John Carroll University, University Heights, Ohio
Bellevue University, Bellevue, Nebraska

Organizational Communication

I currently own a successful Interior Design Business.

I am an Instructor at Metropolitan Community College in Omaha, Nebraska and at Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I teach Interior Design credit classes.

I also appeared on the Christopher Lowell Show in July of 2003. I was featured on the show for my teaching of Interior Design. It was awesome. Christopher Lowell was thrilled that the first class I taught was based on his "7 Layers of Design" book.

Fabric ... the key to a successful space.
By Nicole Allison
Fabrics-store.com

Have you ever walked into a home and felt like something was missing? Maybe this is the feeling you get in your own home as well. You have spent countless hours rearranging furniture, buying accessories, and painting and re-painting walls. But what is missing? Fabric.
Fabric is the key to using color in a room and also pulling everything together. Let your walls and furniture serve as the background color of your space. Your fabric can pose as the main color, texture, and pattern in your room. You may be conservative with your paint color and furniture color. Go wild with color for your fabric. Let the style, pattern and color of your fabric do the talking in the room. If you are not sure of the style for your windows, look through decorating magazines or surf the net. Do a search for window treatment styles to get photos and ideas. Otherwise, you should always tear out pages in magazines that you are drawn to. When you think of those pictures or ideas again, you most likely won't remember where you saw it.

Let's say you're not quite sure about the style, color or pattern of the fabric you wish to buy. You're ready. You're willing. But, you just don't know where to start. Here are a few tips of mine. Your key to success is to browse model homes, flip through magazines, or be extra nosy at the next get- together at a friend's house. First and foremost, you have to know what you like or what you don't like. What is your decorating personality? Are you a bold decorator? Do you feel relaxed in your space? What colors relax you? I say this because; you can't look through magazines and decorate like someone else. You have to look for ideas and decorate like...yourself.

Find out what kind of window treatment styles you are attracted to. Do you like whimsical, flowing fabric? Are you attracted to box- pleated masculane valences? Are you interested in simple swags with funky finials? This will help you decide mostly how much fabric you will need. Next, you should look at color. Remember your paint color and furniture should pose as the background in a room. The fabric is your popper. It is your color. It is your pattern. Let the fabric do the talking.

When it comes to picking out color in a room, use the color wheel. You can download any color wheel on the Internet or just view one after surfing the web. The color wheel poses as a guide to which colors compliment each other. The colors that are directly across from each other on the color wheel are complimentary to each other. They intensify each other. So, let's say that you painted your walls a sage green. Your upholstered furniture is Taupe. Your fabric color should compliment the green walls. Find a subtle red for the fabric. Red and Green compliment each other. Remember Christmas? So, what's after color?

Patter is the key to your success in any room. So what does the pattern do exactly? It adds pizzazz. What if you had plain walls, plain furniture, and plain fabric? Uh, excuse me? I am falling asleep just thinking about it. Use the fabric for your pattern. Go bold. By the time the fabric is sewn into a style, the bold, large, patterns are gathered, cut, and basically downsized after they are put up. So, don't be afraid. Go wild.

Another hint I should mention. You can use up to three fabric patterns in a room. Now stay with me here. Here is what I mean. Don’t put 100% of your fantastic, floral fabric on the windows and nothing else. Use the 60-30-10 rule for fabric balance. Use 60% of your favorite, dominant fabric pattern in a room. This is most likely the window treatment. Next, choose an accent fabric. This is usually a stripe, check, etc. Use this accent fabric as 30% of your room's pattern. You can use this fabric as the throw pillows for the couch or bed. Last, find one more accenting fabric. This should be textured and plain. Use this fabric as your 10%. This can be a table runner, or maybe some trim around the pillows.

You are on the right track now. Seek, and you shall find. Knowing what you like (and even what you don't like) can help you so much while you decorate. After all, when you walk in an art museum, you don't have to ask others if you "like" a piece of art. You either do or you don't. You have to get to know your own decorating personality. When you do, you will have more confidence. Confidence equals completed projects. Confidence equals completed spaces. Confidence equals a relaxing atmosphere. What more could you ask for?