Fixing a Rug Mistake

A couple weeks ago, we decided to part with our green sofa in the formal living room to make way for a more functional table and chair set for games, puzzles, and homework. But in the process of that welcome change, I made a bit of a rug mistake that I needed to fix.

Actually, the rug mistake is a pretty easy fix. I’ll explain.

When we brought in the table and chairs, it opened up a whole new world of functionality and possibility in the room. But we quickly discovered that the rug in the room was too small by about a foot.

This normally wouldn’t be a big issue. Design-wise, it still met the rug rules: the rug touches all of the pieces of furniture in the room that make up the gathering space.

However, because the rug was too small, we were unable to bump the table up against the wall like I had envisioned because the legs rocked off the edge of the rug. This, in turn, made the table wobbly and not functional, which didn’t work for a room change made purely out of function.

But I was sort of physically pained by the notion of buying a new rug due to the simple fact that I absolutely adored the existing rug.

I did go back to the site where I bought the rug, but the price for the size I needed was just too high. I’m not opposed to spending money on some elements of home. But rugs notoriously get the most wear and tear, and I just can’t ever justify spending a great deal on something that will take a beating.

So I shopped the big Labor Day sale at Wayfair, which was incredible by the way. I found a great neutral rug that featured dark blue accents. My thinking was that the rug would go great in the space once I committed to painting the room dark blue like I imagine. I almost bought another rug for my family room because the prices were so incredible. But I decided other sales would come along as we enter the holiday season, and it seemed wise to assess the rug-buying process with Wayfair before committing any further.

The rug I purchased was beautiful. But it became very clear in the next few days that it was entirely too “neutral” for the space. Between my wood armoire, the wood table and chairs, the brown leather chairs, and the midcentury brown patterned wingback chair, I felt sort of suffocated by the brown.

And that’s when I came across a picture of the room in its previous life with the old rug. It sounds so silly and dramatic, but I had such a visceral grief of how much I missed how the room felt with that rug. Again, we just couldn’t justify the cost.

But I couldn’t let go of the fact that the rug had to exist through some other website or manufacturer. So I spent a frenzied hour Determined Googling (where I sort of obsessively search and refuse to give up until I find what I’m looking for).

And Amazon had my rug for nearly $100 less than the original rug company. Rob wasted no time in telling me to go for it, probably because he couldn’t stand the thought of losing any more time with me to the depths of my Google deep dive.

The new rug was shifted into the family room, where, you might remember, the rug was in rough shape. It provides exactly the right kind of neutrality in a room with two very busy patterned pieces of furniture. But I learned several great lessons in this design process.

1. Work Slowly.

We’ve always worked slowly around here out of necessity. Our funding and time limits what we can bite off and chew at one time. And I needed a great reminder of how fortuitous that has worked out for us throughout the years. Had I rushed to buy two rugs when they were on sale, I would have really been in a pickle when I decided this rug didn’t fit in this space without another space to move it to.

2. Cling to the things you love.

All too often, we’re too willing to sacrifice the things we love. That rug was perfect in the space, and it fully tied every element of the room together, including the art and the multi-colored brick fireplace, while providing much needed contrast to the neutral furnishings in the room. And even though I truly thought the new rug would fit the aesthetic of the room, there was always this feeling in the back of my mind that I wouldn’t love it as much as I had loved the original rug. I should have listened to that voice and worked a little harder in those moments to find that rug somewhere else rather than waiting until after I had made the rug mistake.

3. Home is an Artistic Palette.

I call this the rug mistake, but in reality, I don’t really think we make mistakes in our home per se. I think we can have regrets like the kind I have when I look at our gray walls. But just as artists learn more about themselves and their craft as they hone their skills, we learn more about what we’re really looking for in a home. As I’ve studied spaces that exude the kind of warmth that I want for my own cottage, I’ve really started to pay attention to what it is that draws me into a space. Colors, textures, arrangements, functions. And in doing this, I was able to pinpoint right away with this rug mistake what it was that was bothering me. The Colleen of two to three years ago probably wouldn’t have had the language to explain what wasn’t working. But I’ve worked really hard to hone my skills in these past two years, chipping away at projects and transformations a little at a time to create a home we never want to leave.