Bridging the Gap with Fabric

I knew that I wanted to redo our living room after moving, but we are on a really tight budget for the next year. I decided to restrict my decorating budget to the amount we got from our moving/yard sale and then anything that I could sell on Craigslist or eBay. Not surprisingly, I don't have enough to buy a new sofa or even to slipcover my blue Craigslist wing chairs liked I had hoped to (though that is the eventual goal). So my new goal was to find some fabric that tied in all of the colors I already have and some of the colors I want to have in room and to reupholster my coffee-table-turned-ottoman with the new fabric.

Shopping for a specific fabric is infinitely easier if you have another fabric swatch to reference. My favorite trick is to snip off the color windows from the selvedge, especially if the print is very colorful and large. Here are the color windows from a bold fabric I'm using in another project (a kids room):


Often though, you won't have a fabric swatch of your upholstery. Before I had paint decks, I would take pictures of the upholstery I needed to match and then go to the hardware store to pick up paint chips that match the colors in the fabric. It is so helpful when you are looking for a particular combination of colors!

Like I mentioned, my citrus green Lee Industries sofa will be staying.


As will my blue Craigslist chairs (that were originally purchased with the thought of getting them slipcovered).


I've been so obsessed with peacock blue lately. This image (that I've blogged about before) has really stuck with me. I was hoping I could find a way to connect the blue in my chairs with a more teal color.


And here are some of the interiors with similar bold colors that I knew I would be working with: green, blue, orange, black and white.

Celerie Kemble Interiors

MMR Interiors

Design by Miles Redd

I knew that I wanted a floral or something with a bright pattern for reupholstering my ottoman. I considered a vintage or antique suzani at one point, but that was a bit of a risk, and could get a little too pricey for my budget.

This Donghia fabric was in the running, but ended up getting scratched because of the price per yard:


I decided to head out to Zimman's fabric store in Boston and my heart skipped a beat when I saw this crewel fabric:


Sofa green? Check.

Wing chair blue? Check.

Peacock blue? Double check!!

Even a little coral for good measure. And all in a big, bold embroidered pattern with lots of black, white and gray.

This fabric (on the roll) was still on the pricier side - $49.99 per yard. Lucky for me, the people at Zimman's are customer service geniuses and told me that they had about 1.5 yards in the remnant section, the exact yardage I needed for my ottoman. I ended up paying about $30 for the remnant.


I reupholstered my ottoman over the weekend and I think I'm in love. Come back tomorrow morning for the pictures. And stayed tuned for more progress in my budget living room!