Dying to Play

If you've been reading along a bit then you know I am finally rehabbing-updating-decorating the living room/dining room portion of my abode. Rather than continuing with the disheveled hovel look, I am reaching for something more ... cleaned up.

So now that I have ripped out the radiator (not me personally, but I cheered heartily), replaced the carpet (again more cheering), painted (me) and upholstered (me too), I am moving on to the drapery aspect of the new decor...

This was a hard step for me ... because I am funny about fabrics. By "funny" what I mean is I LOVE them. ALL. My heart races, my breath comes in short bursts. I could grab any fabric, sew it up, stretch it on the window... and even if it is the "wrong" fabric for the room, what I would see is a beautiful fabric for which the room is wrong -- don't change the drapes, change the room. WAIT.

This time I decided to go slow, hold my breath, put blinders on if need be, but choose drapery fabric very carefully, very cautiously. Whew -- it was hard... it's a mine field out there. There are florals and checks and stripes and toiles and sheers and wools and, oh my, a girl could get dizzy.

But here is how it worked out:


Yards and yards and yards of tone on tone white floral jaquard. Now, white will work... but it won't be what I want. With three windows, 6 feet tall, in a small room, the draperies will loom large. And what I want is for the draperies to be a feature... but not too much, I sure don't want the drapes to be the biggest freakin' thing in the room. I want them to blend in with the walls... I want to dye.


I LOVE to play with dye. Can you tell? Have you ever dyed anything? Do you mix and blend dye colors? A little wine with a little tangerine and brown and you get burgandy. A bit of orange and a smidge of fuschia and you get peachy-shrimpy-melon. Hip-hip-hooray for dye. I even dyed the fabric for the dress I wore to my son's wedding. Any excuse to play with dye. Any excuse at all.

And here it is -- from yards and yards of white to yards and yards of medium green:



Doesn't it look like the paint is leaking off the walls and flowing onto the sofa. That is it -- my singular skill -- I can match any color, be it in paint, dye or clay. And now, the only task left here is to get the fabric up from lounging all over the sofa and make it stand straight and tall at the windows.... I'll get back to you on that.