Which comes first: the color on the wall or the color in the fabric?

Like the chicken versus the egg, the question is open to debate, but design pros tend to answer “fabric.” Fall in love with a beautiful print, discover a luxurious length of linen, or lose your heart to an antique quilt. The idea for a room begins with the mood and colors of the fabrics you choose.

To learn how to translate fabric into a decorating scheme, a good place to begin is Home Furnishing With Fabric by Leslie Geddes-Brown (Ryland, Peters & Small, $19.95).

Solid colors, especially in upholstery, give you the greatest freedom. If you cover your sofa with one of the new neutrals - a beautiful gray, for instance - you can create sophistication by adding pillows in a rainbow of subtle blues.

If, on the other hand, you choose brown cotton viscose for the sofas and leather for your chairs, you might want to add the surprise of crimson walls.

Strong colors are a good solution if you “dislike clutter or, for that matter, cannot afford a great deal of furniture,” Geddes-Brown says.

In addition to color, texture is key. Imagine a room done in cream, taupe and white. If you execute the scheme in tactile wool and cashmere, you’ll have a look Geddes-Brown calls “urban sybaritic.”

Try those same colors in cotton and you’ll evoke “summer nights on the veranda.”

In silk, you’d switch gears and create glamour, especially if you relied on the shimmer of satin and understated beauty of matte silk.

For a modern twist on fabric, turn to Metropolitan Home’s Decorate by Michael Lassell (Filipacchi Publishing, $45). There, you’ll find a bedroom where the artwork is created out of nine vintage handkerchiefs, each hung so it floats away from the wall.

You’ll find a living room where translucent floor-to-ceiling fabric panels swing open like shutters.

And you’ll find a bedroom entirely lined with gently rippled sheers. Walls, windows, patches and flaws are hidden by white polyester fabric hung from recessed hardware and weighted with a tiny ball chain sewn into the hem. The effect is serene, and intriguing.

Fabrics are a call to inspiration. Saris make wonderful bed curtains, and linen can soften a kitchen if you use it under the counters, instead of wooden cupboard doors. Pillows look fabulous when they’re three-quarters blue, one-quarter green.

When you find the fabrics you love, let them guide your scheme. Move cushions and rugs from room to room to see what kind of color combinations you can create. The best motifs, Geddes-Brown says, “are often discovered by accident.”

By Claire Whitcomb
For The Inquirer

via : www.philly.com