I mentioned in an earlier post that I needed to do something about curtains for this room.

I wanted to do something with a blue/beige/tan pattern to pull together the furniture, walls, carpet, and wall decorations. The walls are kind of an off-white, the furniture is tan, the carpet is beige with a little bit of blue, and many of the decorations in that room are blue. Since most of the other rooms are very feminine, with florals and pinks, I decided I wanted this one to be a little more masculine, so I decided I wanted some kind of plaid.

I couldn’t find any ready-made curtains I liked. I had seen at a friend’s house some red and tan checked curtains — a little bit heavier weave than gingham — with tan trim, and pillows with the red and tan check on one side and a red toile design centered on the other. I thought that would be just perfect for this room if I could find it in blue. I like this pattern (the bottom right hand corner) or maybe this one (top right hand corner) as a valance with just regular panels underneath.

If I had wanted it in navy blue, I could’ve found it, but though I can find that particular check in red, two shades of green, rust, lavender, pink, and I don’t remember what else, I couldn’t find it in blue. I wanted something like the shade here:

You can’t see it real well, but it is kind of a medium shade of blue, a little on the greyish blue side, not greenish or yellowish.

The only two fabric store here are Wal-Mart and Hobby Lobby, and they didn’t have anything I liked. I went to some outlet places about 20 minutes away and got a few samples, but nothing really grabbed me. I’ve been trying for a few weeks now to get out to the next big town, about a 35-40 minute drive, but between Jesse getting sick, then me, then car trouble (one of the days I had planned to go but just didn’t get my act together in time, someone pointed out to me in the late afternoon that my tire was low, so I was glad I didn’t go that day! Thank you, Lord! We had the tire patched but then had to go ahead and get it replaced a few days later because it was still leaking.)

I finally made it out today. I went to Hancock’s Fabrics first (ours closed here last year. 😦 ). Surprisingly, they didn’t have anything other than the darker blue Waverly Fabrics that could be ordered. I had looked up fabric stores in the online yellow pages and was on my way to another store when I saw a billboard for discount decorator fabric store. I was able to find it….and man, talk about fabric heaven. I was almost drooling. They had such gorgeous stuff there. I got some more samples but still haven’t decided on one. Here are all the samples I’ve accumulated from my excursions.

I think the two on the right are too greenish. The three in the middle are darker than I’d like. There are a couple in a much bigger print than I was originally looking for, but they caught my eye. I am kind of leaning toward the second one from the left. In “person” it is still a little brighter than I’d like, but I think it is the best so far. The one just to the right and above it is the color and texture I like, but I think the check is a little too small — it blends together and doesn’t look like a check. I got the one tan sample in the middle — even though I wanted to bring a blue in, that plaid just grabbed me. I’ve seen some other nice tan plaids but felt I would get tired of a mostly-neutral room. But I could bring more blue in with pillows and such, I suppose.

Am I too picky? 🙂 I give myself a headache with all the thinking about projects like this. But I want it as close to just right as I can get it. I can’t just throw any old thing up there. Well, I could, but it would be depressing to me.

Another problem is that even at outlet prices, most of these run between $10 and $15 a yard. The second store I went to today had a 20% off sale through Saturday, so that helps some. Someone suggested looking at sheets — I’ve only looked at Wal-Mart so far, and they didn’t have anything like any of these. There’s a discount place for sheets and such near downtown and one other fabric store I want to check.

Does anyone else besides me wrestle with frugality versus quality or beauty or getting just the right thing? Frugality sounds like the better virtue. But I used to buy clothes that way — nothing unless it was on clearance, etc., whether I could find colors that complemented my coloring or styles that I liked. It just really gets depressing to do that. I felt good about being frugal but not good about how I looked. I think there is a balance somewhere, both in clothing and in home decorating. Of course, we can’t just go all out without regard to price or time, but I don’t think it’s wrong to want to express creativity and beauty. Years ago I read The Hidden Art of Homemaking by Edith Schaeffer, and she addressed that the desire to do that isn’t wrong, that our Maker is wondrously creative, and since we are made in His image, it’s natural that we would want to be, too, yet we do have to keep it in balance with money, time, family priorities, etc.

Plus, a few years ago a friend of mine who had her own business told me that in one conversation with one her her vendors, he said that Christians in the area were known for appreciating quality but not wanting to pay for it. I don’t know if that’s the best testimony. I do think things are outrageously priced these days, and we do have to be economical, and it is wise to shop for bargains….but sometimes you get what you pay for, and sometimes quality costs.

I was thinking today that I don’t know if I have actually prayed about this yet. In a general way, of course, I’ve prayed for the Lord’s guidance and blessing, but I don’t think I prayed about this specifically. While I was at the fabric store I prayed that I might be able to either find what I was looking for or be able to adjust my thinking to something different, but I also need to pray for the Lord’s direction in this. I’m always delighted in people’s homes to hear stories of how the Lord provided a certain piece of furniture or a decoration. If I seek and follow His leading I won’t stray into spending too much of His resources and I’ll have the blessing of seeing how He provided.

Well, I don’t know if anyone is still reading this far, but it has been helpful to me to “think out loud” and get the right perspective. 🙂