Life is to be Lived! Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff

Last month I started thinking about updating my living room. Everything I was drawn to revolved around the light, airy tones of grey, beige and even off-white. For me, personally, the linen-looking fabrics were the most appealing. Those colors seem to give the clean, comfortable look I am striving for.

Wow … stop right there. We live in our living room. All entertainment takes place in our living room. I’m ashamed to admit that the cocktail table doubles as a dining table quite often. And when the grandkids come over, we usually have movie night … and that always requires popcorn. Considering the hazards of food and drink, I already have two strikes against my airy, linen, not-easily-cleanable fabric choice.

Oh, and I can’t forget about the dogs. Rule number one: No dogs allowed on the sofa. When I leave the house, that rule seems to fly out the window. However, we love our four-legged family members, so we continue to accommodate them.

Three strikes—I started to ponder my options. Can I change the family? Probably not. Well, I could do a light, neutral leather. No, that’s not the look I want. With a little research I think I’ve come up with a solution.

The furniture industry today has “performance fabrics.” Let me share with you the qualities of these fabrics: They are durable, cleanable, water-repellent and fade-resistant. Is this a dream come true? These fabrics even come with a three-year warranty, which is not normal. Fabrics usually do not have a warranty at all. They also boast that they are stain-resistant and bleach-cleanable. I’m loving this story!

At Longstreet Living, we carry many furniture lines but one brand in particular offers “performance” fabrics: England Furniture. England Furniture offers the Revolution fabric line, which uses polypropylene. Polypropylene is a by-product of the oil refining and natural gas businesses, upcycling something that would have normally been thrown away. This is a win-win for all.

I started to focus on what fabrics would be available. There is a great selection to choose from, with many textures and color tones. The fabric choices offered will fit into anyone’s decorating style. So, with these available fabrics, I am going to give it a try and order that off-white linen-look sofa that I had only dreamt about a few weeks ago. Guess I better get busy with the new paint and carpet.

Stop by Longstreet Living sometime and let us show you the high-performance fabrics that could work for your family so that you can live life and not have to sweat the small stuff.