Mentally amortize the cost over the proposed useful life. It will seem so reasonable... :-)

I can't help you out but I almost ordered Palimpsest yesterday. I'm reading the new book about Janet, Jackie, and Lee. lol. It's very good.

What colors are you using?

Oh by Gore Vidal.

Brown on off-white. High 1970s late modernism. If I find something. If I'd done the custom something a bit different.

Well the problem with amortization is that sure, it's been in the same fabric for forty years and I'd never cover it again myself...but it would likely work out the same way in cheaper fabric as well.

Is it worth it to hold out for a better price on what you want? Does really expensive fabric like you want ever go on sale?

I'm no help. A few years ago Marcolo helped me pick out the perfect chair for my living room. It's way beyond what I can justify. So, I still have no chair. I have found no chair I like as well. Now I have three people coming to stay and we will all line up like pigeons to watch TV.

Tonight I just found another >15 year old raincoat identical to the one I lost over a year ago on eBay. Keep the faith and keep looking!

Pal, back in the 70's I absolutely loved brown and off-white decor. I hope you can find what you need. Just don't do a brown shag carpet. ;)

pal, years ago there was a wonderful fabric store in our area that had been there from before my Mom was a child. It was run by a really old guy and the place was rather large. But the best part was they had a basement that was full of their old fabrics they never sold, many of them vintage. It was incredible going through them all. Best part...they were often $2 a yard. We found fabric for Mom's condo down there and it was perfect...vintage, but perfect. Unfortunately, they, like so many other fabric stores, are long gone.

If you find yourself in Springfield MA some time, be sure to check out Osgood's...largest fabric store I've ever been in. This picture would be less than 10% of the place...note the bolts packed up to the ceiling in the back....and they have more in a warehouse. Odds are you can find something that works there.

The key to what I will be doing in this room is that the fabric and the wallpaper match. This did not used to be such a daunting proposition as it is now.

So it pretty much leaves me with a hand-print where they run the pattern on fabric or on wallcovering--or--I can go with a company like Robert Allen, who will paperback most of their fabrics for use as wallcovering without costing an arm and a leg.

Unfortunately it's a kind of 100% or 0% proposition, I either find something that completely fits the bill at a price I can afford or I don't and I do something completely different.

There are actually a fair number of possibilites if I would be willing to do a large scale botanical. In the mid-70s my parent's looked at doing something like Schumacher's Pyne Hollyhock on the walls, drapes and bedding in their bedroom and it was too floral for my dad and too expensive for my mom. But it would have been really nice. But I don't want a floral so much, so I am looking at trying to find a geometric or controlled pattern in a rather specific set of colors, that comes as both fabric and wallcovering, and will not hit 5 figures when all is said and done.

I set up a lot of roadblocks for myself. This is why we continue to buy a Powerball ticket every Wednesday and Saturday despite knowing it is a ridiculous investment.

Ah I see...well that does make for a lot of "look"! :)

If you find the right fabric cheap enough, upholster the walls. Very vintage, and done with a light touch, not at all 70’s Elvis Game Room. This is actually a very nice look in a bit milder fabric.

Pal, is this what you mean by colorways, matching fabric with wallpaper? If so, love the look.

Yes. Thibaut has a lot of this but very traditional and not quite right for the house. I think it would be great stuff in a large traditional house but my house is small and modernist.

$150 to $160 for the fabric really doesn't sound that bad. I love those allover rooms -- some are so beautifully done, but I think almost all of the ones I've seen have been more traditional. It would be amazing to see this with a more modernist approach.

Crossing my fingers for your Powerball victory : ) .

Hit those 4th Street fabric stores!

Cover the wall with fabric. https://www.thespruce.com/cover-your-walls-with-fabric-452675

Whatever you choose I'm sure it will end up looking fabulous. Would you please give me a short definition of "Colorway?" I've seen the term used before, other than colorway yarn, lol, but there is no definition online for it's use in decorating.

Colorway is a way of grouping fabrics by a common color, or fabrics which coordinate with each other.

So, for example, a company that does prints may use a particular pigment on various fabrics, so they may have a bunch of patterns offered in the "New Shrimp on Natural" or "New Shrimp on White"--and they should all work together.

Or, there is a predominant color in the fabric and they are grouped by that color even though there are other colors in the fabric. If Celadon predominates, there may be a bunch of fabrics in the Celadon colorway.

Or, like Robert Allen, the colors may be Booked in sets that more or less work together and the Set is given a name. They have books called "Chalkboard" and "Navy Blazer" and names like that, and the various fabrics may have predominant colors of their own, but they coordinate somehow.

These are the sorts of things I am looking at, the top picture conceptually what this looks like when you do it. The bottom three in row are the local semi-custom options, or I could pick a color from their palette, and this would be the most expensive option.

I was looking through this website earlier.

Lynn Chalk

My favorite is the pattern shown on the chairs.

I have to see how this brown will play out with the finish on the kitchen cabinets (planned finish) and with the tile that may be used in the kitchen. It is a taupey palette so the brown has to be right, even though they are two different rooms. They will be adjacent. I think the brown should work, but maybe one of the pinker browns at the bottom would be better, I don't know.

I don't think I've ever seen this kind of look done in a modernist style either. I hope you manage it, palimpsest, because it's WOW. Sophie's idea of upholstering the walls might be a great solution. I've read that anything can be used to "wallpaper" walls as long as the right protective coating is applied. (Of course, I don't recall offhand what that coating might be.) Allison, thanks for sharing that website - beautiful stuff!

partim, I just noticed your how-to link. They make it seem sooo easy....

Pal, that first picture is from Quadrille. It's Arbre de Matisse, and Billy Baldwin used it back in the 60's. Quadrille has several fabric/wallpaper combos but are definitely not cheap. I did my kid's bathroom in Cap Ferrat, which looked great, but was damaged by soap and toothpaste.

Others, color removed

Yes, I am mostly looking at Quadrille and a local place. I like that the Quadrille is available in a Sunbrella like fabric. The top four are Quadrille/Alan Campbell/ China Seas.

The problem with doing all fabric is the expense of the fabric with these options. Covering the walls with fabric, despite the fact this room is going to be about the size of a bathroom, would push the fabric budget alone, (no labor for upholstery or drapery fabrication or the walls) into the five figures. I've seen it, but its not in my budget.

Pal, consider checking out Osgood Textile, like Annie suggested. I have bought upholstery and other fabric from their last 3 locations over the years and have never been disappointed. Note they moved across the river to West Springfield over 10 years ago, They have an online store, also. From the website:

Today's Park Street location, with over 72,000 sq. ft. of showroom and retail space, opened its doors in 2004 and is now one of the largest fabric stores in the country, sourcing fine fabrics at discount prices from all over the world.

Osgood's is known for having unusual fabrics – cashmere, silks, vintage fabrics and more wools than anyone in the U.S. – and keeps 15,000 different drapery prints in stock at all times.

"Our fabric knowledge is unparalleled and we don't get undersold by anyone ever," says Bob. "We buy mill-direct on everything and are known as a deep discounter. We have customers from all over the country – theatre groups, fashion designers, costumers as well as individuals – because of the breadth and depth of our offering. There's nothing we don't carry."

Osgood Textile | 333 Park Street | West Springfield, MA 01089 | (888) 674-6638 | info@osgoodtextile.com

Visit our e-commerce site at www.onlinefabricstore.net.

I will, because I have time, really. This particular room is probably last on the agenda in terms of decorating it in a particular way. There is so much more than needs to be done first. However, I do try to think of everything all at once, so I can work toward a common end point.

pal, I love Colorways. You are right, they have to be done right to look really good. And, they are so cozy and warm.

My pre-teen room back in the day, had a colorway of Thibaut green/peach smallish striped wallpaper on all the walls and a floral bed and the fabric on chair in a big stripe. Most of the color was the green and they flowed so well together. My mom could have been a decorator-she seemed before her time in decorating.

You should have seen my dorm room in college-my mom even had carpet professionally put down in our room-peach and brown were the colors-remember those? LOL

Thought I would share this photo from the latest issue of House Beautiful, which I finally got around to looking through last night. Sorry for the crappy iPad photo. He walls are done in the fabric.

Is there anywhere near you that has bolts of discontinued fabrics? That would make it affordable.

It's quite possible that the room may play out just as well with the walls and drapes done in the Quadrille and the sofa could be in Naugahyde that matched the ground of the fabric. I have nothing against vinyl and durability is important in the room. (There will also be brown painted built ins in the room).

Pal, I feel like I'm getting teased with all your cool kitchen and "all-over" room ideas. Are we going to get to see the finished projects down the road? If you don't feel comfortable showing on this site can we get a "mail" with a link?

I am not sure Gardenweb will exist by the time those two rooms get done.

Oh poo! I especially want to see the copper range in your future kitchen.

I may have those restored this year so you may see them in isolation.

Are those Chambers really outrageously expensive to restore? There has been a 1941 "b" white on my local CL forever. They are asking $700 but I have no idea if that's a good price.

Would this company work? They custom print wallpaper and fabric at prices much less than you were mentioning, although no Sunbrella. This link shows their woven fabrics. They have designs, or you can design your own.

https://www.spoonflower.com/spoonflower_fabrics

There's a Copper C for sale on ebay for $13,000, and was a D for $8000, so yes the full ranges are pricey to restore. The smaller cooktops and wall ovens a little less. Some areas you can't reinstall unrestored ones without modern safety features.

Another Schumacher room.