A Rug Conundrum

Conundrum... pulling out the big words today. We are in the final push of getting ready for my in-laws to come visit and let me tell you I didn't get much of anything done on my list. We have been so busy!  I did get a few things done and I haven't stopped yet so we will see what I get accomplished.

I am still pushing forward on the living room and all 4 panels are done for the windows! We are still trying to figure if there is a way to boost the height so I haven't hemmed them yet. But I wanted to talk about rugs today. When we moved in we had fully intended to redo the hardwoods downstairs but we ran into a few problems. So we ended up installing carpet in the living room and dining rug but due to a time crunch didn't have a lot of choices. So we have tan carpet. Boring. For this living room makeover my thought has been to get an area rug for in between the couch and tv. We have had 4 contenders and with the 4th arriving today I think we finally have a winner.

We started out with a rug that I got from Home Depot on a special one day sale kind of thing.

 

I paid $50 with free shipping for this 5' x 8' seagrass rug. I loved the natural fiber, texture and pattern but the scratchiness of the seagrass wasn't working for us. We have two jute rugs in other places in our house and those work great for us but the seagrass wasn't working. This sat in our guestroom for two months before I finally dragged it downstairs and put it on craigslist.  When I listed it the same link that I put in this post showed the rug costing $124 (now it's only $80.) Since we really only used the rug for about a month I asked $40 and that is what it sold for. I feel ok with that!

Our second contender is one we used for about 2 months.

source

This is a little more modern looking than something I would normally pick but I was trying to find something the hubs liked too. I got this one from overstock with coupons and O Dollars it was about $60. It 100% cotton and was good until after 2 months of normal use it started to get really bad pulls. The white diamonds were not woven into the rug they were embroidered ON the rug and were very easy to catch.  I have this rug put away for use somewhere else maybe.

I decided to go back to my inspiration pictures that I had saved on pinterest. I found a lot of natural fiber rugs in the pictures. Since we already tried that route I looked too see if any of the rooms had any other things in common.

source

Notice it? Plaid rugs. I don't think I would have thought of it on my own but after I figured it out it seemed like a pretty good choice. The next trick was to find one. I tried Overstock again and ordered this.

 It was a disaster. It wasn't navy (although the description said it was) it was black. AND it was the scratchiest rug I have ever felt. I didn't even bother to unroll it. I just repackaged it and sent it back.

I searched for navy plaid rugs everywhere and finally found  some luck on pinterest (surprised?) And it led me to this.

I love when they give you more perspective on a rug then just the pattern!  I think it may be the same rug as my second inspiration picture. It's cotton but the pattern is woven in. The beige is in between the cream of our sofa and the tan of our carpet and I LOVE the pattern. It was $200 (ouch!) but I signed up for the email list and got $25 off which covered the shipping at least.

So I think we have Finally found our rug. Anyone else debating a big purchase?

Living Room Progress and Fabric Storage

I am not sure how it seems that we are even busier now that we aren't driving Aleena to school 2 days a week but I feel like I have lost time in the last couple of weeks.

As usual I am in the middle of several projects.  I have the blue kitchen cabinet doors ready to be painted so we can get them rehung, I started curtains for our stair landing to the upstairs, the living room curtains are almost  halfway done and I finally found something that will work for some fabric storage in my sewing room and I started painting it yesterday.

I have big dreams for my sewing room. Here is one of my inspiration pictures.

 

source

I really wanted to find something like that blue cabinet. I have been looking for over a year. The ones I found were either too expensive or I was too late or it just didn't work out. Then I started to realize that not only do we have to carry whatever I find up our awkward stairs but also through our crazy narrow bathroom. That narrowed my choices significantly.

I found this bookcase on craigslist for $50.

It doesn't have the glass sides like my dream cabinet but I think that might be better (less chances of breaking the glass.) It's is fairly small. It's 4ft tall and 30 inches wide and it has some fun details.

I got this from a sweet older couple that actually lived right behind where the hubs works. She was telling me how she would wax it and that she thought that was all it needed. I considered it. My sewing room is all wood and at some point I will get around to painting it white. Then it would be nice to have a wood piece in there. But then I got it home in the bright unforgiving sunlight.

I realized it was a bit more beat up than she probably realized. There are some pretty deep scratches in the sides. But I am ok with that because I don't feel as guilty for painting it now. I can't wait to show you the afters- once I get there!

I thought today would be a good day to give you a curtain preview. I have finished two panels out of four!

I love Love LOVE the way they look! I really wanted to move the curtain rods up so they hung from ceiling to floor. I don't think that is going to happen for two reasons. 1. Our plaster walls are in sad shape and I am not sure they are up for holding that much weight. 2. The crown molding that frames the bump out for the  fireplace is right where the curtain rod would go. So I guess they are staying where they are. I haven't hemmed them yet so if I can figure out how to hang them a little higher I will be very excited. I know that the tiers are still up from the old curtains. I don't mind how they look and the fact that they give us privacy but still let the light in is why I put them up in here in the first place. I am thinking we may have to live with it for a while and see how we feel. The blinds are kind of ugly so I am trying to figure out what to do with them. Suggestions? That is the only thing I miss about the old curtains- they hid the blinds.

I am off to try and make some progress in at least one project this afternoon. Hopefully I have some finished curtains to show you soon! Anyone else feel like they are drowning in projects?