I spy: A Colorful Kilim Rug!

(via SFGirlByBay)

It’s the same rug as the one I have in my dining room!!  Today while cruising through my bloglines feeds, I noticed this post and fell in love with all of the colorful vignettes of Tamar Schechner’s home.  Of course, I also loved the fact that we have the same Ikea Kilim rug!!  (Sadly, they no longer carry it or I’d give you a link.)  At any rate, Tamar has done such an amazing job infusing color and pattern into her home without making it seem overwhelming.   (No easy feat let me tell you!)  Her home also seems like a place where I’d love to kick off my shoes and stay awhile.  I love homes like that!  Anyways, just a few more pics from SFGirlByBay’s post after the jump.

We’re playing rug roulette over here at our house

Yesterday, a friend and I hit up a few yard sales in the suburbs and I was lucky enough to score a gorgeous 9×14 Persian rug from a doctor and his wife that are down-sizing from their suburban mansion to a Center City condo.  It was one of those classic moments at a yard sale, when you look at the price tag and think “Are they serious?!”  I wondered that because the price tag read $100, and that is seriously CHEAP for a real wool Persian rug!  (Meanwhile, I still bargained them to $90 for it.  I know…I feel a little bad, but I’m a firm believer in always bargaining in these situations even when the price is ridiculous.  Take this as a lesson for the next time you’re at a flea market, yard sale or thrift store.)

At any rate, I bought it for our master bedroom because I wanted something in the burgandy-red color family to warm it up.  (Our current rug is a solid pale grey.  No fuss.  No excitement.)  However, it didn’t work out because it turned out to be too large.  Gah!! (I really should remember to ALWAYS keep a tape measure in my purse.)  So, the fact that the rug didn’t fit in our master bedroom started a domino effect of rug switcheroo throughout the house.  We put the new rug in the guest room, the old guest room rug in the living room, and the living room rug in the dining room.

Here’s how it all ended up:

This is the new rug that we got.  It’s going all the way to the wall here because we ended up having to push it as far away from the door as possible so that it would open without having to shave the bottom of the door down.  I just couldn’t bear to start another project this evening, so forgive my laziness.

The living room looks SO much better with this rug in it that I can barely stand it.  I love this rug so much that it only felt right to have it downstairs where I could enjoy it all the time.  Wheeeee!

And now the dining room has the old living room rug.  (This last photo is terrible.  I was rushing there at the end…So sorry!!)  At any rate, getting three new looks for the price of [less-than] one was so much FUN!!  As Layla at The Lettered Cottage says, “Always shop your house first!” In this case, it didn’t exactly come first, but it did come.  And that’s what counts!

Modern Art Rugs: Fashion and Function

Is it rug week or something?  I’ve got them on the brain these days it seems.  Anyways, my last rug post was really focused on searching for major rug BARGAINS out there.   (Personally, I’m all about being thrifty, while also being fashionable. ) However, while digging for bargain rugs, I also happened to come across some designer ones that, although not in my price range, made me stop and take notice.  These rugs are all conversation starters.  What do you think?   Would you own a rug that stopped traffic and became an instant topic of conversation?  Or do you prefer something more traditional?

Doves & Stripes Rug by Luke Irwin.

Fishtail rug by Emma Gardner.

Adrift Rug by Amy Helfand.

Flytip Rug by Committee.Peacock Light Rug by Matthew Williamson.  (I absolutely adore this rug.)

Dimpled Spindle Rug by Eva Zeisel Rug.

I’m more of a traditionalist with rugs, but I could definitely own the peacock feather rug by Matthew Williamson, and I’d consider the one by Eva Zeisel.  What about you?  If you’ve got a crazy designer rug, post a link to a pic of it in the comments section!

Ebay for rugs? Who would have thought?!

Some of you may already realize that you can find amazing rug deals on ebay, but I had no idea until just last week.  Rugs are one of those things that many of us need/want, but it never ceases to amaze me just how expensive they are.  Well, seeing as how I’ve been looking for a rug for my guest room and hadn’t found anything that I liked that was in my price range at the normal retail haunts (my price range being…as little as possible…on a rug as nice as possible), I decided to start looking outside the normal retail arena.  I started keeping my eyes peeled at antique & thrift stores, craigslist and discount places, however nothing was coming up that was both really nice and bargain priced.  So, as a last resort I decided to look on ebay… and I don’t know why it never ocurred to me before.  After figuring out the best way to weed out the crap, I was able to discover some really beautiful rugs there.  Just to prove that I’m not talking crazy, here’s a picture of the 8×10 wool Nepali rug that just arrived for the guest room.

I have to say that I absolutely LOVE it!  N and I were more than pleasantly surprised at how nice it is in person.  The wool is super soft, and oh did I mention that it came with FREE SHIPPING!  Anyways…I’m gushing.  I love it so much.

At any rate, if you’re looking for a great rug too…definitely give ebay a try.  Although here are a few helpful tips that I found useful.  1) Hit up some rug stores first to see what styles and/or countries you might be most interested in, for example I knew that I was most interested in rugs from Iran or Nepal because I liked the way they felt and I liked many of their patterns.  2) Start with a fairly generic search like “Wool Rug Iran” and then whittle down from there in the filters on the sidebar.  It will help cull down the mess that you don’t want.   3) Stick to your guns on price.  If you only want to spend $150 or less on an 8×10 Persian rug, don’t worry…there will be quite a few that come along!

I did a little more digging tonight to show some of my other ebay finds.  Here they are:

As of the time of my posting, this 7×8 rug is only at $9.50 and has Free Shipping to boot!  Here’s the LINK.

This wool 9×12 rug is more expensive at $275, but is still a great price for that size!   Here’s the LINK.

Okay, so it’s a 5×8 Pottery Barn rug…but I sometimes still kick myself that I never bought it when they were carrying it because I love the Moorish pattern so much.  Anyways, it’s HERE for $299 Buy-It-Now with Free Shipping.

This 4×7 is at $235 with Free Shipping, but they’ll take a lower offer!  Here’s the LINK.

Anyways…these are just a couple that caught my eye.  As you can see, I have a thing for geometric patterned rugs.  Good luck rug shopping!  P.S.  If you have great pics of your FABULOUS bargain rugs (and how you used them in your home), I’d love to see them!   Email me at houseobsession [at] gmail.com