Swatch This

As I mentioned in my previous post about the guest room, I've been thinking about adding an upholstered headboard to the bed because it's looking a little lonely and disconnected:


Not only that, but the wall behind the bed is beyond bare and definitely needs something to fill it up.  If you read the original post about this room, you may recall that I made a deal with the devil, I mean with Mike, that if he let me buy the yellow DwellStudio pillows from Target, that I wouldn't add anymore to the guest room.  (He despises yellow, just slightly more than green).  I may or may not have specifically said I wouldn't build a headboard.  I can't really be sure, I would have handed over my first born, I really wanted the pillows. 

Because Mike has the memory of a elephant, (where as mine's more like a goldfish), I had to wait until he forgot about this pillow deal and while we were shopping for a sewing machine at Joann's (yep, I'm a big girl now with my own sewing machine), I casually walked by the custom cut fabrics.  When Mike asked what I was doing, I nonchalantly said I was shopping for fabrics for a headboard.  Without missing a beat he said, "What about the pillows?"  So much for my ruse.  What happened next can only be described as a testament to the strength of our relationship and how well he knows me, because he told me I was crazy and walked away.  Which in "Mike Talk" translates to, "You're going to do whatever you want anyways, so why should I bother.  Even if we did make a deal for ugly yellow pillows, which really do go nicely in the guest room so I trust your decorating ideas.  And you're crazy." 

So with the go-ahead, I started picking out some fabrics that I liked.  Mostly green, and some with more dramatic patterns, (I was trying to push my comfort zone a little).  The great thing about the custom cuts section is, for $5 you can put a refundable deposit on the samples and take them home for up to a week.  When your done, you take them back for your money and order.

At $5 a pop I got a little excited and picked out 5 samples:


The first is a light green with a iridescent bluish stripe, the next is a very similar tone with a geometric shape and more blue.  The next two were sort of my "fun" picks, seeing as how I already knew the bold pattern wouldn't really work for the headboard, (more of an accent pillow pattern), but I grabbed them anyways.  The last is a collection of solid greens.  The only one Mike even kinda liked. 

I used two 3M removable hooks to hang the fabric above the bed to get a feel for how the fabric looked with the bedding, the wall, and how the light throughout the day changed the color.

I first tried the green stripe and fell in love.  I like the subtle stripe and the hint of blue. 


I thought I had a winner, and wasn't even going to try the others, when I looked at the price:


I'm not even sure what that means, is it $79.99 per yard?  $79.99 per square foot?  $79.99 for as much fabric as I can carry?  I'm not sure, but what ever it means, it's way too expensive!  Even with the deal Joann's has running right now which is 50% off all custom cuts, that's still $39.98/whatever.  My dreams died a little in the moment.  I realized I had to forge ahead, and tried all of the other fabrics.

The next one was the green and blue geometric print.  This one was nice, but the blue was a little too much and looked a little off with the gray wall.  Plus the pattern was a little too busy:

 
The next one I knew was going to be too busy, and too bright, (the picture doesn't really show it, but it is a lot greener in person).  We were however getting closer to the price which we were comfortable paying, $24.99 (plus the 50% off to make it $12.50). 
 

One of my goals now that I've finished painting (much to Mike's delight - ha!), is to add color, and stay away from my favorite grays.  This is why I knew the next fabric wouldn't work, because one the pattern is again too busy for a headboard, and also, the color completely fades into the wall:


With the other choices falling flat, the solid green fabric was left.  I liked the middle green which was an olive-y color that had some gray tones (as opposed to bluish tones).  With the price at $24.99 we may have found a winner:


I'm still going to wait to see what exactly the price includes when we return the samples, but it's looking more and more like it'll be the solid fabric.  I read about 13 different online tutorials on how to build a headboard, but I'm still a little apprehensive to see how it turns out.  Definitely check back to see how I do!

And on a slightly unrelated note, I witnessed Benelli learn something new while I was conducting my fabric experiment.  After about 3 full minutes of mustering up the courage to do it, he jumped from the bed to the top of the dresser (scroll back to the top to see how far it really was), then felt all superior (or scared to jump back down) and sat like this watching me take my pictures:

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