Friday, April 11, 2014

I'm recovering my chairs....I need your help!


Remember when I made these oilcloth covers for my Ikea stools?  Back when my kids were BABIES?  I mean, wow.  Is that really Lucy?  I guess a girl can grow up in four years.

Yep, that's how long ago I made these!  They're as old as my laptop, and our first Celebrate the BOY with Rae.  Funny how life's timeline is referenced by blog posts and projects.

Well over the years some of you have emailed asking how the covers are holding up.  And you know what, until a year ago they were fantastic!...but then they got a small rip....and baby Clara made it her favorite pastime to peel and pick at the fabric.  I guess it's payback time for the years we kids scratched at my mom's velvet-embossed wallpaper in the downstairs bathroom.   Sorry mom.

So the stools need new covers.  And since we've increased our island space in the new house, we now have six stools.  I'm ready to tackle the project!
I've been brainstorming other water-resistant options to use besides Oilcloth....like vinyl (too thick), laminated cotton (won't hold up as well), tablecloths (might tear within a year)....and so I just keep coming back to Oilcloth!  I love love love that these covers are super kid friendly.  I never have to stress over them spilling food because I can just wipe it up.  And using the original Ikea slipcovers as pattern pieces for new covers makes the process pretty easy--read all about the details here.

So Oilcloth it is.  I scoured my favorite oilcloth sites here and here and ordered five different prints from Oilcloth by the Yard.  They were awesome.  Great fabric selection, speedy shipping, and it came rolled up in a tube!  I don't know if that's standard with all shipments but I was pretty happy about that.  Wrinkle free!
And here's what we have:
Corn Flower YellowCorn Flower OrangeFat Stripe YellowSunflower Stripe Yellow
Now I need your help deciding which to use!
Here's what I'm thinking....

As much as I've loved these orange chairs, and as great as they look against the blue backsplash, I'm ready for change.  So I think the orange is out, for this particular room at least.
Now, stripes would be the expected thing to do.
And this would be the sensible thing to do.  The yellow coordinates well, it's cohesive with everything in the room.
But you know what I really want to do??
THIS!  Am I crazy??
Seriously.  I feel like sunflowers are so not me.
But every time I pull that print out I just get happy!  And it makes me excited to sew.
It limits me a bit with the rest of the decor in the room....but on the flip side, it makes the room.  It'll get people's attention when they walk in the door.  I like that.

And you know what, it also reminds me of my grandma's old house in Arizona, which had a floral print in the kitchen and sunflower wallpaper in the bedroom.   
Oh Granner, you were so adorable.  You even made tomato soup look classy. 
So.
What should I do?
I've placed 6 yards of sunflower fabric in my cart and just can't hit "purchase". Which print would you pick???

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