Rug Obsessed

Tuesday, February 10, 2015

I'm not sure why, but I love area rugs. I guess you can think of them as jewelry for your home. A rug can really set the tone of the room by the size, color, and texture of it. Since we've been in the little ranch house (almost 6 years now), I've gone through several rugs. I have had a hard time figuring out the look (neutral or bold?) and exactly what size to buy.
When we moved in, we had an 8'10" rug that we bought new from Pottery Barn soon after we got married. That was my first experience shopping for a "grown-up" rug. I wish I could go back in time and tell myself that a pinkish-salmon color rug would severely limit my ability to coordinate a room. It worked well in our first home, but once we moved into our current home, it was blending into the floor too much and really wasn't big enough.

too dark for the space, as were my walls!


So then I found a rug on Craigslist that was lighter and I really loved it. However, it was an 8'10" so why did I buy it? Because a good rug on Craigslist goes fast. Stupid, stupid. Affordable large area rugs are really expensive and I convinced myself the reason I didn't like our previous rug was largely due to it not being a neutral. So, I bought the rug.
neutral, good quality but still not the right size

You might be able to see in the above photo that we had recently bought two leather chairs and an ottoman (another Craigslist find) but all of our furniture wouldn't fit on that rug. Some people are okay with floating a rug in the middle of furniture but it's not my preference. So after awhile, I resigned myself to the fact that we needed a bigger rug. I always turn to Craigslist first, but rugs larger than 8'10" are few and far between. Rugs USA and Overstock.com are great options in that can't beat their selection and prices, especially if you wait for Rugs USA to run one of their sales. Anyway, I can't remember where I ordered the next rug from but it was either Overstock or Rugs USA.

I'm almost too embarrassed to show you what I ordered after contemplating for a long time. There really weren't a ton of "big" rug options. Not sure how I thought this was a neutral. I think I thought it would break up all the dark furniture. This is a pitfall of buying something like this online.
Needless to say, this bold rug didn't last long enough for me to even take a better picture. While the size worked, it gave everyone motion sickness. Also, it was hand-hooked which is not the best idea with children and a dog. I promptly sent this one back. My husband is a saint. He just shakes his head at me and I help him roll them up to be shipped back.

On to the next rug...I've lost count at this point. I vowed I was not giving up, so back to one of the online sites. Again, it's hard to find a large area rug that is reasonable.  I finally settled on  Moroccan Trellis Rug which is really pretty, but it does make a big statement. I think the reason I felt safe going with this rug is that I had seen this style of rug on several bloggers' sites.
not the best pic, but all I could find that didn't have children running around

Rob liked this one and I did too for the most part. It was a little bigger than a 9'x12" and felt cozy.  I will say that it was hard to vaccuum as the white lines were actually raised and it shed a lot.  In the back of my mind, I was still wishing I could have just found a neutral rug (like the second one in this post) in a bigger size. I never planned to sell this one (well, maybe if the right one showed up); after about 8 months I saw one on Craigslist and bought it. Yes, I'm crazy.


Although this rug is a 9'x12", it's not as big as the previous one but it works and all of our furniture fits on it. I'm sure I'm crazy for having a light-colored rug with kids and a dog but I just love it.


So, what about you all? Do you have commitment issues with anything decor-related? I think it's all just a process about finding what feels right and fits your home the best and that can be tricky on a budget. Guess what? I got an email from Rugs USA and they are having a 75% sale right now. Somebody buy a rug and then send me a picture of it when you get it. I'm not even going to "just look"!

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