Making Fabrics Work for You

Color, as we have learned is an important factor in interior decorating, added with fabric we start to create a stylish interior.

Fabrics have many uses, some are purely aesthetic, while others are
truly functional.

Curtains are a functional use for fabric. Using Drapery as a window
treatment reduces draughts, keeps the heat in the room (insulates
the window), reduces noise in a room as well as the obvious good
looks of curtain drapery in a space.

Fabric is also used for upholstery on chairs and sofas. This is not
only functional but has the added value of comfort, especially when
seated, it also feels warm and looks inviting.

Fabric can be used to create the style of an interior. I say
English country cottage, and what do you immediately think of?
Chintz, roses, soft pinks and greens, and creams. Fabric can
independently create a style. 1970's? Bold geometric designs,
with lime green, browns, orange and teal. Scottish? Tartan, checks,
heavy wools. Nautical? Canvas, blue and white stripe. Asian? Red,
Silk. You see what I mean.

How to Use Fabrics for Window Treatments

The art to using fabrics well for window treatment is to look at
them through half closed eyes, this way you will see the changes in
tone and the texture and the highlights of the material. It is also
important to hold it up upright and see how it drapes, look at the
weight, too heavy can bog down a window, too light and it can look
whimsical. Can you see through it? What is the type of weave? Is
the fabric suitable for drapery? Is it color fast or will it fade
quickly? Synthetic fabrics tend to have better fade resistance and
are not prone to breakdown in the sun like natural fiber fabrics
such as silk, linen and wool.

Look at the pattern, are you going to be able to see it when it has been made into curtains or will you lose the effect? Having large patterns at the windows will enclose the room, ensure that the room is large enough to handle the scale of the pattern. The same thing goes with patterns that are very small, they can look out of proportion in a large room.

If you want to create a monochromatic color scheme and you require drapery, use a fabric one or two tones darker or lighter than the wall color, this provides a break and a small amount of contrast for a
monochromatic scheme. It is best to have some sort of texture when
doing this style of scheme otherwise the room can look flat.

Choose carefully the type of heading you will use for drapes as this will effect how the fabric hangs and how the pattern is viewed or lost!
Sheers create a soft and romantic look at a window in contrast to
velvet which exudes heavy luxury and warmth.

How to Use Fabrics for Upholstery
SEATING CUSHION FABRICS.
This is an area where the inexperienced can be caught out.
Upholstery fabrics have quite different properties to drapery
fabrics. Occasionally some can be used for both purposes,
but generally not. Upholstery takes a lot of wear and tear from us.

There is a lot of abrasion from us sitting on the upholstery of a
chair or sofa, especially when we wear jeans that have the little
metal tags on the pockets.

Here it is important that you look for a Martindale rub test or Weizenbeck test (I explain this in my soft furnishings ebook) to see how the fabric will stand up to wear. This is often printed on the fabric swatch where the properties are listed. If it is not there then ask the seller of the product.

Upholstering items of furniture is an expensive business, you do not want to do it more than is necessary, so make sure you check out the properties of the fabric before you decide to put it on you chair, sofa or footstool. Obviously you can get away with lower grade upholstery fabric on occasional chairs, but items that are in frequent use need a good quality fabric. Good fabrics for upholstery are wools, some wool blends, Dralon, leather and vinyl.

How to Use Fabrics to Accessorize

This is the fun part of fabric. You can use fabric to accessorize,
to brighten up a tired color scheme, or add some seasonal color to
a room. Cushions are the most popular. We have gone through a phase of fur, animal prints, silk and beads, sheer overlays, quilted, buttoned, in fact, cushion fashions change so quickly that I dare write about them for fear of being out of date! Any way, they are a great way to add color and texture to a room. You can use the same fabric on tie backs, or throws to balance the look. You can use the same fabric as the curtains but in a different colorway, to add a new dimension to the room, remembering to use these patterns more than once in a room for a good visual appeal.
Or you can pick out a color from the drapes and use that as your accent. The most important thing to remember is that you are using fabric to add texture and softness to a room, it also adds color and creativity to the scheme as well as enhancing the style that you have created.

Finally a really good reason to use fabric in a room is that it absorbs sound. This means that your living room won't echo when you turn on the stereo if you have soft furnishing in the room. Don't believe me? Then stand in the bathroom, usually a room without soft furnishings, remove any towels etc. and turn on a radio. Then put some towels back and a bath mat and turn it on again. Notice the difference? (This works best in a room with hard surfaces, ie tiles, timber floor, stone floor etc).

How to Use Color Well

How to Use Color Well.

1. Always choose one color to start your scheme. That color can come from an existing piece of artwork, a rug, existing upholstery fabric, or a silk flower arrangement. if you are decorating from plans or blue prints then it is often best to start planning color from the floor up.


2. Decide what type of look and or color scheme. (Use your last lesson how to brain storm your style ideas and visit how to use the color wheel as tools for this selection).


3. Then start "layering" your color using your selected color scheme, start with the largest areas, floor, walls and ceiling.


4. Slowly bring in other large pieces, furniture, chairs, etc. Remembering to balance the room. Don't group all the same color in one area, "sprinkle" it so that it is easy on your eye.
   


5. Using patterns is often a hurdle for some people so they just don't bother, and the color scheme lacks interest. We need to make our schemes look alive by using either pattern and / or texture. For more help with these areas pattern and texture.



6. Think in three dimensions when you plan your color, dark curtains will enclose a room, a similar tone to the walls will keep the space looking open for example. A dark color for the floor will essentially "ground" your scheme. To create a cosy intimate feeling use warm dark colors, to create light and airy the opposite, pale and fresh, cool colors will open up a room, and it will feel cool. A dark colored ceiling will lower the height of a room, and the opposite if you use white. Color can be used to reshape your room, for example you have a rectangular room, you can make it look more like a square if you paint the two shortest walls a darker color than the longer walls, this will make them appear to advance, and make the room feel more balanced.


7. Test your color scheme - get "test" or "sample" pots of paint and paint large pieces of card or board. Put them in your room or order a large sample of wallpaper or large piece of fabric. Leave these items in the area that you wish to decorate and look at how they change at different times of the day, due to different lighting situations. The will look dramatically different, this is when you need to decide when the room will be used the most and what color looks best in that light!


8. Ensure that the room or area that you are working in coordinates or is in harmony with the rest of the house. There is nothing worse than a disjointed color scheme with rooms colored hap haphazardly, it is very unsettling for a designer, an just plain unsettling for the general population!


9. If you are looking to choose colors that are in vogue now, your local paint store will be able to help, paint companies keep on top of fashion colors and produce ranges of colors to suit, but if you don't have any luck there then try the fabric stores, they have new ranges of colors for every season. The other place is of course up to date home and garden or interior decorating magazines.


10. Make sure the room has enough light to do your color scheme justice. A very poorly lit room will never look go no matter what you do. Lighting is the interior designer and decorators secret weapon, (and I almost forgot to tell you!)
    
    
    
    
    

Bathroom Design Ideas The Average Mom Would Like To See In Their Own Bathrooms

Attention to all you bathroom design specialists. If you really want to please all the moms when it comes to their bathrooms then get busy designing and marketing these wonderful ideas. As mom's we don't ask for a lot but a few of these suggestions could go a long way in keeping our happy families happy.

Okay when it comes to mirrors I don't see why they can't make them tooth paste repellent. It seems like every morning and night when I go look in the bathroom mirror I see little specks of toothpaste. I am sure it would be much easier to design mirrors like this rather than to teach my family to brush their teeth with their mouth closed, or heaven forbid wipe off the toothpaste when they are done.

How about a water rail you can flip up on the tub when a toddler or younger child is playing in the tub. Lots of children like to play in the bath tub and some fill up containers of water to set on the edge (that sometimes get knocked over onto the floor). If you had a waterproof rail you could flip up it could keep all the toys, water, and waves in the tub and make things much simpler.

Now this one will be tougher to design, and maybe it is something that needs to be taught in school, I know I have had more success teaching new math, world history, and physics than I have in teaching my family how to consistently change the toilet paper roll when it is empty. But if a design could be invented to help make this happen in homes with children that would be an amazing invention. Maybe a buzzer should go off when it is empty and the doors automatically lock. The only way the buzzer stops or the door unlocks is when the old roll has been replaced with a new one. I don't know, this is one for the experts.

The last bathroom design ideas is the biggee. If inventors can invent vehicles that sense when something is getting to close when you are backing up and they can invent moisture sensing windshield wipers I see no reason why those two technologies cannot be combined into making a smart toilet. Can't all you mothers imagine how much more pleasant cleaning the bathroom would be if your toilet was equipped with those two technologies? If this ever becomes a mainstay in bathroom plumbing you can bet it will be a mom that invents it!