My living room has remained more or less the same since we moved in a year and a half ago. It was in need of a little upgrading, or change. I tend to stick to neutral walls and neutral large furniture, but love to make bright pops with smaller furniture, and accessories. There is a lot of lime green in my house, but you might not notice it at first, that’s how I like it. I also love to mix old and new, modern and rustic. My house by no means looks vintage or antique, nor ultra urban, but we do have a few old things. I like it to be comfortable, and pretty.
I bought this Ikea rug for our living room when we first moved here. It was modern and cute and SOOO CHEAP! $20! However it’s not great quality, and after a year and a half, it looked a little run down. It’s also not soft, and not kid “floor-time” friendly (not that we have kids) but our friends do, and Id like them to feel ok with setting their baby on my rug. It also became a little blah and boring, plus I have no less than three friends who own the same rug.
My mom told me she would help me buy a rug for my birthday last week, so I have been looking EVERYWHERE! We went to Ikea about a week ago and I hated everything. Does anyone else feel like Ikea goes through seasons, and sometimes it all looks like a preschool? Yuck. Anyway I also checked out Costco, Target, Ross, Craigslist, Rugs Galore (one of the only large rug stores in wa), Home Depot, Lowes, and tons of online rug stores. NOTHING! All a bunch of tacky ugly fuddy-duddy hotel style garbage. The thing is, maybe if rugs were like $45, then I would be ok with buying something I “kind of” like, but they aren’t! Rugs in the size I wanted are generally $150-$300! There is no way I’m dropping that kind of cash on something I settled for. I found a number of rugs online that I liked, but they were all around $300, and I didn’t hate my current rug THAT much.
So long story short (apparently not that short) I ended up going down yesterday to Seattle with my mom. We spent a couple of hours in the ADORABLE downtown Snohomish! Who knew? So many cute little shops! Then we went to a rug store I found online, that was lame. Last we went to Cost Plus World Market after a friend (hi Brittany!) recommended it on Facebook (where friends bitch about the difficulty of finding rugs to friends). OMG you guys! Heaven is here on earth, and in the form of World Market!
First let me say, I’m not a huge fan of anything with an “Oriental” style (is that a politically correct term?). I don’t really care for any Asian or imported furniture or accessories (a large portion of this comes form my hatred of the color red). I think its great for some people, but just not me. So I was definitely under the impression that World Market was all that style (and it does have a lot of that, but not necessarily the majority). It’s also a lot “hip-er” than Pier 1 I would say (and I love me some Pier 1). Needless to say their style was great and so were there prices! I bought a rug, a new desk chair, two couch pillows come white cotton napkins I’m going to Ombre! I couldn’t be happier with the new stuff, just the change I was wanting!
For your shopping convenience, the following items can be found here:
-Plum Stripe Napa Chindi Rug (looks way more red in the online photo!)
-Ribbed Throw Pillows (clearance mine are green, obviously)
Also just in case you’re dying to know, our couch is from Costco 4 years ago, our coffee table is the LACK Ikea one, and the little desk is Target’s Dolce Desk.
The Family Chapters 
what an adorable space! i love cost plus, they’ve got it all. your style is just so divine. btw, can i buy that leather chair from you? honestly, i’m seriously crushing on those metal studs. but that’s me, i’m weird about chairs…i love them.
Aw thanks! Can you believe I found that leather chair on the side of the road for free! It’s hard to tell, but the front seem came undone on the cushion. I really want to find an upholsterer to fix it, becasue its gorgeous!
i can totally believe you found it on the side of the road ;). i’ve found chairs that way too! you should get it fixed up, or keep it as it is. You mentioned you live near Seattle…so do I. I’ve only gotten one chair re-upholstered in my life (it’s featured on my blog as the pic in the post “Portrait of a Therapist as a Young Girl”) and I went to this guy in Old Ballard (neighborhood in NW Seattle), it’s called Eidem’s Custom Upholstery. I love how the chair turned out, but it was a bit of an investment. So worth it though. When I get to my office the little blue angel is always waiting for me.