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northcarolina_gw

What's the new avocado (to avoid)? Help choose fabric for sofa

13 years ago

Time to reupholster (hooray!). I am thinking of green for my sofa's next incarnation. The original fabric is mid-90's burgundy plaid, so anything really will be an improvement -- and an adjustment. I know the "in" green changes with the years, and I don't mind the sofa looking a little time-stamped in 10 yrs (what doesn't?), but I don't want one of those "what was I thinking?" moments in just a couple of years. Thus the wanting to avoid inadvertently choosing the 2011 equivalent of avocado. I also don't want to make the mistake of choosing a color that's impossible to decorate around. We have a tan sofa already in the LR; this one is in the den. Surrounding colors: yellowish cream walls and drapes, orange-ish bare oak floor, dark brown leather recliner, lots of treetops outside the floor-to-ceiling windows (so a view of green). I like reds, blues, and greens but DH asks to please not have another red sofa, and the room just "feels" like it needs a green sofa to me. lol. Another good choice for me would be blue, if general consensus is that green is difficult to manage over time as tastes change.

Things about the sofa -- it's camelback, has a skirt (I'd like to lose the skirt but the upholsterer tells me the legs are too small to look good exposed), good quality or I wouldn't bother reupholstering. We have small children and a black dog. Traditional-transitional style for the most part but definitely don't need anything formal. I tend toward nonconfrontational colors everywhere (red plaid notwithstanding). There is a possibility that if/when I do something about the kitchen (continuous with the den), I'll want to paint something in there (cabs, walls, or backsplash) blue.

So -- here are some samples. Which ones are soon-to-be ugly, which are easy to decorate around, which would work well with a dark brown recliner (should I use light or dark on the sofa)?

Option 1: Spa. Too drab? Or nicely neutral?

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Option 2: Ocean. This is similar to Spa IRL but it's brighter and the chevrons are a contrasting color so you can see them.

Option 3: Aloe. Too green to go with different things over time? It matches the trees outside the window... all I have is a small swatch and I'm not good at imagining how it'd look in large quantities.

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Option 4: Foam (same fabric as above, just from a different website so the thumbnail is bigger). This is really pretty fabric IRL, I just wonder if it's too dark given the chocolate brown recliner in the same small room. And my husband called it "teal" when he saw the sample (not a good sign, maybe?).

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Option 5 is a very nice lightish grayish blue linen I found in town. It would look great on the sofa but I'm not so sure about linen or light colors with children and a black dog. Opinions? I'd probably do fabric protection regardless, given the kids.

Thanks! I am having such fun with this. :) It became much less stressful when I decided to keep my comfy old sofa instead of hunting all over creation for a new one I might or might not like as well.

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