The Great "Blue Rug Hunt"

I am anything but decisive.  In fact, "becoming more decisive" is really my only resolution for 2015.

So picking a rug for our living rug was a lengthy, well-thought out process for me.  And because this sort of thing interests me (the ideas/principles behind people's design choices), I thought I'd document the story of how I chose our living room rug.

My original dream was a beautiful persian rug (like I talked about here).  I even scoured eBay for months, but everything I loved was very vibrant with tons of pattern.  In the end, I felt like it would clash with our current living room chairs and make our room feel super busy.  So I put that dream on the shelf for now and started a fresh search.

My stipulations were that the rug needed to:

1) Brighten the room (between our rental's medium/dark hardwood floors and taupe walls it all just felt dark)

2) Be kid-friendly (soft not scratchy and hides dirt)

3) Have variation but not be busy.

4) Work with our current sofa and a future leather one (like this dream one :))

With these requirements in mind, I decided to go for a blue rug.  We have blue in our chairs and it just seems like an around versatile color that I have always loved.  I wear blue, I'm drawn to blue artwork, blue can be masculine or feminine, blue can feel like a neutral etc. etc. 

I also decided I wanted 100% wool as I was buying online and just wanted to be sure that I would like the texture/feel/quality.  

Finally, I wanted an 8 x10 size (see these awesome tips on finding the right rug size for your space) and my goal was to find something under $350.  If you've ever searched for a large area rug, you'll know that finding something (especially 100% wool) under $350 is near impossible.  Luckily, I was planning to buy with Black Friday sales but even then it was a stretch. 

So here were all the options I first considered (these range largely in price):

1. Knotted wool rug by Zara Home 5x7 for I think $700 (sadly, no longer available)
2. Safavieh Vintage Turquoise/Multi Viscose Rug, 7.6x10.6 for $419.99 (no longer available but similar here)

3. Abacasa Vintage Vintage Blue/White Blue Rug, 8x10 for $750 (Although RugsUSA.com always has 75% off sales)

4. Safavieh Handwoven Moroccan Reversible Dhurries Dark Blue/Ivory Wool Rug, 6x9 for $226.94 (Side note: I just saw this rug in a kids room and loved it in that type of space, see here)

 5. Mudhut Beaded Flatwoven Stripe Area Rug, 7x10 for $289.99
6. LoLoi Rugs Anzio AO-01, 7.9x9.9 for $529.00

7. Rugs USA Tuscan Viga Chevron Denim Rug (currently out of stock but similar here)
8. Rugs USA Satara Marrakesh Trellis Blue Rain Rug, 7.6x9.6 and $918 (but currently 75% off that price)

 9. Surya Smithsonian SMI2113 Ivory Rug, 8x11 for $1927.20 (currently out of stock but kinda similar here)
10. Deco Scallop Area Rug, 7x10 for $199.99

11. Vines Wool Rug, 8x10 for $749
12. Safavieh Contemporary Safavieh Handwoven Moroccan Reversible Dhurrie Blue/Ivory Wool Rug, 9x12 for $402.04

If price and size weren't an issue I'd take #1 in a heartbeat.  And if price and messy babies weren't a factor then I'd choose #9.

All of these are great options though but I just couldn't settle on anything.  Then I found these photos, which took my search in a whole new direction:

The Curbly Living Room

Emily Henderson's Living Room

These rugs fit the "variation but no pattern" requirement in just the way that I was hoping. They look like one solid color and yet there is fading in areas that lighten the rug up and give interest.  With a lot of my first 12 options, I worried that I would tire of the patterns with time (specifically 4, 7, 8, 10, 12) but these two last images seem more versatile. Plus, these rooms are beautiful and are the overall feel I hope to have in my home one day.

So I started my hunt over.

The rugs used in the living rooms above are these and they were definitely out of the price range but a good reference point:

13. Loloi Luxe Lx-01 Blue Steel Area Rug, 7.6x9.6 for $1609 (currently on sale though for $1289)
14. Loloi Byron Blueston Area Rug, 7.9x7.9 for $4389 (currently on sale for $3809)

So my search for more affordable options landed me on these:

15. Gabbeh Hand-tufted Blue Rug, 7.6x9 for $477.99

16. Waverly Grand Suite by Nourison Ocean Wool Area Rug, 8x10.6 for $373.65 

17. Trends Denim Loft Wool Rug, 8x11 for $469.99
18. Handmade Solid Pattern Blue Wool/Art Silk Rug, 8x10 for $625.59

I was starting to lean towards the look of 18 (although it's looking more gray here than it does on the real website) because I thought going a little lighter would help contrast to our darker floors.  The inspiration pictures had much lighter hardwood floors than we do. Of course though the one that I was liking was the most expensive ;)

I was just about to give up and let the Black Friday sales pass us by when I came across this rug:

19. Safavieh Loomed Knotted Himalayan Solid Blue Wool Rug, 8x10 for $325.54

There was only one photo on the website so I couldn't really tell what the rug looked like.  I was a little worried that it would be totally solid.  I read the few customer reviews the rug had and the reviewers said they were expecting a solid rug but were surprised when it showed up with some variation of white and gray speckled in.  That convinced me enough (plus I just really wanted to be done rug searching) so I bought it and held my breath til it came.

I was nervous as I opened it but when I had it all laid out with the furniture on top, I breathed a big sigh of relief.

So now we have been living with the rug for 2.5 months and here are my thoughts on it:

-I love the color.  I'm so glad that I went a little lighter than the navy blue I thought I wanted.  The variation is really subtle but gives the rug a nice texture.
-The rug is soft and awesome to sit/play on with Eleanor
-It sheds like crazy!  I was expecting shedding with a 100% wool rug so I'm not surprised, but it has been a pain.  Everything I read said to expect shedding for the first 3 months but after that it stops. So fingers crossed, the shedding stops soon.
-A small part of me wishes we had gone even bigger to a 9x12.  All of our furniture has at least its front legs on the rug so it works, but I think bigger would have made our small, narrow space feel larger.

^^The shedding!

All in all though we are really happy.  A rug is this funny thing that when it is in the room you don't really think about it, but take it out of the room and you realize how much it made the space.

In the end, my indecision and general over-thinking paid off because the rug we ended up with (and really like) was wildly different than the first initial rugs I considered :)

Good luck to any of you who are on your own "great rug hunt."  It's a grueling selection process but hopefully it's worth it in the end for you and you find something you really like!