Select the finishes that are easiest to change last, so match your paint to fabrics and and paper patterns. But to start the ideas flowing gather all of your potential finishes and fabrics together in one place, making it far easier to visualize the end result.
Find fabrics that you love, then it will be much easier to find the paint that goes with them than attempting it the other way around. If you’re upholstering furniture and you live near a design center, go there to find fabrics, rather than a retail outlet. You will find a wider selection of higher quality fabrics. They will be more expensive and you’ll have to buy them through a designer or a buying service, but you’ll be much happier with the results in the end.
Select the Fabric first followed by the paint colours; there is an infinite number of paint colours available, while the supply in fabrics in limited. Therefore it makes more sense to start with the fabric first, and pick paint colours accordingly.
What are your thoughts on this?