Browsing pics and just happened to see this, although you can't see the whole thing. Brown & blue!

Squirrel, You're a wonder! That fabric is so similar to the two that I am considering it's almost scary. And our walls are very similar to that tan, although the photo looks like grasscloth and we won't have wainscoting.

Here are the fabrics we've been looking at. This was the original, but the background might be too stark, and we're having trouble finding fabrics that coordinate:

Pretty sure this is the fabric I saw on Friday:

And this is one I just found by doing a search for the two above. I haven't seen it in person and it's hard to tell colors on the monitor:

Hi, Meg.. those fabrics are lovely! In fact, I am pretty sure I have the same thing in yellow. If it is the same, it is a very large scale print-- larger than the screen images suggest.

I have three yards of the yellow that I won't be able to use-- interested in yellow? I was looking for pictures online but didn't find any quickly. If you are interested, I'll take some photos.

Thanks funkyart, but our walls and carpet are tan, so I think yellow would be a problem. And, as Squirrel knows, I'm fairly obsessed with the blue and brown combo.

The shade of blue I'm looking for is not really in style right now which makes this fabric hunt all the more challenging. I've seen the first two fabrics and know what you mean about the size of the pattern. I think they have a 45 inch repeat. btw, the fabrics posted above are all Lee Jofa.

lol, that is very scarey. I love those fabrics and adore birds. Can you share who makes them?

Can't tell how big the elements are on the pattern, but a wide repeat can be very nice in that the pattern looks more free flowing and less regimented. It would need to be artistically placed across the headboard, though.

I think that headboard with the print looks really pretty.

np meg.. I'd have been happy to give it to you so that I knew it was put to good use. It is a lovely fabric-- just toooooo big for me. :)

The blues in your prints are lovely-- they look like a set of vintage cornflower dishes I have packed away.

Meg, get a load of this blog -- it was made for you : ) Talk about spooky. Lots of non-cobalts, but who knows what could turn up!

Here is a link that might be useful: Chocolate and Blue Blog

Oh I love that blog! Thanks for posting the link. But, of course, I'm leaning more toward the Parisienne (sp?) blue in that perfume bottle rug, which is not in favor right now. And as much as people say that you can decorate in any colors you choose, if they don't make fabrics or rugs in your chosen colors, it's an uphill battle.

I don't know if you saw this but the fabrics are from Lee Jofa.

Maybe solids would be easier to find? I can so picture whites and blues and browns, with trimmings and details as decoration instead of a patterned fabric.

Thank you so much for posting this! Wouldn't you know that tomorrow, literally tomorrow, my two year-old and I are going to the upholsterer to finally have my headboard made. I am tired of living like a college student (no bedskirt, no headboard) and even though I am still trying to get my heart rate back to normal after realizing what we spent on our remodel (gulp), I realized that I'll recover faster if I have a nice(r) bedroom. (I'm not doing the whole thing -- baby steps ... which is funny as I'm trying to have another baby!)

Anyway, I appreciate your mental goose, as it were, and squirrelheaven's photo -- that's mostly the shape I have in mind. I have pictures of what I want but our scanner isn't currently connected (aftermath of the remodel -- it will probably take us three times as long to unpack / settle in / figure out our rhythm as the remodel itself took!). Go figure.

We are also using a large-scale print (an enormous buffalo check)

and someone here (wish I could now recall who) kindly told me to NOT tuft it (I'd had my heart set on tufting), as the tufting would make the pattern farchadat. I am so glad they said that because since then I saw a linear pattern tufted and I hated it.

Anyway, I am so excited about yours! What a beautiful, elegant fabric(s) you've selected (I'm esp. keen on your middle photo). They make me think of some beautiful Chinese coromandels I once saw, coveted, and could not afford ....

I'll definitely be checking back in to see what you've done. And one day I hope to share photos as well!

Thanks Squirrel for the suggestion. I went to the store today and chose a fabric for the chair and ottoman. Decided not to do COM since it would be nice to come in at a lower price. Surprisingly I decided to go with a light light tan with blue windowpane over the solid blue fabric. I was concerned that it would be the only blue solid piece in the room and be the "blue monster." We're going ahead with the middle fabric although the upholstery is probably going to be a major headache. Something about the repeat and whether it's a dropped pattern or a dropped repeat, etc. Luckily I'm leaving it to the experts but do have to decide where I want the birds. It's almost like laying templates on granite!

Thanks for your comments rm kitchen. If you'd like to see headboards with a checked battern (can't remember whether they were buffalo or not), go to the link that Squirrel posted above: cotedetexas.blogspot.com. Search for headboard and scroll down a considerable amount. There was a thread about a place that had used some of Kathy Ireland's fabrics, including checked fabrics on upholstered headboards. I think they showed them in yellow and then later in red.

I agree completely with not tufting that fabric! Have you thought of using that fabric for a bed skirt as well? It will be terrific! You're probably going to be done before I am as, apparently, there are no big pieces of fabric around and they're waiting for another production run. But I do love that fabric so it will be worth the wait.

Good luck!

Wow -- you have an amazing eye! (that is Kathryn Ireland fabric) I'll also have a bedskirt made out of the check but since this is a post about headboards only mentioned that. I myself shall make the panels for the window (in the check), but only during Li'l Bit's naptime (he loves to help!).

Kathryn Ireland has a toile I really like

and am thinking of using to upholster our walls (not at this time, however -- $$$), but then I did find a beautiful pastoral red / barely off-white toile (which matches the buffalo check perfectly) wallpaper, so maybe we'll do that instead. The only thing which is 100% verboten is an Oriental toile -- (broken record) my husband is Japanese and finds the Asian-influenced toiles offensive. I consider myself part-Asian (having lived / studied / worked in Asia for so long) and love them, but since he's really Asian (and I'm just a poseur) he wins.

Since he likes to keep me happy in the bedroom I win in that I get to do a toile at all! (In our previous house we had a v. simple, chic taupe / mink brown / eggshell bedroom. It was pretty but the only pattern in there was in the orchids, and as I'm a pink girl who loves a riot of color and pattern, it wasn't my ideal.)

Anyway, so I may have a headboard and bedskirt before you, there is no way our room will be done before yours. Seriously, before we upholster / wallpaper the walls we'll be installing a fireplace and pocket door, so we've a l-o-n-g ways to go. Shoot. Just discouraged myself again!

That fabric is beautiful, meg711, and worth waiting for. I also think your light tan with blue windowpane sounds elegant and quietly tasteful. What a soothing bedroom you'll have!

rmkitchen: How odd is it that your fabric is Kathryn Ireland!? This thread has taken some scary turns! First Squirrel posts a headboard very similar to the fabric I'm going to use, and then I direct you to the fabric you already have. Very funny.

I understand your husband's feelings about toile. I love toiles but didn't find any in the colors I wanted to use, so it was easy to bypass them.

So now I'm obsessing over metal finishes and trying to figure out whether I've picked the right one for our headboard. And whether that finish will clash with the finish on the mirrored nightstand. It's very hard to choose finishes based only on catalog and internet photos but I have no choice as there are no local stores that carry these items. I may just start a new thread here and on the furniture forum.

Anyway, don't be discouraged!!! You've done so much and it's going to look beautiful. Are you using other colors in the room?

meg711 -- you are my lucky charm.

Today I was going to go to the design center to finalize yardage and, on a whim, stopped by the Calico Corners (I'd received a postcard from them saying "Big Sale"). meg711 -- they had an even better buffalo check than Kathryn Ireland's, and for a literal fraction of the cost.

I'd chosen the Kathryn Ireland for two reasons: 1) I had searched and searched for a super-large scale red / cream buffalo check and hers was the only one I'd found; and 2) I wanted the colors of the buffalo check / toile to match, and seeing as those were both made by her I assumed I'd have a home run (in terms of color match)!

But I was never in love with the ikat (bleeding edge) feel of the check -- that hadn't been my goal, and truthfully, I resented the cost (of the raw yardage). I was after a finished room so I acquiesced ....

Anyway, to make a short story super-long (!), the price I am paying for the headboard, bedskirt and drapery panels (fabric and construction) through Calico Corners is less than what I would have paid for the Kathryn Ireland fabric alone for the bedskirt / headboard (not even including the drapery panels).

You know, it would have been one thing if I'd been in love with the Kathryn Ireland ikat check or her toile, but I wasn't. Then I would have happily paid $X for using her textiles. I had a vision and they filled it well enough, so that's why I was planning on using them.

Instead, I am going to be really happy about getting to spend a fraction of the cost yet still achieve my vision, and then get to do more, sooner, in my room.

And I really feel I owe it to you, meg711. This post you started totally prompted me to "do it!" And if I hadn't had this "chat" with you it all wouldn't have been front and center for me. If I hadn't been in the textile frame of mind, who knows if I would've popped into Calico Corners.

Really, thank you so much!

"farchadat"? Rmkitchen, what does that mean? (I am interested in tufting a headboard, but it does not have a linear pattern.)

It's Yiddish for "fouled up." (I'm familiar with two pronunciations of it: 1) fa-KOK-da [the one I use] and 2) far-KAD-it.)

texashottie, I am mad for a tufted headboard (and how!), but as you can probably imagine, tufting a linear pattern (like my buffalo check) really "fouls up" the design and makes it cattywampus. I think the fabrics which stand up to tufting the best are those with no pattern, or at least no discernible pattern.

That's unfair, of course, because there are different degrees of tufting -- some are hugely padded and have those lovely pleats leading into the tufting;
others are much more subtle and create the barest of shadow effects.

I got you. I like the deep tufts with the diagonal pleating. This is my inspirational pic:

I understand the concern for "losing" the pattern but somehow this still has a lovely effect. I guess because the pattern is relatively "simplistic" in that it only uses two colors. What say you? ;)

That's beautiful, texashottie, and you're absolutely right: I think the toile totally works with the deep tufting. I guess I am just so fixated on my plaid I cannot envision anything else at present!

For which room will you be doing this headboard? And will it be in a similar two color fabric?

I'll be looking forward to seeing more pictures!

rmkitchen: I was away for a little while--puppy duty and all that--so I didn't see your post until just now. You've said such nice things but I don't really think I can take any credit for your fabric find. I'm so glad it's working out for you. How nice to get something you like even more and for less money. That almost never happens.

I've got the perfect word for what happened to you today: it was b'shairt--however you'd spell it. (For the non-Yiddish speakers out there, it's sort of like fate.)

And speaking of Yiddish, I had no idea what farchadat meant and just assumed it was a technical furniture or sewing term--or a typo, so I didn't ask. When you said it was Yiddish, I was laughing out loud. It's so hard to spell Yiddish words with our alphabet. And there are so many ways to pronounce these words. I use your pronunciation: feh-kock'-teh.

Anyway, I can't wait to see photos of your bedroom.

Texashottie: that's a beautiful headboard. The tufting works really well with that fabric.

Here is a link that might be useful: Yiddish words

"A technical furniture or sewing term. . ." Ha, ha, ha, ha!
I thought that there was a word "fuh-cooched-ka'd," meaning wrinkled or bunched up, too. Am I wrong?

Never knew the etymology of Shrek before.

LOL, Meg! Since y'all carried on like you knew what she was talking about, I thought I was pretty clueless. I even tried looking it up on dictionary.com and came up empty-handed, lol! So I thought I'd ask.... ;)

Hey, Rmkitchen, I think your plaid is just *perfect*. It wasn't my intent to suade you to another pattern; your plaid will lend itself to many looks, even mixed with a toile if you so pleased. :)

Actually, my sweet daddio came out to visit me and we built a queen-size headboard together out of wood for my guest room. I'm hoping to recover it myself. I picked a black/oatmeal linen toile similar to that pictured, and it is chinoiserie... but now you're making me think twice about it! :(

rmkitchen - I love that kathryn Ireland toile (I love a lot of her fabrics, I have only seen them online though) do you know what the pattern name is, or where I could see a larger-scale photo of it (with the whole repeat on it)? For some reason I don't remember seeing it on her website, maybe because its an older pattern.

Hi jenny -- the fabric is called Toile in the Toile Collection. That's the largest scale photo of it I could find on her website (it's a current fabric -- she doesn't tend to remove designs because she doesn't really have tons of them -- something I appreciate!); here's a picture of it used as a wallcovering, and you can poke around her website to see if there's more.

I saw it in person at our local showroom.