour this morning at the fabric store... ALONE. Justin bowed out gracefully, so I trudged up to Marietta by myself and wandered around looking at fabric rolls for what felt like three weeks. I cut lots of samples (probably 10?) but none of them were absolutely perfect. Like, none of them screamed that they were the right fabric. I took what I had and called my mom (duh). We talked about it at length, and she helped me realize that using a print had a LOT of drawbacks. I won't bore you with them, but for serious, it was a lot. At that point, my four favorites included a red and white print of chickens and chicks (which sounds crazy but actually looked sort of dutch and retro), a brown faux velvet (the only semi-plush fabric that didn't look really really cheap), a cool red and dark orange Moroccan style print (the same as the yellow one from last post, but in reds), and a yellow and white wide stripe with some brown polka dots along the white stripe. Each choice had drawbacks. The chicken print had the white parts, so would end up dirty and dingy from everyone's butts/legs/arms,etc., the faux velvet made me nervous because I didn't want to end up with a poop chair, the Moroccan print was two busy and read a little more pink than I liked, and the stripe had the same white issue as the chicken print. SO, after talking to my mom, I realized I really agreed that a solid was probably the best, and that one of the most appealing things about two of my favorites was the bright red. I went back to the torture chamber/gallery room and hunted for a true red (preferably velvet). I finally spotted Topeka Lipstick, a really really pretty cotton duck/slub fabric up on the top row of the red section. I cut a sample, took it outside to my car and held it up in the sunshine against the baby comforter and crib dust ruffle, and decided on the spot that it was perfect.
Here's the fabric sample in the middle. On the left is the crib dust ruffle (pleated, not ruffly) that my mom found at Goodwill. It's DwellStudio for Target, and $40 on eBay, but my mom got it for under $3. Score! The crib comforter is on the other side. One side is the dots and the other is the stripe. This is from the DwellStudio line that is *NOT* from Target. You can't get the comforter without getting the set, but the set is around $340 or so on Amazon. Yikes. My mom got the comforter at Goodwill for around $5 (I think...?). The two are not from the same set, but I think they are adorable together. I bought a white flannel crib sheet yesterday for $10 from Buy Buy Baby (the most appallingly giant baby store EVER at a mall in the burbs). I think this bright red is just amazing with this palette.
Here's a close-up of the chair fabric. It's a SUPER tight weave, and there's a slight amount of variation to it, so it almost reads like a chenille when you look at it from a distance. It's just such a pretty, saturated color. It was $8 a yard, and since I only needed 3.5 yards and got a 15% discount via my upholsterer's relationship with the fabric place, I spent $25 total on the fabric. Not too shabby!
Here's the sample with the knit blanket I talked about previously. I hope to keep it on the back of the rocker, and I think it looks wonderful with it! Another huge plus to using a solid. I could never have used that blanket with another pattern on the chair. Too busy.
Just one last view. I can't help it. It's just so good! I really couldn't be happier. I'm keeping my finger's crossed that I can use the turquoise fabric I bought first for curtains. I LOVE turquoise/aqua and red together. In fact, they were our wedding colors. We had a gently retro themed wedding (duh) and played only 50's and 60's music at our reception. It was so fun.

I've still got LOTS to do to finish my one last paper by early next week, but I'm having fun doing what I can here and there to work on the baby's room. Justin and I went by Ace Hardware this afternoon and picked up two different paint samples to try in the baby's room. Both are light and taupe, but one is almost totally white, and one is darker. We'll see how they look up on the wall... We learned our lesson about not trying a sample on the wall. I'm looking at you, mustard kitchen. Stupid, stupid mustard kitchen.

7 comments:

  1. Oh gee, I'm an artist, and yet I've had the MOST trouble picking out colors for the rooms of my house!!

    Oh sure, that pepto bismal pink looked good on the color chip. And that nice green that turned out to be neon chartreuse... The goldenrod trim color for the hallway turned out to be so pale I had to dump my own orange and yellow paint in it to help bring up the color...

    Ugh!

    Good luck!

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  2. Yay! I love the red. It's going to look so good!!
    I've had a lot of success with a Kelly-Moore paint called Cork Bark. It's kind of a mid-tone neutral taupe/tan, and the lighter colors on the paint chip are nice too.

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  3. I love the fabric you chose. I think a bit of red in a room adds so much pizazz. Now I can't wait to see the finished chair :)

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  4. Ooo. Bold red and bright little polka dots!! Love it :)

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  5. 1950's_atomic_ranch_house: Thanks for stopping by! And commiserating! At least you really went for it and picked colors that are different and bright. We are going with taupe this time because we are cowards... And because the room is super dark.
    Dana: Thanks for the suggestion! We are struggling! We tried Benjamin Moore's Vintage Taupe (super light) and Cocoa Butter (a little more brown). The problem is that they are both reading a little pink for some reason. We were hoping to go with a warm taupe instead of a cool one, but in reality, all of the paint in our house (except, significantly, the stupid yellow kitchen) is cool. Grays and blues, etc. So maybe using a warm color in the nursery is stupid. Sigh. Of the two, I'm leaning more to the Vintage Taupe because it seems to brighten up the tiny, dark room and contrast prettily with the dark furniture.
    Krazy4Mod: Thanks! I can't wait either! I am just so happy I found a good red. A lot of the red fabrics were either really dark or really washed out. This one is just so bright and happy. I'm now trying to see if I can scrounge up some vintage toys to put here and there in the room. I think the bright red would be perfect with that!
    Stephanie: Thanks! I was nervous that little polka dots would end up looking girly, but I think with the other stuff, it will be fine and neutral.

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  6. I love the red! Can't wait to see the finished product.

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  7. Rhan: Thanks! I'm glad to get so much nice feedback on it. Now I'm knitting the "Puff Daddy" pouf from the Pickles website in a similar bright red to use as the ottoman. So far, I think it will be adorable. I fell in love with the CB2 version, but it's too expensive. This way it will be my wonky workmanship. :)

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