Magnolia Fabrics and HGTV's HomeTown

Magnolia Fabrics will be featured on HGTV's new hit show Hometown. The first season was a HUGE success and season 2 premiers January 8th 2018. We are honored that the show's talent and producers asked us be a partner. Our fabrics will be featured in each episode this upcoming season. Were we excited about the publicity from our products being featured on a national television show? Absolutely! But greater than that was our interest in supporting a hit television show that is filmed right in our backyard. The show is filmed in Laurel MS, a small town just hours from us. Erin and Ben Napier, the hosts of the show, live in Laurel and are helping to revitalize the town one home at a time. Support the show by watching each week starting January 8th. You will not be disappointed!

Front Door Colors and Tips

One of my projects for this year is to paint my front door. What color? What kind of paint do I purchase? Are there tips for doing a great job? Here's what I found.

Planning

Red - choose a red or shade from your brick colors or a nice gray (try pulling the color from your grout lines).  Light yellow and beige will work as well.

Grey - light blues and turquoise, yellow and dark purple all make great choices.

Brown - bright red, mossy green and darker blue shades will create a lovely look.

White - dark colors like green, black and dark gray create a dramatic and classy look. However, when your house is white - any color will work.

Tape paint chips to your door to compare your choices. Another suggestion is to purchase samples of your top picks and paint larger swatches to compare throughout the day as the colors will appear differently depending on the sunlight.

Better Homes and Gardens lists some traditional exterior house color schemes:

• Yellow and Cream
• Charcoal and Light Gray
• Sage and Taupe
• Plum and Taupe or Cream
• Rich Green plus Gray
• Forest Green and Black

Painting

First, wait for a clear sunny day - you don't want to paint when it is below 50 degrees.  About a quart of paint will cover a single primed exterior door.  Be sure to purchase paint designed for exterior surfaces. Glossy paints tend to last longer and go well with brick. Clean and sand your door prior to priming and painting. You can use a paint brush or low-nap or foam roller to apply the paint.

Wide Fabric Trim

What is ottoman or faille fabrics?

A fabric term I was unfamiliar with popped up this week on some new fabrics I was adding - so I took a little time to learn what the term meant. Technically, ottoman and faille refers to a cross grain weave.  First, let's clarify that the weave is different than the fiber content.  In other words, you can purchase a silk ottoman fabric or a wool faille fabric.  The new fabrics I added were polyester faux silk fabrics.  Ottoman fabrics are usually silky with a horizontal ribbing that is a little larger and rounder than a faille fabric.

Faille - silky, ribbed fabric - smaller ribs
Ottoman - silky, ribbed fabric - larger ribs

Curved Curtain Rods

One of our very popular products is flexible curtain track.  It is perfect for shower enclosures, rotundas, bay and bow windows, and room dividers.  This track is flexible enough to make a circle or s-shape.  Track can be installed on the ceiling or the wall with double track and valance options available.  Affordable and easy to customize for the do-it-yourself 'er or design professional.  We now have pre-packaged kits available with everything you need or order by the foot and customize your options just the way you need it.

2018 Color of the Year

Pantone announced the 2018 Color of the Year this week. Last's years Greenery has been replaced with Ultra Violet - a very lovely purple. Purple evokes feelings of wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity and mystery.  We usually associate purple with royalty and luxury. Since purple combines both the energy of red and the calmness of blue, it provides balance to your space.

Here are some fabrics from www.InteriorDecorating.com that feature beautiful purples.

Casablanca Velvet 62

St Tropez 34

Zazzle Berries Drew

Savoy Stripe Lavender

Trellis vs Ogee Fabric

Adding thousands of new fabrics to www.InteriorDecorating.com in the last month, fabric trends become apparent to me.  A trellis or lattice work pattern features a supporting structure of interwoven pieces of wood or metal.  A similar type of pattern is called ogee fabrics for its onion like style.

Ogee Fabric Pattern

Fretwork/Lattice Fabric Pattern

Recycle a Sweater

Are you looking for an easy and inexpensive decorating project? We took an old sweater that wasn't even good enough to donate and covered an outdated vase.  This DIY was quick and used things we already had.  If you want to see the whole video, click here.

Sweater Vase
Things you need: vase, old sweater, glue (spray, hot glue gun, tape) and scissors

First determine which part of the sweater you want to make the focal point of your vase.  We chose the pocket and seam.  We also cut off some of the buttons and glued them closer together.  Once you figure out which parts to use, cut and glue.  It's that simple.  The sleeves make good vase covers too, just cut them off and slip over a slender vase.

Fun Friday: Houzz Quiz

Today I thought it would be fun to check out another quiz on Houzz.  I chose the "What Style of Kitchen Should You Have?" quiz.  Do you ever feel like you wish you could have one style but you really like another style?  I love the Farmhouse look but it's really not me.  I think quizzes like this help us narrow down our choices.  One of the hardest things when picking fabrics is choosing which one since there are simply so many beautiful choices available.  I think we have over 500,000 current fabrics on www.InteriorDecorating.com right now.  My advice to you, learn your style and make your choices accordingly.

My Results - which I am not surprised by: Your style is … Modern!

Modern: You lean toward a minimalist vibe with sleek and simple hardware. You find beauty in the small things, like the veining of a marble countertop or the grain of walnut cabinets.  Take the quiz here>> https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/32108920/list/houzz-quiz-what-style-of-kitchen-should-you-have

Photo by Furman + Keil Architects - Look for kitchen design inspiration

Velvet VS Chenille

Don't you just love soft, velvety fabrics for upholstery? Not only does it look luxurious, but it feels amazing. Upholstery velvet is one of our most popular fabric choices in 2017. Every gorgeous color in the rainbow is available and these fabrics are made to last. Shop Velvet
Now to our question:

What is the difference between velvet and chenille?

"To put it simply, Chenille is a type of yarn, and Velvet is a type of construction."

Velvet is made from weaving two pieces of fabric together and then cutting it down the middle while chenille fabric is made from chenille yarn producing a fuzzy, soft pile. Although the fabrics are very different, the look and feel can be very similar.

Bottom line: pick the one you like the best - you can't go wrong with either one.

Check out this detailed article from Greenhouse Fabrics >>