How to Buy Romo Fabrics and Wallcoverings: A Purchasing Checklist for Commercial Interiors

How this checklist started

I'm the office administrator for a 14-person interior design studio. I manage purchasing for residential and small commercial projects—fabric orders, wallcoverings, custom furniture, sample requests—roughly $350,000 a year across eleven vendor accounts. I report to operations and finance. That means I'm the person who gets called when an order is late, when an invoice doesn't match the quote, or when a fabric that looked perfect in the sample book doesn't work in the real world.

I don't have a textile design degree. I didn't spend a summer in a summer school textile industry program the way some of our junior staff did. What I know about fabric and wallcovering performance comes from checking specifications, ordering samples, and fixing my own mistakes.

This checklist is for people facing the same situation. Use it when you're ready to evaluate upholstery fabric, compare wallcoverings, or choose material for a waiting room, hotel corridor, or restaurant banquette. It won't tell you which color to select. It will help you avoid expensive surprises.

First, clear up the vocabulary

When I search for Romo, I see two separate things: Romo Fabrics, the decorative fabrics and wallcoverings supplier, and Romo Mattress & Furniture in Joliet, a retail store. They are not connected. This article is about the textile side. If you are ordering fabric, the checklist below is the one I use.

The seven-step purchasing checklist

The process works for mid-sized fabric orders, custom upholstery projects, and wallcovering selections. You may not need every step for every order, but you should know why you're skipping it.

Step 1: Define the actual environment before you look at style

Where will this fabric live? Is it for a restaurant dining chair, a hotel guestroom, a law office, or a residential client with two kids? The same cream velvet that looks effortless in a private home can look tired after three months in a hotel breakfast area.

This is also where code questions come up. I'm not a fire code expert, so I can't tell you which test report your local authority needs. A commercial install often requires more than the fabric supplier's basic specification sheet. If the project is commercial, ask for the test documentation early and pass it to your architect, contractor, or local reviewer.

Step 2: If the design calls for cream upholstery fabric, agree on the cleaning plan first

Searching for 'upholstery fabric cream' by color is a normal starting point. The color isn't the hard part. The cleaning plan is.

Cream upholstery fabric is a common request in our work. It photographs well and reads calm. It also shows body oils, water rings, and nearly any soil. That doesn't make it a bad choice. It means the cleaning plan has to be agreed on before the client falls in love with a picture.

Ask the supplier for the cleaning code, a stain release rating if one exists, and whether the fabric is sold with a finish or can be finished after installation. If a performance finish isn't included, write it into the budget as a separate line. An unprotected cream sofa in a working office is a future reupholstery project.

One of my biggest regrets was approving a cream chenille order without checking the protective finish. The first water ring appeared within two weeks. If I had asked the sales rep for a finished sample and tested a spill, we'd have spotted the issue before installation.

Step 3: Ask tougher questions before ordering Romo outdoor fabrics or any outdoor line

Outdoor fabric is not one category. Some outdoor fabrics are solution-dyed and made to resist direct sun. Others are better described as water-repellent, and some work only when they're protected from the weather or brought inside for winter.

Romo outdoor fabrics are a line we use when a client wants a designed look on a terrace or poolside project. We still ask the same questions every time: what is the UV rating, how should the fabric be cleaned, does the cushion design need water drainage, and can the furniture stay outside through a full season or only during summer months? If a designer tells me a client plans to leave furniture outside all year, I ask for a longer conversation about the product's actual limits instead of assuming the outdoor label is enough.

Step 4: Check width, repeat, and backing before you estimate cost

This is the step most people skip. It isn't glamorous, but the cost difference can be large.

Two upholstery fabrics can have the same price per yard. If one is 54 inches wide with a 4-inch pattern repeat and the other is 50 inches wide with a 27-inch repeat, the second will create more waste on many pieces. The total depends on yield, not color. Ask for the width, the vertical repeat, the horizontal repeat, and the nap direction if the fabric has one.

Wallcoverings work the same way. Check whether the pattern is random match, straight match, or drop match. A drop match can require an extra roll for even a small room. That extra roll may be normal, but it belongs in the estimate before the client sees the budget.

Step 5: Compare fabric vs paper performance by product construction, not by category name

Fabric and paper wallcoverings are often treated as two simple choices. In practice, the wallcovering supply world is more mixed. A textile wallcovering can have a paper backing. A paper wallcovering can have a non-woven backing that changes its strength. The label on the sample book is not enough.

This is where fabric vs paper performance gets real. Ask about the face material, backing material, weight, finish, cleaning compatibility, seam behavior, and installation adhesive. A natural paper wallcovering may look lovely in a powder room but fail in a busy corridor. A textile wallcovering could be the wrong choice when the client wants to repaint every couple of years. Neither product is automatically better. Both can be mismatched to the use.

Request a larger sample and the installation instructions. If the project needs frequent wipe-downs, test the sample with the cleaning product your janitorial team plans to use. Do that before the full order, not after the first stain.

Step 6: Put a real sample in the room, not just a small swatch

I know designers who attended summer school textile industry programs and can explain weave structure at a level I can't match. I'm not a textile scientist. What I can tell you from the purchasing side is that a two-inch swatch hides a lot.

Order a full memo or a larger cutting. Hold it against the actual wall or chair frame in the actual room lighting. If the room is used in the evening, look at it under the evening lighting too. If you are considering a patterned fabric, see how the repeat behaves on a cushion or a seam before you commit. That single habit has saved us from more mistakes than any other step.

Step 7: Compare total project cost, not the lowest per-yard price

The lowest price per yard can win, but it shouldn't win automatically. In my first year of purchasing, I jumped at a fabric quote that was $3.50 per yard less than our regular supplier. The invoice came with a different freight charge, the width didn't match the spec sheet, and the order had to be returned. What looked like a $200 saving turned into a $1,500 problem by the time we counted delivery, restocking, and the designer's time.

Now I ask each vendor for the whole sequence of costs: price per yard after the trade discount, shipping method and freight, minimum order, sample charges, custom finish costs, and any cancellation or restocking fees. I also ask for a ship date in writing. If the fabric can't make the installation window, the lowest quote isn't cheaper.

One more purchasing habit: calculate the installed cost per yard, including waste allowance and labor. This number is what the project actually pays. It makes budget conversation with clients easier and prevents me from looking unprepared at the next operations meeting.

Three mistakes that show up on nearly every project

First, skipping the cleaning conversation until after an order arrives. Second, estimating yardage without checking width, repeat, and pattern match. Third, choosing between fabric and paper wallcoverings because of a category name instead of the construction details.

None of those mistakes appear in a sample book photograph. They appear in the field.

My experience is based on roughly 300 orders across hospitality, workplace, and residential projects. If you work in healthcare, marine, or any area with special fire, hygiene, or acoustic approvals, your requirements are different. What I can tell you from a purchasing perspective is the same pattern shows up everywhere: verify the product before you commit, and compare the total cost before you make a decision based on price alone.