I thought I had settled on a beautiful blue mosaic tile for the backsplash I'm adding to my new kitchen. I've been looking at it for weeks and thought for sure it was "the one." Until today. I went back to a wonderful fabric shop that I've recently discovered, looking for fabric for kitchen curtains. I found one that I really liked, but I wasn't sure if the blues in the fabric would work well with the blues in the tile.
Fortunately I resisted the temptation to buy the fabric right then and instead took a swatch and drove across town to the only Home Depot in town that had samples of the special-order tiles. As much as I thought I loved the tiles I chosen, they really didn't go well with the fabric. Just as I was about to conclude that I needed to continue my search for fabric, I happened to notice a sample of another special-order tile. I'd seen it before, but it didn't fit the vision I had in my head about what the kitchen would look like. But then I hadn't had a particular fabric in mind. Just for kicks, I pulled the sample out and laid the fabric against it. It was incredible! All of a sudden, the original tiles faded into the background and the new tiles that I'd never considered before dazzled like diamonds. Together, the fabric and the new tiles popped! Now, as my luck would have it, the new tiles are twice as expensive as the original ones, but the difference in the visual effect is well worth it. I'm going back tomorrow to buy the fabric and order the tiles.
Bottom line, it's much easier to carry around a swatch of the fabric with you when you're looking for furniture, fixtures and other stuff. Intuitively, I knew that it was going to be harder for me to find a fabric to match the tiles, than to pick a tile that would match the fabric. There just aren't that many options on the tiling, so I knew wouldn't be paralyzed by indecision on that.
The same rationale applies to choosing paint. Picking a paint color before choosing the color of your furnishings is like choosing an eye shadow to match your outfit before you know what you're going to wear.
Fortunately I resisted the temptation to buy the fabric right then and instead took a swatch and drove across town to the only Home Depot in town that had samples of the special-order tiles. As much as I thought I loved the tiles I chosen, they really didn't go well with the fabric. Just as I was about to conclude that I needed to continue my search for fabric, I happened to notice a sample of another special-order tile. I'd seen it before, but it didn't fit the vision I had in my head about what the kitchen would look like. But then I hadn't had a particular fabric in mind. Just for kicks, I pulled the sample out and laid the fabric against it. It was incredible! All of a sudden, the original tiles faded into the background and the new tiles that I'd never considered before dazzled like diamonds. Together, the fabric and the new tiles popped! Now, as my luck would have it, the new tiles are twice as expensive as the original ones, but the difference in the visual effect is well worth it. I'm going back tomorrow to buy the fabric and order the tiles.
Bottom line, it's much easier to carry around a swatch of the fabric with you when you're looking for furniture, fixtures and other stuff. Intuitively, I knew that it was going to be harder for me to find a fabric to match the tiles, than to pick a tile that would match the fabric. There just aren't that many options on the tiling, so I knew wouldn't be paralyzed by indecision on that.
The same rationale applies to choosing paint. Picking a paint color before choosing the color of your furnishings is like choosing an eye shadow to match your outfit before you know what you're going to wear.
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