• contact us • advertise • subscribe • Home Only a confident decorator would consider adding two dated Naugahyde chairs, relics from her husband's bachelor clays, to her elegant home's decor, but that’s exactly what Janie Atwell did. "Rich bought these chairs before we married and they have been in three different homes," she says. Now updated with black and white-striped ticking slipcovers, the chairs look as though Janie purchased them especially for her Fredericksburg, Texas, home. "When they started to show a little wear, I decided to spruce them up instead of making new slipcovers again," she says. "A vintage embroidered dresser scarf folded in half and attached to the chair backs with buttons and loops is a great way to extend or change thc look of your upholstery." Janie, Rich and their teenage son, Blake, live in a spacious two-story limestone ranch house designed in thc German-Texas architecture style. Built in 1904, the house had no electricity until 1990. The Atwells bought it five years later. The home's decor continues to evolve partly due to Janie's interest in old textiles and her business. Home Sweet Home (sec Country Decorating Ideas - Spring 1997). She creates and sells decorative pillows made from vintage fabrics, feedsacks, old draperies, tabecloths, needlework, antique handmade edging and unusual antique buttons. Her cheerful sewing room — once a workshop and ranch-hand bunkhouse — now holds an extensive stash of materials and findings gathered through the years. Ever resourceful, Janie finds uses for even the smallest amounts of fabrics. "You can make unusual window treatments with just bits and pieces," she says. The swags at my living room windows are made from a cutter quilt top that really wasn't big enough," says Janie. Denim, in coordinating colors, added to the sides extended the quilt to make it usable." Though a former home economics teacher and an accomplished seamstress, Janie delights in taking sewing shortcuts. She dressed up odd pieces of antique wicker on the upstairs porch with quickly constructed cushion covers. Just turn under the selvage, add tics and tuck in thc excess fabric," she explains. "You could whip up these in a couple of hours if you were having a party that evening." Both Janie's pillows and decor reflect her fearless use of color. "I love color. Don't be afraid of color. It's about taking risks," she says. I used to go with trends but by the time I'd get to it, that trend would be out. Now I go with what I love. You might think I didn't have a color plan for this house but I do," says Janie. "All the colors I use in the house are found in the living room rug." Janie pays attention to the most minute detail. "The starting point of a new pillow might be a piece of needlework. Or maybe I’ll want to make a winter or summer pillow so I'll work from an appropriate fabric," she says. Deep-toned flannels and plaids with an outdoor or sporting motif lend a wintry look. Lighter-weight fabrics in brights or pastels project a summer feel. "My biggest challenge is finding the right white or off-white because I like to keep the same feeling throughout the design," she explains. She tea-dyes some whites to get the older look. Janie believes in using furnishings to preserve a family’s history and memories. You can change houses but still make your old things work if you just think differently." she says. Editor’s Note: Home Sweet Home pillows are available at Antique Mall of Fredericksburg, 1102 E. Main, Fredericksburg, TX 78624; 830 997-6329 and Riverside Mall, 301 Bessemer, Plano, TX 78643; 915 247-1435 photos by Bradley Olman; stylist Ellen Gaffney