Thursday, August 5, 2010

Outdoor Fabric

Upholstering has slowed down because of the move, but now that we have most of the boxes unpacked I can re-focus on my loveseat. It is a perfect size for the front window bay.

The loveseat in its current state in our new bay window.
Last night I tied all of the springs for the seatback using a beautiful product called Ruby Twine. Dean used a drill to screw on a 2”x2” board for the front edge. (As a side note, I negotiated the price of the board down to $0.75 from $2.75 at Lowe’s because it was scrap. I am a fierce negotiator.)

I ordered some fabric samples from Duralee’s Thomas Paul line, which has amazing contemporary patterns. Dean and I like the invertebrate fabric featuring turtles, octopi, lobsters, and crab the best. What do you think? Please participate in the poll in the right-hand column!

From left to right: Birds and butterfies, birds and flowers (small sample), leaf pattern, and invertebrates.
I was ready to order nine yards of the invertebrates until Saturday when, on an urban hike, Dean and I came across the truly amazing store called Lotus Bleu in Hayes Valley. The salesman at Lotus Bleu showed me some truly gorgeous outdoor/indoor fabrics that were so soft and also UV and stain resistant. He said that he always recommends outdoor fabrics for indoor use because they are extremely durable, but advancements in the materials and weaving process make them just as luxurious as regular fabric.

Sadly for me, all of Lotus Bleu’s amazing outdoor fabrics are $80-90 per yard. My budget is around $30 per yard. But Lotus Bleu has inspired me to keep searching for outdoor fabrics before I commit to the invertebrate indoor fabric.
Has anyone ever used outdoor fabric on an upholstery project? Did it turn out well? Was it harder to work with? All comments are appreciated!

Andi

5 comments:

  1. Andi! The love seat looks great in the space! It will be fantastic when it's done. I think you should go with invertebrates to be unique, but leaves if you want to be more traditional. I voted invertebrates.

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  2. I also like the love seat in the window. You might try a fabric store or go online www.joannfabrics.com for some outdoor fabric. I just had a lady make me some valances for my windows and one of my fabrics is an outside fabric. I think they would wear better since they are thicker/heavier that normal fabric. I think I paid 15.99yd on the website for my fabric. Good Luck!

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  3. I vote for Birds and Butterflies. I think that octopus is a little creepy.

    Where are you hanging the donut?

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  4. I vote for the middle one because it is beautiful, versatile and has the least white. I'm all about how much dirt will show and how easy something is to clean.

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  5. Andi, the pillows we had on our sofa in NYC were actually outdoor pillows. They worked great though, right?

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