Purple Rain

I am positively giddy over my weekend fabric find. Giddy.

But, I'm going to wait and share it with you tomorrow.

Today, I wanted to share some photos that inspired my fabric score. As I posted last week, my thoughts are currently consumed by fabric choices for our living room and dining room. You've heard about the living room...this weekend was devoted to the dining room.

One challenge has been deciding which colors to incorporate into the dining room. When we moved in, I knew I wanted to paint the walls a green stripe - so I did. And I love it.  You can see a peek of the stripes in this image below...

Once the walls were painted, I started my search for a patterned drapery fabric that would guide me in selecting other colors for the room. Unfortunately (or perhaps fortunately) that search did not yield any results so I ended up buying some inexpensive ivory fabric for drapes. As soon as I hung them I knew they were snooze-ville (Carter agreed). So, my hunt began anew.

This time, I focused on color as opposed to fabric. Perhaps if I selected a color first, finding the fabric would be an easier task. Naturally, I consulted my beloved dining room by John Loecke. John used the tiniest little pops of lavender in the drapes and the chandelier...and I love the result. So my thoughts turned to purple...

Purple?! I even shocked myself. I am not a purple gal. It screams tween. But for some reason, I loved the idea of finding a pretty lavender/lilac/plum (anything but purple) shade for the dining room.

So, I jumped on the Web and did a search for some inspiring lavendar/lilac/plum interiors to get me started...and boy did I find some. It reinforced that "purple" can truly be chic. And now that I've opened my mind to the color, I feel like I'm seeing it everywhere (hence, the Purple Rain title of this post...Prince will not be making an appearance).

Lavender loveliness:

(A note: Many images are from other blogs, so I do not always have the photographer/source information -my apologies)

Home of former fashion editor Jane Hess from April 2008 Canadian House & Home via Alkemie blog

Home of former fashion editor Jane Hess from April 2008 Canadian House & Home via Alkemie blog

Design by Amanda Nisbet via Alkemie blog

DC Home of Ali Wentworth  & George Stephanopoulos, photo by Simon Upton via Elle Decor

photo by Eric Piasecki, via Roseland Greene blog

image via domino

photo by Tom Scheerer via Patricia Gray Interior Design blog

image from Elle Decor March 2007 via Patricia Gray Interior Design blog

image from EKB Interiors via Patricia Gray Interior Design blog

image via Roxxn blog

I know, right? Purple! Who knew? Armed with this new found love/confidence in the color purple, I ventured out for some fabric shopping on Saturday and found the perfect fabric for my drapes...

[to be continued...]

UPDATE: Run over to blog decor8 - today's installment by Leslie of Color Me Pretty is about lavender paired with greens/chartreuse!