Inching to the Finish

I hate to start out with excuses as to why I'm not showing a finished ...well a finished anything.  The tile that was supposed to arrive in 2-3 weeks did not ship until day 23, so we are still waiting on that.  Then we were forced to remove the gas pipe to the firebox in order to raise it to accommodate the tile.  May I just say it was set in approximately 8 inches of super solid concrete and leave the rest to your imagination?  That set us back time wise.  Add to that the normal, "construction takes twice as long as you thing it should" and you have my litany as explanation.

The hearth went from here,

to here,

to here.  (no grout yet)

Making 5 pieces of this tile come out evenly across each side of the firebox took some finagling.

But, it came out beautifully thanks to Dan's patience. persistence, and fine workmanship.

This is where we got hung up waiting for more tile.  

As you can see the existing chandelier is centered on the room and not on the fireplace.  For 35 years that didn't seem to be a problem.  Now it's a problem!  As I mentioned in my last post, the type and placement of lighting has been a topic these last few weeks.  After much shopping, researching, and mulling it over, I have decided to use two chandeliers that I have in my "maybe I will use these someday" pile.  More on how that will work in the next post.

The elephant in the room that I have been avoiding is COLOR.  Now I'm realizing I have to pick a fabric for the drape before I do anything about color.  That is proving harder than I anticipated.

Ages ago I bought this bark cloth drapery panel at an antique mall thinking I could surely find a way to work it in somewhere.  It seemed to have the right colors but it was pre-living room and pre-tile selection, and...well, just premature.  I dismissed it until today when I pulled it out for this photograph.  Now I am reconsidering. It has some black in it that is a nice tie in to the diamonds on the floor.  It's good with the classic grey woodwork (OC-23), and not bad with the tile on the fireplace.

However, in my fussing and fretting about fabric my friend, Vicki, offered me access to her stash and I came home with the following three fabrics.

They are definitely gorgeous fabrics and it is agonizing not to be able to use them, but they are 90 inches long and I really need between 101 and 106 depending on how high I hang the rod.  Now, if one of them is absolutely perfect for the room, I will figure a way to add 12 inches to the bottom or top.

Given these four fabrics, which would you choose?  I realize you are at a disadvantage as I have more information that you do.  Let me toss a few more pieces into the mix.

I also have two sets of chairs I would consider using in the foyer.

Chair #1 goes nicely with this fabric and...

also works with the bark cloth.

Chair #2 goes nicely with this fabric, and,

even though that is a red stripe with a pale pink, it works for me.

Now, keep in mind I have pink accents in the dining room as seen here.

And although not obvious from the foyer, I think it allows me some freedom to use the pink chairs if I choose. 

The dining room is through the opening you see in the background.

If I use the pink chairs, I might paint the wall behind the mirror in pink.  The mirror might become white, and a new sconce light has been ordered for here. PS: the trim around the doors will be painted OC-23 like the rest of the woodwork.
This area is the walk through from the foyer to the dining room, the kitchen and the stairs to the second floor.

The living room has shades of the turquoise and chartreuse, although, they are more muted than either of the fabrics I am showing you.

And this seems a little off key when shown like this. Too exuberant maybe?

But keep in mind the colors in the dining room.

So, do you have a favorite?, as confused as I am?, or convinced that I need to keep looking?  I'm thinking I might be trying too hard.  Just because it is yummy fabric. and I love it all, doesn't mean it works.