Sunday, October 6, 2013

A Rug for Miriam's Cottage

Sooooooooooo...........
We left off after I showed you guys the draperies I made for my niece Miriam and her hubby Ross's living room.
Now,
when I was a big timey decorator.....
I never ordered the fabric for a room until I had worked out the whole scheme.
That included the rug.....
That's right....
the rug.....
That way, I wouldn't get backed into a design corner that I couldn't escape.

Well.
For this room, I figured we would do a seagrass rug like I did for them in the dining room.

SO I happily went to Calico Corners with Miriam and we chose the fabric without a worry in the world about finding a rug to work with the scheme we were putting together.

THEN I FOUND OUT THAT ROSS WANTED A COMFY RUG.....
He wanted to be able to roll around on the floor with Perla the wonderdog.
OY, OY, OY, OY.......

Now we were working with a blue that wasn't a true blue.
Wasn't green.
Was a little off, just like moi!!!!!
I needed to find a style that would also work with the cottage feel of the  painted furniture.
I was up @#$ creek without hands to hold the damn paddle.
I was sweating bullets.
But.....
don't tell Miriam!!!!!
'cuz she thinks I know what I'm doing.
I found a wool sisal blend that had a soft feel.
I was hoping it would be just the ticket.
We got a sample and tried it out.
I tried it out in front of the sectional.....
Wasn't lovin' it.....
I tried it out in front of the linen press.....
Nope.
Wasn't doin' it for me.
Or Miriam.
Or Ross.
So it was back to the internet.

Now if this had been for one of my clients.....
I simply would have gone to the Boston Design Center and had a rug custom made.
But the budget for this project didn't cover that.
Luckily my time for my family is in unbillable hours.......
Well,
Miriam kept finding rugs she wanted me to check out on the world wide web.
And I kept telling her why they were crap and wouldn't work.
I started finding some blue ones, but they weren't the right blue.
But I showed them to Miriam so that she would get an idea of what I was trying to find.
And then she started finding ones that just might work!!!!!
So I had her buy the smallest size of each one, so we could see them.
She sent back the ones that didn't work.
That damn dawg has to be in the middle of all the action..........
Well,
we all fell in love with the same one.
I tried it all over the room, to make sure it was the one.

It worked with the linen press I painted!!!!!
It worked with the green table I painted!!!!!
It worked with the little metal table I painted!!!!!
Sooooooo...........
I figured out the sizes we needed and had Miriam order an 8X10, and a 5X8.
They make the room sooooooo cozy.
The oriental they had been using was much darker.
These rugs really brightened up the space.
They also made the room feel larger.
The rugs go perfectly with the walls.
Boy did I luck out!!!!!
So inviting!!!!!

That's just a corner of one of the pink striped chair slipcovers.
I brought it over for a test.
It didn't have the skirt or cushion yet.
I am finishing up the chairs today.
What a pain in the rear......
That green chair is from the dining room.
I painted four of them for Miriam.
I also painted four white ones with green detailing.
The ones that end up in the living room will have seat covers in the floral fabric we chose for the room.
Miriam wants touches of pink, which is why we chose this fabric, and why I painted the metal table the way I did.
As you can see....
designing a room is building layers on layers on layers on layers on...........
So, here is a side by side of the progress so far, from where we started
 to where we are now.....

So,
I have to go back up to my sewing room, and finish the last seat cushion.
The chairs have T cushions.
I've never sewn one before, and I hope I'll never have to sew another.
THEY BE HARD!!!

On that note,
Latah, Gatah
Photobucket

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Betsy,

Will you please explain how you decide where to place the rugs? It confuses me when there are two distinct seating areas in one room. Thanks!

Stacey said...

The rugs you ended up with are perfect! Can't wait to see more of this room. Loving it!

Vikki said...

This room looks great so far. The rug is perfect. I much prefer the one you all selected over the seagrass any day. Is the floral fabric for the living room the same as the floral in the dinning room? Once again I'll say I am jealous of Ross and Miriam! Vikki in VA

Anonymous said...

When I saw that rug down I just wanted it to go right up the walks it was just that beautiful, ann

Anonymous said...

I love that the room doesn’t look as though everything was ordered on line, or in a catalogue to make a statement- it looks as though it had evolved over time. Even though it is not finished, it already has great personality, which( to me) is the mark of timeless decorating.
The rug is lovely, just perfect- though I must say, I do love my segrass in the bedrooms- love how the rough fibers feel on bare feet- and even better- love how easy they are to clean if one of my standard poodles had an upset tummy.Doesn’t happen often, but I don’t have to panic if it does.
Did you know that they are easy to cut down if the size is too big? We did exactly that as I didn't want to shell out a lot of money for a custom sized rug; so I looked on the internet and found instructions for how it is done. My husband cut the rug to size, I carefully unstitched the binding, and then he glued the binding back on with gorilla glue.It worked perfectly.
Dolores

Mary said...

cool rug! love it a lot! Where did you find it?

Love everything in this room even Pearla!

Mary
From Virginia
http://marysflowerworks.blogspot.com

Anonymous said...

I love this room color....gorgeous, now where did you find that gorgeous rug? Please share your secrets.....inquiring minds want to know....your niece is one lucky woman to have you decorate for her.

Anonymous said...

Am I crazy? I love the striped couch 'as is'. I know you're planning a white slipcover and I'm sure I'll love that too. But might you and Miriam and Ross and Perla consider leaving the striped fabric on the couch? It's looking pretty swell with the new rug IMHO ;-)

Unknown said...

I am so lovin this room....and I love the blue rug you ended up buying, perfect!!! Miriam and Ross are soooo lucky!!!

Amy Chalmers said...

love the rug...loved looking at all the rugs Miriam picked out. She did a great job! and I noticed the one that Pearla liked best is the exact same one i have in my bedroom~its Martha Stewart right? room is coming along nicely~

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