Inspiration can strike at any time and from any place and most often when you least expect it. I have been pondering what to do with what officially is the dining room in our new lake house. I was pretty sure I did not want a dining room. I was envisioning a useful space without a TV. A space for thinking, writing, dreaming, planning, reading. But I didn’t exactly know where to start.
Recently I found a velvety accent pillow at Homegoods for my living room that I am in love with. It’s sort of Americano and exudes comfort and warmth. It was something to start with.
Often when I am at a loss or in need of inspiration, I will head to the fabric store. I grabbed a few sample swatches of home decorator fabric to bring back to see what colors or prints might go with the things in the adjacent rooms in this open floor plan.
I had also just bought a new solid shag type of rug in a neutral oatmeal color for the floor. It felt amazing on my feet and looked pretty good too. But something didn’t feel quite right about it. It just didn’t have the “it” thing for that room. (I found a new home for it in this house, but that’s another blog and another future project. Remember, always trust your gut feeling.) 
So before heading back to the lake for the weekend, I headed to Homegoods once again and there it was. The Rug. When we got to the lake I didn’t waste any time laying it out on the floor to see how it would flow with the rest of the main floor living area. I then pulled out my new collection of fabric swatches. One of the swatches was actually almost the same colors and design as in the rug. Though I wouldn’t do a chair cover with it as it might get lost in the room, it did solidify in my mind that I found the right rug for that space. Two different things were pointing me in that direction. Coincidence? I think not.
Now the piece that really solidified my direction. Several years ago, I received a box from my mother-in-law. It was a box of precut quilt pieces that her mother, Ida, had fully intended to sew one day. She loved to quilt and did so until she was almost a hundred years old. I felt a responsibility to work on it and so I did…for a while, by hand. Each little piece is a little octagon made into bigger octagons. Hundreds of pieces. 
I started hand sewing the pieces together so it would be as a lap project. I got pretty far as you can see and then I just stopped. Sort of like when Forest Gump ran and ran and ran and then one day he just decided that was enough, he was done. That’s what I was like. Finishing this quilt has been on my New Year’s Resolution list for the last seven years. Somehow I wanted to incorporate this quilt project into my home but I wasn’t sure how or where. So when I arrived at the lake and put the new rug on the floor, a light bulb went on. I quickly pulled the unfinished quilt out and held it up on the wall above the rug. I knew immediately this was my inspiration piece. Now to finish it.
But I still had to find fabric for the slipcovers! None of the samples I had brought quite did it for me. So off I went to a fabric store in Roanoke, The Second Yard. I found a red plaid J. Kaufmann fabric that I wasn’t sure would work but I liked the idea of a plaid and it hit all the color marks so I brought a swatch home to see how it would flow with the rest of the room.
I’m 99% sure this is the fabric. I am envisioning a simple neutral linen slipcovered loveseat so as not to compete with the future wall hanging and a plaid slipcovered arm-chair. I’ve got some work to do!
Stay tuned. But until then, do something creative!!
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