Bedroom Rug Bust

Oh crap.  I finally pulled the trigger on March 4th and ordered two area rugs for my Mistress Bedroom.

I thought the light grey color might work with the other tones in the room, even though the walls are much darker; I wanted (or thought I wanted) rugs that had some warmer (beige) tones, and also a little touch of black and red.  These rugs have all of those colors, and I liked the Oshak pattern.  I thought the warmer tones would work well with my dark dressers and the much lighter refinished oak hardwood floors.  For Feng Shui purposes, I wanted to have something with a bit of red to tie into the other bits of red I have scattered about the room (they are very subtle, you don't even realize they're there). I figured the black would go with anything, and tie into my black bedskirt and, when I remove the grey and cream duvet cover, my black and white toile comforter.

Rugs as ordered:

Safavieh Lyndhurt Oshak grey/beige rug, Overstock.com.  

I thought they would work, but began having second thoughts almost immediately.

Then I would go back and look at the photos of the rugs and be reassured that they would, indeed, work in the space.

They came today.

I unwrapped them.

I laid them down (to uncurl and unkink) on the wood floor in the Mistress Bedroom.

They don't go. (Please try to ignore than I threw one of the rugs on top of current area rug that came along from the old house; it doesn't really "go" either, but it's better than cold bare feet in the winter!)

Oh, they look fine against the floor, and go nicely with the dark dressers and the black bedskirt, but they don't go at all with the duvet cover. Scale of the patterns and colors are way off.

I like the duvet cover.  I do not like the rugs in the current scheme of things.

Damn damn damn damn damn.  Should have listened to my second thoughts and cancelled the order.

I'm not one for returning things unless defective, and I sure don't want to go through the hassle of getting these wrapped (how?  The plastic wrap they came in was destroyed by my eager scissors) and to the post office (would have to hike more than a mile on foot to get there, toting two rugs?  I don't think so!)  I'm thinking they'll work well in the guest room, where the colors and pattern will coordinate much better with the curtains, bedding and the wall color.

The guest room is on my "to do" list, but I won't tackle that room until my bedroom is "finished" -- needing only the rugs and completion of my gallery wall.  For now.

Back to the (rug) drawing board.

Delivery and Unexpected Guests

My new area rug arrived today!  It was leaning up against the door when I got home.  Man, that sucker is heavy.  I had a time dragging it into the house.  And then after looking at the labels I was sure Overstock had sent me the wrong rug.  So I dragged it further into the house, all the way to the kitchen where the overhead lights are nice and bright.  I cut off the top part of the plastic wrapping and peeled it part-way down so I could get a look at the rug.

From what I was able to see of the pattern and colors, I now am pretty sure it is the correct rug.  I learned from the label that it was made in India - relief there! It's a Safavieh hand-tufted wool (with cotton backing and a whopping .6" high pile) and I'm sooooooo happy!  Less than $160 including shipping for it.  Patting myself up and down my back with both hands :)

I'm leaving it wrapped for now, with the top plastic off so it can air out, because the rug has an odor.  Smells like a chemical - perhaps it was treated with some kind of pesticide or something before shipping.  Anyway, I dragged it out to the garage where it will stay until the family room is ready for it.

From what I could tell, the colors are very true to the photo at Overstock.com and the field "blue" color is a slightly light to medium dusty blue-green-aqua and beautiful!  I quick ran and got Mr. Horsey and held him up against the color and they are so perfect together!  Extra impetus to get the family room DONE asap so I can roll out the rug and see it in different light throughout the day and get a real good feel for its color-tones if some accessories in just the right color happen to come my way...and sink my bare toes into it at the end of a long hard day.  Ahhhh.....

So, I get home tonight and go through my routine.  Check the mail, open up the patio door to let in a bit of fresh air, throw some nuts out of the squirrels.  They start coming when I whistle, and then they start freaking out and run for high ground.  Way high ground - higher than I've seen them climb before.  What the heck?  I look out the door to see if there's a cat around, or maybe a stray doggy, but I don't see anything.  Is it the hawk then, perched somewhere above where I can't see her?  But they've seen all of these potential threats before, and have never acted like this...

So, I step out further on the deck and that's when I saw them, just on the other side of the fence along the south lot line.  Two BIG birds - don't know what kind they are.  I ran to get my camera but by the time I dashed back outside (I couldn't have been in the house any longer than 15 seconds) they were already fast disappearing from view.  So, I stuck around on the deck for a little while and then I slowy headed on an angle toward the corner of the fence.  Then one appeared in view, saw me and trotted fast around the corner of a neighbor's house.  The second bird then appeared off the neighbor's deck, looked at me for a split second, and followed the first bird.  I was able to get off two shots but I'm no photographer!  I hit the zoom but I obviously didn't hit it the right way because it didn't work.

Anyway, here are the two photos of these birds:

Can you see the bird?  Is it a turkey?  I thought I heard something at one point - it sort of sounded like a peacock but come one, we don't have peacocks in Wisconsin.  LOL!  That was bird one, lighting out toward the corner of my neighbor's house.

Damn!  There went bird two right around the corner - can you see him?  LOL!

With this crazy non-winter we had, and this unusually early spring (although frost warnings on for tonight and the next few days), I can't help but wonder what is walking around out there that shouldn't be here!  Are the animals as confused by all of this as the plants, trees, and WE are?

I've Seen the Celadon: Buying an Area Rug

As you know, I hate shopping.  Unfortunately, in order to get this family room re-do done, I needed to shop and will need to shop in the future.  Sigh.

But -- I have been successful in my quest for a new area rug!  At first I was not going to buy one because I'm cheap and did not want to spend the money.  But then I got to thinking about Mr. Faux Tang Dynasty Horsey and how lonely he would be in his celadon beauty without anything else in the room to "match" his glorious color.  So I started looking at area rugs.

I spent HOURS, then DAYS looking at rugs on line and in magazines.  I kept going back to Overstock.com because, frankly, I could not find any rugs that I liked for any less money at local stores or any place else online.

And yesterday - I pulled the trigger, folks.  I bought a rug!  Specifically, this rug:

Yesterday was the last day of one of their 15% off on rugs sales at Overstock and if I wasn't going to buy a rug yesterday, I had no idea if/when they would go on sale again.  So I paid a ridiculously low price for this hand-tufted 100% wool rug. 

The field color is more blue-green than in this image, but until the rug actually arrives I won't know for sure.  I will take pics of it when it gets here.  The size is about 5x8.  No fringe!  Accent colors are rust (in the monitor at the office that color looks pink!), green, ivory and gold.  The rug itself is described as "blue and beige."

I had narrowed down my choices to three rugs -- this was one of the them but I kept putting it at the bottom of the colored print-outs of the final three.  I kept telling myself it was too bright, the blue wasn't right, I should pick one of the other rugs with their more muted colors that would read more neutral if/when it gets moved to another area of the house.  Myself was waging an epic battle with myself between what my head was telling me and what my instincts were telling me.  Instincts won.  I went with my gut and bought the rug I kept going back to and drooling over.

Soooooo, this may be a big mistake rug but I tell you, unless it's so fricking ugly that I can't stand looking at it once it arrives, I'm keeping it because I LOVE LOVE LOVE everything about this rug -- pattern, color, thickness!  It's over 1/2 inch thick.  Can you imagine what it's going to feel like under bare feet?  If it doesn't stay in the family room it's going to my bedroom where I can roll around on it at night.  My bedroom is so neutral right now with all its shades of white and cream this rug would look wonderful with the rich dark cherry finish on my old bedroom furniture.

I paid $158.49 including shipping.  Today the sale is over and the rug is listed at $182.99, so I saved about $28.  Not a lot, but every penny counts.

Once I have the rug in the house, I will take a closer look at curtains.

Tonight I'm getting the paint!  Mind you, I have developed a serious case of the doubts about the taupe color I selected.  It looks so dark!  What if I paint the room and it looks like a cave or something, even with the white lower walls? 

I happened across these colors at Elle Decor - they were probably in fashion two or three season ago (that's me, always behind the eight-ball and definitely not a trendy type of gal):

Not one of them looks like celadon!  On my colored print out that I've been carrying around with me for several days ande constantly looking at, these colors are much more vibrant - they look a bit washed out on this monitor.  The Eucalyptus Leaf looks more like an aqua or teal color and Ice Cube is less blue and a hint more green.  My little Dutch Boy paint cards look very pretty with all of these colors - at least when placed against them on the color print out! 

So, like a bride before her wedding, am I just getting cold feet?  Do I really need to torture myself and looks at thousands of men paints online and in the stores?  NO, NO, A THOUSAND TIMES NO.  I refuse to do it.

Shopping for Celadon II

Oh Oh.  I made the mistake of going to Overstock.com just to "look" at the area rugs.  I haven't even begun digging around there and already I found two beautiful BIG rugs for great prices (about 8 x 11 more or less and under $200 each). 

This is a Loomed Free-form Aqua Rug -- I chose this photo because I think it shows fairly true colors of the "shades of aqua, ivory and brown."  The other two photos of the rug were much more pale.  These colors, however, would really go with my planned color scheme of medium to dark taupe walls (Dutch Boy's "Family Tree" on upper part of wall and Dutch Boy's "Superhide White" on the lower part of the wall -- that was the plan and for now it is staying the plan).  According to comments I read the measurement is about 8 x 10' 7" more or less.  It doesn't have fringe - that is a good thing.  Fringes are very hard to vacuum!  The blue-green (or is it green-blue?) color is lovely.  The "brown" could very well be my "Family Tree" medium to dark taupe color.  The price is $175.09.

This is the only photo available at Overstock.com of another Loomed Free-form Area Rug in Seafoam.  If this photo is accurate, the field color is just about spot-on -- it's not blue and it's not green, it is a true combination of both.  It's difficult to tell what the other colors are really like, though, from this image.  The description says that it has "shades of seafoam, ivory and brown."  The described size on this rug is 7' 9" x 11' 12" and it's priced at $196.  One reviewer said that this was more "green" than "blue" and it was what she had been looking for.

For the size (would more than fill the seating area in the family room, leaving a nice border of the underlying medium taupe carpeting), both rugs are a great price.  The reviews were mixed on both. 

Okay, the only thing to do at this point is to keep on window shopping, and I will see if I can find other images of these Loomed Free-form rugs. 

Shopping for Celadon

Hola Darlings!

I am waiting for the gloom to blow over before heading outdoors to start backyard clean-up.  Oh my, what a mess back there after a winter's accumulation of blown-down branches, twigs, leaves and what-not, including probably a hundred pounds worth of nut and peanut shells from my feeding the squirrels and critters.  Actually, I should be working out there right now because it is not raining and the sun is clouded over so it's warmish but not hot.  The weather people have promised hot for later today 78 F -- in SE Wisconsin this time of year.  I watched the complete forecast on tv last night (rarely am up that late, LOL!) and so far in March, we are 11+ degrees above our normal temperatures.  That is just absolutely mind-blowing.

I've been internet window shopping instead, looking for pale blue-green or green-blue celadon rugs and curtains.  I haven't found the right curtains but I did find some very nice rugs at Bed, Bath & Beyond:

This is a Safavieh rug light blue and ivory in the Lyndhurst collection.  It's not "celadon" but I didn't find any color like that for rugs at Bed, Bath & Beyond.  However, it is lovely, particularly the close-ups.  With a new paint job in this tired old family room and the old side panels and sheers stripped from the window, it would give it a totally different look without changing another thing.  Wow!  That is as mind-blowing to me as this crazy un-winter we've had.  Of the four area rugs I saved, this was also the least expensive, at under $110 for roughly 5 x 7.

This another Safavieh rug in light blue and cream from the Majesty line.  It is $188 for a little over 5 x 7 size.  The close-ups are beautiful.  The field has a particularly delicate and beautiful thin thread of gold shaped in a Goddess spiral shape that would be oh so perfect for my home.  It is always difficult to tell from a photograph, of course, but this light blue background looks more on-tone with my celadon horse from TJMaxx. 

This is also a Safavieh rug in sage and brown from the Majesty line.  It's not pale celadon green but I find that green color - at least in this image - quite beautiful.  The brown - meh.  But in close-up views the border looks black, which would tie-in perfectly with my present big black case goods and sofa table/desk tucked behind the sofa.  Quite a contrast, though, from the light blue and cream/ivory rugs above!  I would have to eyeball the rug in person and take the celadon horse with me to see how they go together.  That's assuming this rug would be in stock at one of the local Bed, Bath & Beyond stores.  Did I mention that I hate shopping???  The price point for this rug is the same as the rug above for the same size (a little over 5 x 7), $188. 

This was the most expensive rug I looked at, from the Shaw Century Collection, Lenox Vintage Blue.  For a 5' 5" x 7' 11" (so somewhat larger than the rugs above), $300.  The blue field in this rug is more grey-blue, at least in the photographs, and perhaps not quite as good a match color-wise for what I'm looking for.  But it has much to offer in terms of other colors that could be picked out. 

Did I mention that I hate shopping (again)???  I could look forever and not find the "perfect" area rug at a price I'm willing to pay.  I'm not willing to pay $300 when the $110 rug might "read" better in the room.  Rug #2 is a very close second in terms of look/feel.  Would I be willing to up the ante by $70???