My project to transform my 15′ x 45′ living room/dining room into a Polynesian pop paradise is now solidly under way — made possible by the fact that I found a fabric for the 20+ linear feet of pinch-pleat curtains required by the space. The beautiful fabric that I discovered and which is now at the drapery workroom: Fabric’sTrendtex / Barkcloth Hawaii’s Kamuela Green Kahala Cloth. I am MADLY in love with this fabric. It is JUST what I was looking for! And now that I have it, it is setting the scene for other key elements of my Mahalo Lounge.
Disclosure: I paid Diamondhead full-price for this fabric, although I did offer to barter some ad space for part of the purchase, which they agreed to try. That covered about 1/4 of my cost. But, it was not a determining factor — I would still have bought the fabric: As I said, it was exactly — no, it was better — than what I had in my mind’s eye.
Why I chose this Diamondhead Fabrics barkcloth pattern
I will be writing lots lots more about this big decorating project in the days, weeks and months to come. But in the spirit of not making every post epic, I’ll just start by saying:
- Since the 20+ linear feet of windows in the space is so dominant, I knew I needed to find the right fabric for new pinch pleats, because these coverings would be so… dominant, to repeat that phrase.
- Home tiki bars are ideally meant to be complete escapes from everyday realities. Often, they are basements with few or very small windows. But since my Mahalo Lounge is upstairs, it will serve as a daily living space, too. As such, I wanted a fabric that also communicated the idea, during the day when the drapes are open, of being a breezy open-to-the-elements lanai.
- I also was very keen on the colors of this pattern vs. others I had seen. Have the right green / greens was super important to me for two reasons: (1) I love the pea green in old Trader Vic’s decor and (2) I have two vintage Orchids of Hawaii pendant lights, originally installed in the (still operating) bar in Lenox (my home town’s) Luau Hale restaurant, that I am super excited to use in the space. I also adore the corally-orange in the pattern, the slightly off white flowers, the straw colored flowers, and the hints of baby blue. I like the opportunity to weave these other colors into my space. And, it’s perfect that the field is black. When I close the drapes and turn down the lights to hold a party, that darkness will bring us all closer to the ideal of being shut off from the world, transported to a totally different place. And black is a great “outline” color to play with elsewhere in the room.
- The fabric is available at what I consider a very fair price — $20/yard. And, it’s actively being printed, so you can get lots of yardage for big projects. I needed — hang onto your hats: 70 yards.
- Finally, I love the cartoon-like nature of this fabric. It’s whimsical. I’m whimsical. It’s just PERFECT. I need to ask Diamondhead Fabrics if I can interview the designer — she did a fantastic job!!!!
I’m told the drapes may be ready before Christmas! This project is happening!
Start your decorating color scheme with a pattern
When starting a new decorating project, professionals often start with the patterned piece first. I love that Kate taught me to use the phrase, “Where does your pattern lie?”, when starting the journey to choose room colors.
Why start with a pattern? Draperies, rugs, and wallpaper all are typically carefully designed by professionals to combine colors that play well together — the designers work all angles of the color wheel to come up with pleasing designs that may include complementary colors, opposite colors, analogous colors, accents, etc. There are many ways to go about combining colors so that everything’s not a hot mess. And conversely, for those less practiced, it’s easy to combine colors to make for a hot mess! If you find a pattern that you’re crazy about, these pros have done all the hard work for you, if you then follow their lead in choosing the other colors for your room.
Once you have your beloved pattern, it makes choosing other elements of the room much easier. You just use the colors in the pattern — “exactly the same” is easiest and most fool-proof — or you can add white to tint a color lighter, black to shade it darker, or both black and white to tone it somewhere in between. I am getting a new sectional for the room — fun fun fun and a story soon to come! — and one of the colors in the drapery fabric will drive the choice. So will my choice for a rug, bar seats, other pendant lights, etc.
The Mahalo Lounge
“Mahalo” = Hawaiian for “thank you”. I’m super excited about creating an inviting Mahalo Lounge to welcome even more friends and family into my home as a way of showing gratitude for their friendship and for the abundance of my life. Working from home, and now being an empty nester, and now sans Kate to boot (!), I’ve been feeling … lonely. I’m doing other things to solve for that, for sure. But my Mahalo Lounge is part of my long-term plan as well.
Jay says
Great fabric, I like it a lot – all those greens. I would have sworn it was vintage fabric. Just don’t anger the Tiki gods and please keep your feet planted firmly on the floor at all times. Looking forward to seeing the post of your design board with the drapery material and the sectional upholstery swatches.
Lynne says
Curious. Is this the same window you were working at when you fell off the ladder and broke your arm? Don’t install them by yourself!!
pam kueber says
Yes. One of them. The company is going to install them for me!!!!!
Mary Elizabeth says
Very Smart Move, Pam!! Let the professional hang drapes and climb up on the roof. I can see you are a lady who learns from experience.
I have to say that I have been fishing about for a fabric that will make a valance for my huge window in the dining room, and this just happens to have two of the colors already in that room. So I may steal this idea from you, if you don’t mind.
pam kueber says
I don’t mind at all!
Tom says
You picked a beautiful fabric and those two lights you have are incredible! It was a good decision to find a fabric with a good green base so it will work with those lights. Can’t wait to see the process and finished room. The name of the room is perfect too!
Mahalo
Kimberly Taylor says
I have never heard Mahalo used as welcome, rather I have always heard it means thank you.
pam kueber says
Ooooops, you are right. It means thank you, a very serious expression of gratitude. I knew that when I chose the word, but blanked out on it when I wrote this. Ugh. My brain is aging. Or I’ve already had too many mai tais.
This is my gratitude space. Will fix it! Thank you for the catch!
Jocelan K. Tracey says
My understanding is that Mahalo is an acknowledgement – hello, goodbye, peace, etc.
Edwyna says
I live in Hawai’i. We use mahalo as thank you, and aloha as love, greetings.
pam kueber says
Mahalo for clarifying, Edwyna, this is meant to be a thankful space.
Amy in Sacramento says
Go, Pam!!! 😀 LOVE the fabric! Thanks for taking us along on this latest decorating journey!
Lynne says
I can relate. My living room window is 20+ feet long and floor to ceiling. I wound up just putting valance toppers on the other two smaller windows in the room.
Pinch pleats are an investment. You need to absolutely love the fabric, because you’re going to be looking at them for a very long time.
Twenty dollars a yard is an incredibly good price per yard. Just make sure you have the best lining you can afford.
dkzody says
Yes, it’s all about the lining. I learned that with the first drapes I ever purchased. The maker demanded that I put in the money for good lining. Although hesitant, I found that it paid off so the next time I bought drapes, I insisted on good lining.
pam kueber says
So now I’ll hold my breath that they are giving me good lining!
ineffablespace says
You should be able to specify what type of lining you want although the pricing may change accordingly.
pam kueber says
I think this ship has already sailed. I will cross my fingers that they chose well for me!
Julie says
There’s something about floral-on-black. Gorgeous!
Melinda says
Love that fabric and cannot wait to follow along as you put the room together.
pam kueber says
It’s really even more beautiful than in the image taken from Diamondhead’s website. You’ll see it “live” when I show it against fabric samples to choose my complementary sofa-sectional fabric color.
Markie says
Sounds like quite a project! I look forward to seeing it. we have a den/wetbar/kitchen downstairs that is one long room (basement). We went with an industrial/ garage decor and love it…. but I am very interested in seeing how your tiki turns out- could give me ideas for when we want to remodel!
Carolyn says
OK, so $1400/10 yrs = $140/yr so a little over $10/month to be happy-happy. You strike me as being someone who would manage the upkeep during that time so even if they had to come down for some (insane) reason, you’d/someone’d still have all that yardage to make into something else.
I’m not a designer but even I can see that you’ve got the hard work done (finding the right pattern) so the rest should flow.
pam kueber says
10 years? Forever! I had my other draperies up for 15 years — and they came from an estate sale (I literally took them down from that house) where they likely had been in place at least … 30 years, I’ll estimate. I literally had $30 — Canadian — into those drapes!
Oh and on the dining room windows, I had vintage barkcloth panels that I bought for $10 each about 20 years ago waaaay before the boom. Count that as… $50.
Custom draperies are known to be insanely expensive. The owner of the window treatment company acting as intermediary to the workroom thought the fabric was super well-priced considering all the colors and heft. Time will tell!
dkzody says
I spent a small fortune on bedroom drapes 36 years ago. They are still in place and looking good.