What's my style? I thought I knew...

I headed over to Joann Fabrics last night to get some inspiration for a project that is mum for now, and while I was there, I thought I'd take a look at the fabrics.  I'm going to make panels for the dining room makeover instead of buying them, so they're super-personal and homemade. 

Sure, it's easy to just go to Target or Lowe's and pick up some panels, but I'll probably hate them in 2 or 5 years, and will wish that I had paid more attention the first time and picked something that was just right.  I felt like that about my father-daughter dance song at my wedding.  Can't get it out of my head.  I should have chosen that Beatles song that he used to sing to me - still can't pinpoint the name of it, but whenever I hear it I think of him, so why didn't we dance to it?  Because I took the easy route and decided that wasn't one of the details I wanted to spend my energy on.  The result:  we danced to some country song I liked at the time, but can't sing in my head today.  Bad.  Choice.

So, it's decided that I'm choosing fabric and making my own, but now we get into my indecisiveness.  You all remember the paint debacle.  I won't explain as to not open old wounds, but I tend to over-analyze things and think them to death before committing.  I don't think I've always been like that, but it's done and I can't change it now.  This makes picking the perfect fabric more difficult than what I'm having for dinner or which movie I want to watch instead of doing homework.

A few things I know for sure:

• home-made
• 2 floor-to-almost-ceiling panels
• hung using hooks instead of sewing in a rod pocket
• bold-ish pattern to bring life into the room
• contain colors that can be used with complementing accessories

Here are some samples I found last night, along with some commentary/insight into my indecisive brain (seriously, they should study it when I die).  The top color on the paint chip is the one that will be on the walls:

I like both of these muted stripes with red/pink in them. I hope to bring in red somewhere in the room to brighten it. Everything else will be wood, sage, or khaki, so we need a splash of something fun!

This one is also muted and contains the reds I'm looking for, but it looks a little southwestern in person. Less homey, more Aztec-y...?

This one's girly and more formal, and I think that's why I like it. It's classic, tasteful, and lovely. Too bad it doesn't make me wanna buy it.

This is the first of the funky ones I saw - love the circles, the colors are perfect, but I think it would bore me very quickly and I'd be going through this process again in a year or so. That's bad.

Love. Love. Love this fabric! Unfortch I've only found one other person who loves it as much as I do. If that's any indication of the odds of a dinner guest wanting to sit in a room with this on the windows, it's not looking good. So do I choose one for me, or for my potential guests?

This one reminds me of a shower curtain a friend has. It's pretty, but everytime I look at it I'll think of a bathroom. Probably not the vision I need when I'm eating my Thanksgiving turkey.

Another funky one. I love it, but it's a little Grandma-ish. I love the paisley, and this is sort of a crushed velvet-and it matches the paint perfectly! Not sure how the crushed velvet would play with the suede finish under the chair rail.

More stripes, more red, but bolder. Thoughts?

A co-worker told me about u-fab, a fab (get it) fabric store in the Fan that has drapery fabric on the cheap!  I checked out their site, and some of their stuff is $2.99 a yard!  WOAH!  Also heard about the Interior Outlet, which is so close to home and super cute. 

I need to do this right the first time, and not just pick one to get curtain panels up - so as long as it takes to the the fabric, I'll be looking :)