Inspiration couch and chair...I got stuck!

I wrote this Wednesday, June 6, 2012 and as I finished, I had another one of those light bulb moments!  Sometimes, I hate when that happens.  I was ready to hit 'publish'.  But that's what happens when something or someone inspires you...or me.  As I worked on this and flipped back and forth between Completely Coastal, the different fabrics, Pinterest and my pictures, I got an idea!  The juices were flowing!


Fantastic  post from Completely Coastal and at the right time!  As I have mentioned before, as I redo my living room, I also want to recover the couch and chair.  In this post here, I went looking back for the measurements of the fabric I like and it was out of stock!  What a difference a day can make! 

That was last night and this morning was this fabulous post:  Upholstering a Chair Coastal Style!  I am so excited!!  I can't thank Completely Coastal enough.  For those of you who may not realize it, there is allot of effort and work that goes into such a post!

I am not, although it would be easy enough, going to repeat and share all the good pictures and information.  Go check it out yourself.  What I want to share is what I found that I like for my living room.

Here's what I have:

My $5 Thrift chair!
By the way, that's the panelling throughout before painting.

And this is what I like from Brick House Fabrics:

A nautical fabric with ships, birds, seashells, and documents with script! This nautical fabric has a weathered, beach look.. perfect for any cottage from Nantucket to France!
A background with documents, compass roses, post marks, and script is covered with rectangles printed to look as if they were basket woven, with pieces of old letters mounted on them. The background's writing is mostly in French, but the occasional English address and postal stamp is also there.
The papers that are mounted have ocean and beach motifs- an anchor, birds, starfish, a seashell, and a sailing vessel. It is as if someone drew the pictures atop pieces of deckle edged letters, and then mounted them to a heavier basket weave material. Other nautical motifs on the background tie the whole together. There are two different compass roses, a shell, and an official stamp with an anchor that reads Maritime something, and then Service A La Mer.
It is as if the background is made up of the correspondence from a Frenchman in the French maritime service to someone in London. Are the mounted letters part of them? Did the receiver draw the pictures? Or are they the return letters to the Frenchman who used them as drawing paper? Another intriguing documentary script fabric!
The colors used are navy blue, muted dusty sky blue, buff golden beige, muted brown, pale grey, rusty orange, and charcoal. There has been over-printing, and blending, so many other colors are seen. The background is oatmeal with fleck. The effect from a distance is of blues from navy to pale with brown, and golden beige on oatmeal.
This fabric is 55 3/4" wide. The basket woven rectangle with the sandpiper, the speckled bird, is just over 10 1/4" ( 26.035 cm. ) wide and about 9 1/2" ( 24.13 cm. ) tall. This is a mid-weight home decorating fabric. It has nice drape. It has a matt, dry look and feel. It is perfect for curtains, cushions, totes, etc.
This is for a yard cut.  $24.00/yd

It is very similar to the fabric I like but the difference in price ($24 vs $7.69) is making me stand back and look some more.

and for $6.99, this was on Beverlys.com:

It has the elements I like, including sand pipers, but bluer than the others, and I'm wondering if it will look too busy.  What do you think?

So this is where the post was going to end when the light bulb moment came.  So I put this on hold so I could try my idea out...



So here's what I'm thinking...for now...

I have enough material to recover the 'front' of each of the 4 large back pillows on the couch.  Although it doesn't really GO with the colors, it will freshen it up for NOW.  It buys me time to look for fabrics that I really want and not feel like I am settling...not under pressure.  I feel better already.  I've been stuck in this spot...now I can move on.

the journey continues!