Does this scenario from a client of mine sound familiar to you:
“After this last snowstorm, I have had it. I know spring is not going to come any sooner this year, but the gleaming light bouncing off the snow hit my living room like a 3,000- watt searchlight and revealed the bare and ugly truth: I have worn carpet, tired pillows, stained upholstery. Arrgh!
We have held off on doing anything to the main room we share as a family for several reasons. The kids are, well, still kids, and we thought we would look for new furniture, or even move into something bigger as they were growing. But years have passed by, we are still in the same house and we will be staying put for awhile. Our toddlers turned into teenagers, though, so now we are just slightly more cramped for space. I was looking forward to a den or a rec-room that I could relegate the old couch to – and the teenagers too, for that matter — but the living room still has to take the burden of all our family’s activities.”
If you feel the same desperate urge to renew your living space without sacrificing the functionality of your furniture, there is hope. With a growing selection of fashionable fabrics that stand up to sun, damp locations and spilled drinks — wine and hot chocolate included — you can now reupholster your furniture without sacrificing style.
Fabric companies such as Sunbrella™ and Perennials® have brought outdoor fabrics inside with fantastic results. Sunbrella ™ has been in the outdoor fabric business for many years and has finally deviated from the standard basic colors and stripes that may look good on your porch or the deck of your boat, but certainly never were well-suited for anything else. The company now has a rounded and well- balanced collection of fabrics with the same durability standards of their original outdoor counterparts, but they are meant for indoor use. For a modern retro look try Canvas Licheen with pillows in Mojito Coffee Bean (www.sunbrella.com.)
Perennials’® collection of upholstery fabric, sheers and trim has brought outdoor fabric inside on a scale unimaginable just a few years back. With their solution-dyed acrylics and modern weaving techniques, Perennials® has created collections that are indistinguishable from traditional interior fabrics made of cotton, wool, and silk. Initially introduced for outdoor living rooms and popular in warmer climates where sun, moisture and mold are an issue, their designs and fabrics have increasingly moved indoors. The company’s line of plush fabrics with names like Sluppy, Touchy Feely, Spongy and Very Terry leave no doubt that softness and comfort have not been compromised. Some of my favorites are the Galbraith and Paul® prints (www.perennialsfabrics.com) which convey an air of informality and happiness, and can be paired with the Galbraith and Paul® lamp shade collection available through Room and Board (www.RoomandBoard.com).
Perennials’® newest addition, Stars and Stripes makes is easy to add sturdy cushion covers to your kitchen stools and with its light and airy colors and patterns is especially well-suited for New England Cottage style or Swedish Empire style.
Several mail order and catalog companies have also added their own collections of outdoor fabrics to their product lines, and in most cases you can order them by the yard.
Now that spring has arrived, wouldn’t it be nice not to have to worry about your 2-year-old wiping a chocolate- covered hand on your curtains during a game of peek- a-boo or fearing that your living room has to look like a boat’s interior in order for it to stay neat and free of stains? My client took the leap and decided that she could update her living room to make it a space she is proud to entertain in while still keeping it livable for her growing, active and sometimes messy family.