Thursday, June 14, 2012

Go with your gut

I have trouble making decisions.  I will have certain feelings about something, but I can't explain them.  So, I spend a long time thinking rationally about my decisions and end up making the wrong decision.

I recently painted my daughter's bedroom pink and then made a head board (or what I call a corner board) for her bed.  I debated for a long time over the fabric for the corner board.  I initially was drawn to one fabric but decided that it was too thin and not wide enough.  So, I used a fabric that seemed more appropriate -




I felt uneasy about this fabric from the moment I ordered it but wrote off my feelings to nervousness about the size of the project.  It turned out well...but it didn't feel right.  Every time I walked into her room, it bothered me.  It was too much pink with too many black lines in the print.  It jumped out at me and didn't feel balanced.

There are few things that I hate more than re-doing something that is already completed, but I couldn't stand it any longer.  So, I went back to my original fabric (Amy Butler "Fresh Poppies" in fuchsia)-





Now, it feels more like a bedroom.  It feels more English country side.  Since I like to balance everything with a dose of modern, I'm going to use a gray and white zigzag fabric for the roman shades -




I did have to deal with the issues that initially made me decide against the floral fabric.  I had to iron this 100% cotton fabric several times and had to sew pieces to the bottom to make it big enough.  However, it wasn't as difficult as I had imagined. 

According to Jonah Lehrer in How We Decide we often think too much which "causes us to focus on all sorts of variables that don't actually matter."  He recommends that on matters of preference and in areas in which you have experience, don't think so much.  Go with your gut.

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