Great Room Rugs.

Also known as, the wonderful double-rug swap that swept me off my feet.  Not too long ago I placed an order with RugsUSA for several rugs...one of them belonging to our living room.  I was pleased with all of them, and we lived happily every after....that is until I laid my eyes on some RugsUSA newbies during a 70% off sale.

Homespun Trellis in black

Windsor Overdyed Grove in turquoise

I'm weak.  I caved.  I couldn't help it!  The price? So good.  The size?  Even better.  Before I knew it, hubby and I were rolling out the red teal carpet and falling in love with our house all over again.  

We've had these beauties for quite some time.  You can even see them all the way back in our Modern & Fresh Fall Home Tour months ago.  I'm not sure why it's taken me so long to properly introduce you guys...in fact, I'm surprised I didn't shout my love from the top of my blogging lungs!  Their bold color and pattern add something special to our space.

And since I've received a couple requests to see how our home is looking these days, here's a peak from January...after my post-Christmas pare down.  I decided to keep our home pretty monochromatic for the winter. Lots of blues, with pops of black and white.  It felt so clean and calm after weeks filled with holiday decor.

Now that spring is {hopefully} around the corner, I can't wait to add some vibrant color to our space.  I'm dreaming of some teal and pink...and maybe yellow.  Plus, adding in a little more metallic never hurt anyone!! ;)

Rugs, Revealed.

This post has been a long time coming.  I 100% blame the procrastination on the awful pain it is to put an 8 x 10 rug under a crazy heavy king bed, with a million supports beneath it.  Hubby and I just did not feel like tackling that task.  That meant the living room and guest room rugs were in place for a long time, and the rug for our master bedroom sat, rolled up, in our living room for weeks.

Thankfully, due to a fun Super Bowl party we hosted, we were forced to cross things off our to-do list...so we put on our big girl/boy pants, and maneuvered that sucker into place.

If you are new to my blog, and my rug issues, I have made it pretty clear that I have a fear of buying rugs, especially from online retailers.  1) Rugs are usually such an investment, and 2) 99.9% of rugs I want to buy are online, and therefore I can’t see or feel them before I take the plunge.  Well one day I threw caution to the wind and went for it.  Yup, I ordered three rugs from Rugs USA...all at one time.

I didn’t know what to expect, so I was super anxious for them to arrive.  Luckily, when I unrolled each one, I was more and more pleased.  They were all prettier in person than they were online, and I couldn’t be happier with my decision to place the order.  {Plus it didn’t hurt that I got them extremely discounted at 65% off...which is the only way we could afford 3 of them!}

Now I know there are all sorts of "rules" when it comes to rug size and placement...but I'm pretty sure those rules are for people who can afford to follow them.  And we aren't those people. :-/  That means I bought a smaller 5 x 8 rug for our living room space...because really, my main concern was having a cushy rug under foot for relaxing on the couch, or in case some young kids were over and wanted to snuggle on the floor to watch a movie or to play. 

And the guest bedroom rug could probably be bigger too, but I just wanted something to give people's feet a nice place to land when they got out of bed.  Plus, it can also be swapped out for the living room rug in case we wanted a pop of color out there in the spring and summer months.  Like I said, we are working with a budget, people!

For our master bedroom, we had to go with an 8 x 10 rug because anything smaller would have looked ridiculous.  Since we bought two smaller rugs for the other spaces, we could afford to go bigger here.  I love the comfort it adds to our room.

I am so thankful our big purchase wasn't a bust!  I think they add a little something to each room.  And hopefully you'll be seeing more of them soon because I'm determined to pick up my house tour posts again!  I might even re-do the living space because it's changed so much from my original post.

Anyone else on the cusp of purchasing a rug??  Anyone else laugh in the face of rug rules??  {Please tell me I'm not the only one!!}

Taking a Risk...On Rugs.

So I did it...I finally purchased rugs online.  Am I the only one that struggles so badly with purchasing rugs?  I would love to buy one from an actual brick and mortar store.  I’d be able to see it, feel it and have a good sense if it would work in our house...but while I’m out shopping, I never find the right:  a) pattern/color, 2) size and d) price.  {Anyone catch the movie reference?!?!}

That leaves me with one option...rug shopping online.  I love “window” shopping for rugs on the Internet.  As a matter of fact, I have been stalking quite a few of them for over a year.  My sites of choice are Overstock and Rugs USA.  Their selections and prices are UH-MAZ-ING, but knowing that I’d be responsible for return charges {if necessary} to get the rug back to the store had me avoiding the "buy" button.  Eeeeek!

This fear has kept our living room rugless, and I was afraid our bedroom would suffer the same fate now.  Luckily, I put my big girl pants on last week, and I purchased, not just one, but THREE rugs for our home!  Whaaaaaaat?!?!  Yup, you heard me right...three!

First up, one for our master bedroom.  Since we needed a sizable rug (an 8’ x 10’, or something larger) to fit under our king bed, I decided to check out Flor carpet tiles first.  I figured this might be a great idea since I could create a “U” shape around the perimeter of our bed, and therefore not pay for the rug area that would be under our bed.  I measured out how many tiles we’d need and it ended up being about $270.

But thennnn, I saw this chevron ikat rug that I love on Rugs USA, and the 8’3” x 11 rug was only $10 more than that because of a 50% off coupon {WINT50}.  Woot woot!

After figuring out our bedroom situation, I moved my focus to our living room.  I measured things out, and figured that I could get away with a 5’ x 8’ rug for now because of how our couch is shaped.  I found two rugs that I love...one ikat and one herringbone, and couldn’t decide between the two.  Either could go in the living room or in our guest bedroom.  Since they were also 50% off {WINT50}, I added both to my cart and figured I'd swap them back and forth depending on what look we wanted to go for.  WIN-WIN!

Getting 50% off on my purchase allowed me to get 3 rugs for the price of one...it was almost a no-brainer!

And then wouldn’t you know it...the next morning I got an email from Rugs USA telling me that they were having a 65% off sale {NY2013, expires 1/7/13}.  Come on!  I just placed my order not even 24 hours before that!!

I immediately called customer service to see if they would grant me the 65% off discount, and they said sure!  Although there was a catch.  {Isn’t there always a catch?}  The prices of all the rugs I bought had gone up...so the discount would be taken from the new, higher price.  I did some quick math with the rep and realized that even though the prices went up, I'd still be saving an additional $110!  Yes, please!!  All three rugs for $450...not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Now...let’s just say a few small prayers, and keep our fingers crossed, that we like all the rugs when they arrive!!  #idontwanttopaytoreturnanyofthem #ahhhhhhhhhhh

What The....

A couple days ago, I shared my wild weekend that involved some fan-freakin’-tasic bedroom re-arranging.  I was having a grand ‘ole time, until...I started moving our king sized bed.  After moving it just a couple inches {we have a rug and furry furniture movers under all the legs so I could easily slide it around the room}, I saw something weird on the floor.

Huh?  What the...

When I bent down, I saw our wool rug was leaving a layer of sand on the floor.  :-/  I’m sure many people may know this happens with rugs, but I did not.  I had never, ever seen it before.  It’s probably due to the fact that all the other rugs I ever owned were inexpensive, synthetic ones.  Wool rugs were a whole new experience for me.  And so far, I’ve been nothing but let down by the experience.  The thing NEVER.STOPS.SHEDDING.  Seriously.  I finish vacuuming, and an hour later, there are a million wool fibers all over the room and spilling out into the hallway.  Shedding fibers + accumulating sand = BYE BYE ANNOYING RUG.  Your amazing good looks just don’t make up for your disappointing personality...errrr, characteristics.

And don’t get me wrong...I realize these terrible attributes could have something to do with the fact that we didn’t pay thousands of dollars for the rug, but it wasn’t cheap either!  The only reason we were able to afford the rug in the first place was because I purchased it from One Kings Lane when it was heavily discounted.  Le sigh.

Since nixing our bedroom rug, our poor tootsies have been very sad about our cold floor, and semi-echo-ish room.  To make up for this, I have been online-stalking rugs like it’s my job.  There are a few rugs that I’ve been in love with since before we moved into our house, but I could never make myself pull the trigger because buying rugs online scares the heck out of me.

Is there a crazy selection?  Yes!  Is it convenient?  Yes!  Is the shipping free?  Yes!  Are the prices great?  Yes!

Butttttttttttttttttttttttttttttt {and that’s a big but}...

Will I like it in person?  What color will it really be?  Will I have to re-package and return it, at my expense?  Am I just creating a huge headache for myself?  I JUST DON’T KNOW!!!

Ugh, it’s so very tough to deal with a major case of FOBO {fear of buying online}.  Luckily, I overcame my fear and ordered three, yes three, rugs from Rugs USA last night.  After more than a year of almost buying from them, I clicked the submit button on my order…and it felt great.

More details to come next week!  Happy Friday! :)