Wednesday, December 14, 2011

to use or not to use expensive fabric

One more day to comment on my Christmas Challenge if you haven't already!  If you have, thank you so much.
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I just linked up my to the Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes and Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party.  There are plenty of people who have put way more effort into decorating than I with my Christmas Bush, so check it out.
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I have been contemplating taking down my dining room curtains, and putting up pelmets instead (that's a post for another day, but the gist of it is it is SO CLUTTERED in there).  Since I don't want spend any money on this project, I planned on using fabric I already have.  I have about 2 yards of this leftover fabric that I used on my mother-in-law's dining room chairs.


I had no particular love for that fabric--its pretty, I liked it fine, it had exactly the right colors I needed in my mother-in-law's dining room, and it was $4.99 on Fabric.com, so it fit the budget perfectly.  I only ordered 2 yards of it, but I think Fabric.com must have made a mistake, because they sent me wayyyy more than 2 yards of it.  Probably closer to four yards.  So there is a bunch left over.

The fabric would be a good match for my dining room as well. It has the teal and deep reds that are in the living room (and the kitchen), so it would flow nicely without being matchy-matchy.  However, I just read this post on Matters of Style Marketplace, and discovered that it is a to-the-trade fabric that retails for about $99 a yard.  I thought perhaps since it was on Fabric.com perhaps it was a knock-off, but I looked at the selvage and it is a Pierre Deux for Kravet fabric.

Its not exactly like I found myself in possession of $600/yard Fortuny fabric, but still, its an expensive fabric, and its unlikely that we'll be staying in this house past another year.  Pelmets are designed to a particular window's measurements and thus aren't the most portable window treatment.  I can't decide if I should use this fabric for the window treatments--after all, I paid $10 for it, and its free to me now, and I want to repaint the china cabinet red, which will go nicely with the fabric (but not the current curtains).....or if I should save it for something else.

Thoughts?


6 comments:

  1. Wow...what a great deal Lisa! This is a tough call. Do you LOVE the fabric because it is beautiful and you want it in your forever home? If so, I would wait and not use it for the pelmets. On the other hand, if you don't mind leaving it behind, I would use it. It's not like you would have wasted a lot of $$ since you got such a great deal. I can't remember what your dining room looks like, but I'm not sure if the fabric looks like the other colors and fabrics you are typically drawn to???

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  2. if you had no particular love for the fabric before, that shouldn't change just because you found out it was expensive. so just use the fabric now.

    nice steal by the way :)

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  3. Hmmmmm- I agree with the second commenter- you didn't realize it was pricey when you bought it- i say just use it! Can't wait to see the dining room redo!

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  4. But wait. You don't love it, right? Then it doesn't matter what the value of it is. Use it now if it works for you. In your forever home you'll want to put up fabric that you really love.

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  5. Well I'm not going to be much help, because I don't particularly like it to begin with. I say use it and leave it there when you move.

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  6. What @Tiffany said.

    Sell it online and use the proceeds for something special that you truly will love.

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