The Bane of my Existence - Area Rugs

Really carpet in general.  I don't care for it.  We have never lived anywhere that we needed an area rug bigger than 6 ft x 9 ft, and I always went for very basic.  In our apartment in Arlington, I had a natural sisal rug from Pier 1 and a seagrass rug from IKEA.  They kind of just blended in with the hardwood floors.  Then we had carpet in Falls Church and Alexandria (yuck) and for our last apartment, I bought a cream colored cotton rug from IKEA.

When we moved to the house, I realized we were going to have to step up our rug game.  Especially since our hardwood floors seem to nick and scratch every five seconds.  Any of you who have purchased large rugs can agree, rugs are expensive.  And often ugly.  (Well, maybe that's just my opinion).  Justin and I have found that Home Goods has hands down the best rug prices anywhere, but that doesn't mean they always have exactly what you are looking for.

We started with this  8x10 rug from Home Goods when we first moved in, and after it was in our living room/tv area for about a week, I realized I hated it.

Some of you may be thinking, what a pretty rug!  This was my first clue that I don't like big patterns on rugs.  No matter how pretty the pattern. Back to the store you go . . .

Luckily, on a later trip to Home Goods, we found the perfect shag rug for the fireplace area.  I bought the rug solely because Justin always talks about how he loves shag rugs.  I was still unsure until we brought it home, laid it out, walked on it, laid on it, rolled on it, and I officially became a convert to shag.

We decided that shag was the way to go in our living/tv area as well.  But we were going to need an 8x10, a size that Home Goods does not like to carry in shag.  We began our search!  We knew we wanted a shag with multiple colors since our new sofa and love seat were off white and we wanted some dimension.

Pottery Barn's Hudson Shag Rug in an 8x10: $999
West Elm's Bello Shag Rug in an 8x10: $749
Crate and Barrel's Zia Latte in an 8x10: $1099
Home Decorators Ultimate Shag Rug in an 8x10 $529 (getting closer, but still pricey)
Ballard Designs Stella Shag Rug in an 8x10 $849

We checked all the usual places, as you can see.  Then we thought we had hit the jackpot when we found a shag rug at Home Depot for $147.  We went and picked it up, brought it home, and realized it was the EXACT shade of our sofa and loveseat.  Also, the pile wasn't very thick and you could see through it to the bottom of the rug.  That's what you get for $147.  Back to the store it went.

We were feeling pretty sad at this point.  We decided to ask Home Depot if they would bind any of their carpet into rugs.  Turns out, they don't do it with their own lines, but with the Martha Stewart line, you can!  Her shag carpet wasn't as high pile as a rug you might buy from a store, but it had the multiple colors and after bringing a free sample home, we knew it would look great in the living room.

The best part?  It only cost us $300!  Woo-hoo!  Here it is below:

A close-up so that you can see the different colors:

We LOVE it.  It is super soft and really cozies up the space.  Plus that's 80 square feet of hardwood floors being protected!

I did move out of my comfort zone slightly for the rug in the dining room, however.  We realized we needed something to "define" that space - and of course, our new dining room chairs were leaving scratches every time you moved them.  I found an amazing deal at Pottery Barn on the striped rug below.  $139 for an 8x10?  Yes, please!  (They still have them by the way, it's called the Darien Stripe Cotton Mat in Coral).  The cotton is perfect for Florida living in my opinion.

When we first laid it out, I'll admit it made me uncomfortable.  So busy!  So colorful!  Arrrgh RUGS!  But after a day, it grew on me.  Now I adore it.

A close up of the stripes:

Lessons Learned:
1. I love shag rugs; I hate how expensive they are.
2. Not all shag rugs are created equal.
3. Stripes are the furthest I can venture out of my comfort zone for.
4. I will probably never own a big patterned rug in my life.
5. It's okay to return a rug that you cannot stand.  Just make sure you know the return policy before you buy it!
6. Getting Home Depot to bind Martha Stewart carpet into a rug is very easy and took less than 2 weeks to arrive - we highly recommend it!