If you caught yesterday's post, you already know we're wrapping up the floors this week and moving all of our furniture back upstairs on Saturday and we can barely wait! The floors are looking beautiful and are a great launching pad for a lot of the other improvements we want to make in the house eventually. Those will come. After the floors, we'll likely take a little break from large-scale projects for a couple months (painting the cabinets can wait!) and focus on finally settling into our home and freshen the decor, hang art, tackle accessories like new pillows and curtains--all things that will better establish this house we've lived in for 6 months, feel like home.
First on our agenda was a new area rug for the living room in the great room area. We plopped down our 8x10 jute rug we bought in for last home's living room in the space when we moved in and it always felt a little on the small side. The front furniture legs barely fit on the rug and it forced us to keep the area tight, instead of spreading things out a bit.
But maybe the biggest push for a new area rug was that the jute rug is almost a perfect color match to our new floors and we were ready for a splash of color as well as something softer and plush underfoot with a new baby on the way. Thinking we would just go up a rug size, I started looking for a 9x12 rug and found several that I liked. It wasn't until I was sure I found the one that I realized--a 9x12 perhaps wouldn't be ideal. I did a lot of taping things out on our floor every which way, but here's how the reasoning breaks down:
1. An 8x10 rug is where we started. Like I mentioned, it limited how spread out we could place our furniture, but on the positive it did provide a great flow on either side leading out the french doors to the backyard, as well as, passed the piano (there is also a bench by the piano that narrows the flow a little more) to the dining room/kitchen.
2. A 9x12 rug was the natural next step in my mind. But after taping it off and mocking it up in a floor plan, it was clearly not the best option. With this orientation, all seems okay, but we really only gain a foot of carpet to expand our living room furniture--that would likely translate into 6 more inches under the furniture to make it visually more comfortable. That's fine. The real problem was the 12 foot width didn't leave any room for flow through the piano nook to the dining room.
Oriented the other way, and our 93" sofa would only have about 6-7 inches of area rug on either side which felt really uncomfortable and narrow.
3. I gulped and mocked up a 10x14--which seems really large and really expensive. This size allowed us to keep the same 10' width that was so perfect for flow with our 8x10, while also allowing us the expand our living room a bit and let our furniture rest comfortable on the area rug completely. Visually, it made the room feel so much larger, too, and allowed for a lot more space for soft play for the girls.
We fell hard for one cushy rug and luckily it came in a 10x14 size! The Baxter rug from Crate and Barrel got great reviews, was soft, and a bold color--although felt neutral like a good pair of jeans at the same time.
Granted, it was a lot more than we ever spent or ever thought we would spend on an area rug. But, it is also a lot larger! Like I did when we bought our Lounge sofa, I bid on a 10% off coupon on Ebay to help off-set the cost a little bit.
I ended up paying $3.82 and saving almost $150!...which basically covered shipping. I'll take it!
It's due to arrive next week so we'll be sure to share in-house photos and all the cushy details then. I never imagined dropping so much money on an area rug, but Chris is quick to remind me--we're going for quality and comfortable choices in this home and this rug fit the bill...and the room. The most important lesson I learned though was to not always assume the next size up is what you need. I almost made a costly mistake. Have you been there?
I hope we love it just as much in all of its 10x14 glory when it gets here! Stay tuned.
Great Post! Thanks for share about Measuring for a New Area Rugs
You're in the final stretch with your floors. Hang in there! I'm so amazed at all that you have done to make your house a home and to keep it open and informative to the web. Congrats on all of your hard work and just know that your flooring finish is just on the horizon! Can't wait to see the final results.
Maybe i'll order one of these rugs. I like the style of them.
I've NEVER heard of bidding on coupons!
Does Charley shed much? We bought a darker rug about this color one time with disastrous results. We have a collie with red and white fur. Every speck of hair showed up...and eventually I craigslisted it before I ended up in the loonybin or in Compulsive Vacuumers Anonymous.
Either way, it's gorgeous :)
She sheds like crazy twice a year. We try to keep in under control with her furminator brush, but I am a daily vacuumer in general. That being said, we'll see how it goes! Hahaha!
You won't regret buying the larger size! We have an almost identical layout to yours and I first bought an 8 x 10 rug (the Lynx from C&B). As soon as it arrived l knew it was too small and I ended up exchanging it for the 11 x 14. I couldn't believe how much I was spending, but it was totally worth it. And C&B's customer service was great!
I had some carpet bound at a local furniture store 10.5x12. For about $500 total and they threw in a piece of squishy carpet pad to put under it. There were a few options that would have been about $150 cheaper than what I spent. I was in the same boat 8x10 and even 9x12 were too small. 10x13 would have worked but I only found a handful that I liked and they were all $900 plus.
The carpet store even had really cute patterns I could have chosen. I remember seeing some amazing geometries and animal prints.
Great choice to go for the larger rug - even on the floor plan it seems sooo much better! Excited to see it in real life...
Thanks for the reminder about bidding on coupons/codes through eBay! I always forget about that. But obviously it makes a huge difference, especially for a purchase like this. This large size rug will be so nice for the new baby to play on. :)
Oh, boy. I am so afraid of the costs of a large area rug! I think we even talked about this before (on the bus?! Ha!). I've been looking like crazy, but I'm also having commitment issues - Scott too. Perhaps we should work on these baseboards before a large purchase like this!
Love the navy. Well done, you.
Same boat. Same boat. I have been frozen in indecision about spending so much on something and wanting it to be classic and neutral enough. I think this one is definitely on the safe side--but a color! So progress. Hahaha.
Love this! The mock-up looks wonderful and I agree--mind = BLOWN about the coupons!!! :)
Quick Question: What program do you use for mocking up your rooms? My husband and I close on our first place next week and I'm itchin' to start planning our new layout!
We like floorplanner.com!
Crate & Barrel is ammmmmazing. Can't wait to see this room come together!
I love it. I never knew you could bid on coupons either. Will have to keep that trick in mind!
We scored an 8x10 C&B rug on Craiglist a few years ago for $100. Best deal of my life ... I still love it. They hold up and wear so well. You will totally love and enjoy for many years to come.
alliferg.blogspot.com
Oh! So good to hear! We have been so impressed with our Lounge sofa from C&B, so we were hoping this area rug would be of a similar quality caliber. Now...if only our craigslist was better! Haha.
YOU CAN BID ON COUPONS ON EBAY?!
Mind blown... where has this information been my whole life?!
Girl. I just gave you a gift! Most of the time the seller will send you the coupon code right away via email as well. It's the best!
Thanks for the post! I'm currently debating between a 10x14 rug, a 12x15 rug, and getting carpet bound to 11x13. I'm curious if you priced out binding carpet and decided a rug was the better choice. I was looking at some pretty patterned carpets and they were around $600 for a bound 11x13 shape, which surprised me as I thought it would be more expensive than a rug! Of course, I have a rug I love that isn't available in 10x14 or 12x15 so I keep searching!
We are thinking about going that route for our reading room! It can be a great and affordable option. I have heard big box stores (HD, Lowes) charge sometimes more than what it's worth, but a few friends have had luck with smaller local stores. For the living room, I wanted something a little more unexpectedly tonal with depth and variation and was having trouble finding that in a carpet--but like I said, can't wait to try it out somewhere in our home. I may even do a little DIY! ;)