Bedroom Puzzle.

Since we've lived in our fixer upper, I've been piecing together our master bedroom puzzle.  I thought I completed it, more than one time, but I was always wrong.  Pieces were missing or I was jamming the wrong shapes into the open gaps...

I'm not afraid to admit I struggle with this room.  I've painted and re-arranged it quite a few times in it's short life.  Yes, I've put a lot of effort into a room that still isn't done, but at least I can say I haven't settled for an "okay" space.  No ones end-of-the-day-retreat should be just "okay".

So I'm making a declaration for the whole world to hear...I will finish our master bedroom this year! I found the direction I want to go by stepping outside of my comfort zone (hello painting our room a dark color and then making it even darker by painting over my safety-color accent wall) and trusting my gut.  Plus, I have two big guns that are really helping my vision come to life.

One of those big guns is RugsUSA.  I've talked about them many times before (here, here and here) and have loved each and every rug I've purchase from them.  

Our master bedroom had been sporting a bold chevron rug for a while.  Here's a peek at it quite a long time ago.

The rug was the perfect punch in the room...untilllllll I decided to paint all the walls gray, and our bed frame is gray, and our bench is gray....and so, the gray print rug was just too. much. gray.  

Thankfully, I came across the perfect rug for our space while searching, where else but, RugsUSA! It's actually the the violet sister to our teal overdyed rug we have in our living room.  

At first I questioned whether I wanted two of the same rugs in our home, but that doubt quickly went out the window.  After all, we loooove our living room rug and the pop it makes in the space.  I was convinced this rug could do the same thing for our bedroom...as long as it was the right color.  Am I the only one who freaks until the rug arrives so you can see what the actual tone is in person?!

I held my breathe and ordered the rug.  When it arrived I was able to let out a huge sigh of relief because it was the perfect color!!

Once we were able to get it under our ridiculously heavy king bed (thanks neighbors!!), hubby and I gave it the stamp of approval.  

The rug makes us giddy when we step into our bedroom.  We couldn't be more pleased with the hue, and bonus, our cat doesn't scratch at it!!  Woohooooo!!

Hopefully it won't be too long before I share more of this space.  Like I said, I will be done with this puzzle this year!! ;)

****RugsUSA provided a rug for our makeover, but did not compensate me for this post.  All opinions are 100% mine!!****

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! :)

Plan B

Noooooooo...this post has nothing to do with emergency contraceptives!!  It's about a rug, actually.

A couple of weeks ago, I purchased a rug from One King's Lane.  And I'm not talking about this one.  Its a different one that I spied for our living room area.  It was a great price, 100% wool and I was head-over-heels for the pattern on it.

Fast forward to when it was delivered.  Unfortunately, it sat idle in our garage for quite a few days because I couldn't figure out how I'd drag an 8' x 10' rug up the basement steps by myself.  {The hubby works very late every day, and Saturdays, January through April...gotta love busy season.}

After way too many days of walking by it after I got home from work, I decided I was going to get this thing up the steps, no matter what.  HAAAAAA...you all would have loved to see me tackle that feat...but don't worry.  The score ended up Gabbi - 1, Rug - 0.  Somehow I managed to drag/push/kick that sucker into the living room.  Then I patiently waited for my hubby to get home and help me get it out of the package.  {I'm sure it was exactly what he wanted to do at 9:30pm, after working a 12 hour day.  He's the BEST!} 

Normally, I would have attacked carefully unwrapped the protective packaging with a pair of scissors, but there was a ginormous sticker on the exterior that told me to open the large bag-type thing carefully from the end, because if we return the rug, it needs to go back in the same plastic.

So with the hubby's assistance we essentially dumped the rug out the one side of it's packaging.  Here she is all rolled out.

Clearly, Perny was a fan of it. 

{Ummmm, he was way over due for a haircut in this picture.  I'll have you know, I have since given him a haircut and he looks more like this now.}

But anyway....I digress...back to the rug.  The hubby and I were not fans of how the rug looked in the living room.  Granted, we never took the time to move the couch and put the rug under it, but it just didn't feel right.  So it was on to Plan B...{carefully} dragging it down the hall to the master.

Did I mean to buy the rug for our bedroom?  Definitely not.  But did it work?  We think so!  {Pleaseeeee ignore the lack of sheets and duvet on the bed.  It was all in the wash.  And our room is MAJORLY in progress, obviously...but as usual, I want to keep it totally real with you guys.}

We love the rug in our room.  And come on...who doesn't love feeling a thick and comfy rug under foot while you're hopping into and out of bed?!?!

Also, as you can clearly see...our bedroom is re-arranged from the sneak peak you saw here, and you are getting a little preview of our Craigslist bedroom furniture re-do!  More on that and our freshly re-painted bedroom coming soon! :)

Happy Weekend!!!

Meet and Greet

I'd like to introduce you to some new things that now call our casa home.

First up, our Montego Fretwork rug for the dining room.  I ordered it from Joss and Main when I saw I could score the 6'7" x 9'6" rug for about $100.  I love the color and how it feels under foot.  You'll also notice we rotated our dining room table 90 degrees.  I love how the flow of the room feels since the switch-a-roo went down.  {Please disregard the curtain sewing mess on the table, and the blinds waiting to be installed on the floor.  Our house has been in disaster mode since we began working on a bunch of projects last weekend.}

And now for the guest of honor...meet Owen.  I found this lil' guy at Home Goods for $9.99 and he is by far one of my favorite decorations in the house.  I'm not sure which room he'll end up living in, but for now, he's had a front row seat to all the mayhem while hanging out on the dining room table.

This weekend I'm hopefully going to wrap up all the furniture painting we started last weekend...and my fingers are crossed we'll get our new curtains hung and hemmed.  Perhaps I'll get a closet or two organized?  My goals may be a bit lofty considering I'm driving to my sister's in CT on Saturday to see my adorable nephew celebrate his 2nd birthday party.

Oh, and I DO NOT know how I let this fantastic news go so long without sharing...my hubby and I were blessed with a second nephew when my sister-in-law gave birth to her bundle of joy on January 2nd.  {Remember the baby shower I helped to throw back in October??}  Here is my handsome hubby holding our too-cute-for-words nephew a couple weeks ago!

And here he is hanging out in his pack n play.  {Sorry the picture is so dark and fuzzy.  It was taken on my phone in a dark room...but I think his cuteness shines through anyway!!}

So what do you think?  Is the new rug and layout working for the dining room?  Does Owen warm your heart like he does mine?

Hope you all have a great weekend! :)