A Touch of Whimsy

I've decided to add some whimsy to my house.  I looked around the other day and realized it was getting a little too stuffy in here.  I think it's really easy to pigeonhole yourself into a certain style and forget to have fun.  The first thing I'm going to work on is my foyer bench.  I want people to know we're a fun family as soon as they walk in the door.  A few days ago I found the fabric above with the kids holding the balloons and I couldn't get it out of my head.  It feels so carefree and for some reason I found myself daydreaming of traveling to far off places.  Then I found Alice.  I've become obsessed, completely mad (pardon the pun) over it.  I love the color palette and the intensity of the colors.  As a child I've always loved the story and the decadence of the fashion, the cakes and the tea party.  It may be just perfect for my little black bench, even though I have boys.  Which one do you like?

These fabrics are from This and That From Japan through Etsy and Harts Fabric.  The crazy thing is that even the fabrics from Harts are from the the Japanese category.  It just seems like these fabrics strike the right balance between sophistication and whimsy.  I'm going to add Japanese prints to my radar in the future.  Look for my bench in a future post to see which fabric I chose!