Fabric and upholstery are the “fashion” of a room. Just like our clothes create an image, the fabric choices you make when decorating your home give it style, character and express your unique taste. Like your fashion personality, your home can be “funky”, “proper”, “bohemian”, “charming”, “romantic”, etc. It’s up to you! One of the best things about fabric and upholstery is that typically, you can make changes without a huge investment. It’s a wonderful way to keep your home dynamic and interesting. 

A recent visit to the Interior Decorating Show in Toronto was a great source of inspiration! Jane Lockhart, renowned decorating guru, offered some of her insights about fabrics.

Here are just a few of Jane’s “did you knows” about fabric…

• During tough economic times, we decorate with more neutral fabric (and decor) colours; when brighter colours return, it signals optimism and prosperity.
• Want to be totally on trend? Colours making a comeback include aqua, blue, teal, burgundy, salmon/coral, yellow, jewel tones, gold and black. Velvet and ikat are the latest “in” fabrics.
• What you see on the runway will be in your home! The design industry looks to fashion for inspiration and trends.

What about fabric durability? Here are some of Jane Lockhart’s suggestions…

• Although cotton is beautiful, look at the fibre content of the fabric and go for a mix with acrylic and polyester for durability.
• Line your drapery with cotton muslin or blackout liner. It will make your drapery appear more substantial AND it will protect it from damaging sunlight.
• Micro-fibre actually is polyester at 1/100 thickness of human hair. Consider it for high traffic areas that get a lot of wear and tear.

Mixing fabric colours and patterns

One of the biggest decor challenges is how to coordinate fabrics and colours. Here are our Top 10 Ways to Mix Fabric and Pattern:

1. Use one colour as your foundation. Mix the patterns, but unify with a strong colour to anchor the look.
2. Choose a perfect pattern. Start with one pattern you love and pull colours from it to use for accent fabrics throughout your room.
3. Use complementary colours. Check a colour wheel – opposite colours work well together (example, pink and soft green).
4. Pick one colour. Choose one colour and use bright and subdued shades of it throughout a room.
5. White goes with everything. The most basic (and very beautiful) decor scheme is white and one other colour.
6. Start simple. Florals and stripes work well together and are easy to blend, even for a novice decorator.
7. Limit yourself to 3 patterns in any room. Any more than that will be overwhelming.
8. Scale. Add width or height to furniture, windows, etc. with horizontal or vertical stripes on fabric.
9. Keep proportion in mind. The scale of room should influence the size of your pattern – smaller room, more delicate patterns; larger rooms, go bigger and bolder.
10. Vary pattern size. Keep point 9 in mind, but don’t choose all very small or all large patterns. Mix them up, small, medium and larger.

Remember that fabric is like fashion, so you don’t want to get in a rut. Have fun and be creative; keep your home vibrant and fresh. It may be as easy as adding some new throw pillows, new curtains or new upholstery on your ottoman!

Tags: decor, how to, trends