Or, "How I No Longer Have Rug Regret".
When we moved, a living room rug was in order since we went from carpet to hardwood floors. I was immediately drawn to a geometric, navy rug:
via Houzz
The only problem was, I couldn't find anything like this anywhere on the vast interwebs -- well, at least not anything in our price range. Overstock and Rugs USA turned up the best options in terms of modern patterns, but all the ones I loved came in every color but blue. I considered some other colors, but kept coming back to navy: a beige rug against a beige couch would be blah, a gray rug might clash, and a lot of other colors would mean changing out art and other accents that we wanted to continue to use.
Although it doesn't have a pattern, we were strongly considering this ombre rug after seeing it in person and both liking it, but we weren't ready to pull the $500 trigger yet.
Stalking rug websites again, I came across this similar rug (the positive reviews said it had several shades of vibrant blue) and decided to order it and be done with it.
While I still longed for something like my inspiration photos, we needed to get something in there, and I figured I could bring in those patterns through throw pillows. Plus, the price couldn't be beat.
And then it came, and it certainly had different shades of blue. Different shades of light blue and purplish blues, which isn't what I was going for and didn't exactly match the product photo. Whomp whomp.
I was having major rug regret. It wasn't going to be super cheap to ship back, but I really didn't want to spend that much on something I wasn't crazy about, even if it was cheap compared to most area rugs this size. I contacted customer support through a forum and they were nice enough to offer up a free shipping label, so we stuffed it in the Prius and hauled it to UPS.
Back at square one, I vowed never to buy something so big without seeing it in person first.
And then about a month later I was catching up on my Google Reader and came across a post on rugs and saw this Moroccan Trellis gorgeousness:
Hello pretty thing, you're exactly what I have been looking for over the last few months! How had I missed you?!
I looked back through some old pins and found that I had actually pinned it at the very beginning of my search because I liked the trellis pattern, but it didn't come in navy at the time.
I looked back through some old pins and found that I had actually pinned it at the very beginning of my search because I liked the trellis pattern, but it didn't come in navy at the time.
Both of my main rug resources were selling it, but Rugs USA ended up winning out with their 40% off coupon code. (They always seem to be running at least 30% off, which is what is was at when I found the rug, but I waited a day or two and it ended up going to 40% off -- so hold out for that if you ever order from there!) It ended up being only $40 more than the original failed rug. Yes, I had vowed not to buy another one sight unseen, and I knew it was going to be around $50 to ship back if I didn't like it, but I decided to risk it.
And I love it.
J and Trixie seem to like it too, as well as this Boston Terrier we're dog-sitting. What a cutie!
The living room is almost finished! I really ought to post a house tour up here -- that will get me motivated to finish off what's left in the other rooms!
