Fabrics a Supermodel Would Love….

 This second block for school, did not come any easier than the first.  It was still filled with the same angst and frustrations as my first three weeks of class, but its over and I did well in my classes (well at least the best of my knowledge).  Much to my delight, we were given Friday off, so I hightailed it home on Thursday afternoon for some quality time with The Partner.  It was so nice to be home and not worry about homework, but simply relax, basking in the wonderment which is my fantastic boyfriend.

This morning I decided to treat myself to a bit of shopping.  In days of yore, that would have meant grabbing my Saks card and heading to the Saks Men Store for some quality one-on-one time with the 4th Floor.  Instead, I dragged The Partner out to Pleasanton, CA for a mid-morning trip to Calico Corners.  I have heard stories about Calico Corners from decorator friends and have seen blog postings on the net, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the store lived up to its reputation of having a variety of decorating grade fabrics at decent price points.  I did not find one “Holly Hobby” or “Granny Gingham” in the lot of fabrics.  What I did find was a nicely organized store with a variety of fabrics (cottons, jacquards, wovens, silks, synthetics) in a multitude of styles.  Perfect!After weeks of limiting myself to Discount Fabrics and Joann’s in search of deals, it was nice to find myself surrounded by styles that I have seen in Sunset Magazine, Elle Decor and House Beautiful; beautiful fabrics that were on-trend but still budget friendly. 

Well let me qualify those last two words — budget friendly.  I know for many people, “budget friendly” can mean many things, so I qualify that for me, I was looking for fabrics that were under $50/yard since I only needed two yards maximum for the K-Mart x-bench project (click here to see the benches).  I know that $100 bucks for two yards of fabric is not necessarily frugal, but I figured that I spent less than $100 on the two benches, I could splurge on a mid-priced fabric.  In my head, I convinced myself that I was SAVING money since I did not purchase the Ballard Design x-benches at over $250 a pop with the fabric I wanted, ergo for less than the price of ONE Ballard Design bench, I was getting two upholstered benches.  So it was really like I was saving over $300 by spending $200.  Twisted logic right?  But it works in my own little warped mind……Any case, The Partner and I found several suitable fabric  candidates for the benches but decided to purchase fabric from Iman’s new line of home decorating fabrics.  I know…I know….celebrity endorsed products are rarely actually any good.  In fact, they are normally pretty awful for the most part, but honestly, I swear the line of fabrics from Iman are beautiful.  I mean, after all, she was a supermodel and has consistently been on multiple international best dressed lists for the last 20 years, so that says something for her tastes right? 

From ikats to floral prints, the line covers the gamut from traditional to modern…however, almost all of them have a slant towards a refreshing twist on classic motifs.  So here were some of the candidates from Iman’s fabric line: 

 

Java Moon

 

Alexandria Scroll

 

Deauville Dance

 

Assyrian Vine

 

Lattice

 

After a bit of debate with The Partner, we decided to go with the Assyrian Vine but in a slightly different color combination: 

 

Assyrian Vine (Brown)

 

You can’t really tell in the pictures, but the blue version of the Assyrian Vine fabric is actually turquoise, aqua, navy with a tiny bit of orange-red in the leaves.  It is a beautiful fabric and would have coördinated with our current bedding perfectly.  But in its ability to match also lays the fabrics greatest weakness; the fabric would have clashed when the two other sets of bedding we use throughout the year.  So we opted for the brown/gold version of the Assyrian Vine which has golds, turquoise and hits of navy blue in the embroidery.  This was a much better option as it does not match but merely coördinates with all three sets of sheets/duvets.  Plus it provides a much-needed hit of lightness and color to our otherwise dark/muted bedroom (that will be changed very soon). 

So the decision was made and the fabric purchased.  Unfortunately, it has to be ordered from a central warehouse, and the design is currently on back-order through 10/8 which isn’t that bad.  However, they will be shopping it directly to my home free of charge, so its nice I don’t need to make the 30 minute commute back to Pleasanton to pick up the fabric. The fabric retails for $49.99/yard normally, but we received an additional 15% off because the store was having a sale which ends tomorrow (10/2).  If you miss the sale, click here to find a coupon for $20 off $100.  So now the waiting …fortunately I have the selecting of a paint for the main floor bathroom to occupy me until the fabric arrives.

More on paint selection tomorrow…..