Fabric Selection: a tutorial, part 2

I'm swimming in fabric samples! My mom sent me more, then I've been collecting more and more, here locally. This is the problem with doing your own custom curtains. The choices tend to be overwhelming.

From a trend standpoint, I would say that curtains are right in the middle of the "cost/benefit" ratio. For example, granite counter top? Pretty committed. A couch? Fairly committed. Curtains? Mildly committed. You could hedge towards a trend, and know that when that trend passes (4-5 years) that you could afford to change it up. Probably won't be changing your cabinet selection or countertop selection in 4-5 years.

I've mentioned our dining room. Its probably the room I have the best handle on, and the room that I loved the most when we bought this house. It also doesn't need much, so it will be the room we do first. The walls are a yummy chocolate brown, and the tall, white wainscotting helps to soften the dark brown floors and upper walls. I knew I wanted a green on the windows in this room. This is the fabric I liked first:

Its good. Its green. And online, when I ordered the sample, it looked like white and green, like it does here. However, when this little guy came in the mail, and I held it up to the wall, the white is kind of a seafoam. Bleck. The things I like about it is the graphic, geometric/lattice design on it. This style is very in, and is a "trend", so it will be gone in a few years.

Here's the one I really like:

This one is totally perfect. The white is a true white, and it still has the geometric that I was looking for. Additionally, the other fabric's (above) green had a blue undertone (cooler undertone), whereas this is a yellow/gold undertone, which is more in keeping with my warmer palette. This is really important to remember, especially when putting it in a room like a dining room. What other things will be going on in the room? Christmas. Gold is mostly what I accent with. Fall. I accent with rusts, golds, and browns. This fabric lends itself to working with that palette better than the upper green fabric selection.

Then, when you hold this up to the brown wall, its perfect! Probably a little difficult to tell here, but trust me, its great!