Rug Decor Questions . . .

Hello all . . . I've got rugs on my mind!  Its finally here, my time to shine - to decorate - to be bold.  After searching my favorite home decor blogs, I've come to the conclusion that I want stripes, indoor/outdoor versatility, and bold colors to brighten up my very neutral rooms.  To that end, I've found an amazing website that fits all of my criteria at www.dashandalbert.com .

The choices seem almost endless . . .

However, I think I've narrowed it down to some pretty great rug patterns.  I am going classical blue/striped with indoor/outdoor rugs in the living room.  I figure it will be a nice, low-key splash of color in a room where the focus should be the view (ahhh the view).  After our last winter storm, we sustained some pretty significant water intrusion through our front door.  Hence, any rug in this area will need to be waterproof, easy to pick up for outdoor cleaning, and durable . . . thus my choice of an indoor/outdoor.  Here are the finalist:

Light blue rope rug and Trimaran Stripe Light Blue/Ivory stripe

Next up is the girls room and this one was a pretty clear choice, although I am a little worried about the actual color it will turn out to be in real life.  This runner will line the bottom of their beds.  My hope is that it matches their bedspread.

Birmigham Citrus

Here was the second runner up choice . . . may still be the winner, but its a wee bit more expensive and actually looks really pea green in reality.

Then comes our "master" bedroom and the problem is SIZE. I originally wanted to have one big rug that went under the bed and stuck out from the sides . . . well that is one really big rug.  This "largeness" ran smack against my "be able to shake out" need.  Next, I envisioned runners on either side of the bed, but the only runner option would leave 2 feet hanging beyond the end of the bed (seemed a little tacky to me).

So now I'm back at the drawing board.  If anyone has any advice, please email me!!

Oh, yeah, here are my two color schemes . . .

Idea #1 - matches bathroom and girls room colors

Idea #2 - matches living room and my love of red/orange/coral. 

Can you see my problem?  They are both soooooo pretty!!  I seriously can't decide.  My hope is by keeping similar colors and a stripe theme in each room then the cabin will have a cohesive look.

I promise to take pictures of my final choices in their native environment once I purchase.

Were Back . . .

Its a New Year and with its coming we will be bringing you a whirlwind series of updates.  This holiday season we were able to spend a whole 6-days out at Fairwinds.  We tried to play some, explore some, and work some . . . all to fulfill our 2012 resolution "to do a little more playing while on Whidbey".

Upcoming posts:

* Rug Decor Questions
* Storm Doors 101
* Window Trim, the Continuing Saga
* Getting Ready to Rent?

Are you excited?  I am.

The Living Room (Coming Together) . . .

The poor living room aka "the staging area" is probably the most neglected room in the house.  The number of times we move the furniture around in a weekend is almost nuts.  To make up for our rough use . . . I've been trying to give it some little "presents".  The first presents actually came from my mom - new Pottery Barn Pillows -- I just love the coral one in particular, its great for napping. 

The second present was slip covers for our old college sofas.  The sofas were really getting run down -sun faded - needing TLC badly.  Unfortunately, we hope to replace the sofa soon with a hide-a-bed model and so I didn't feel like spending oodles of money on the cover.  Jump in IKEA & my favorite sewing project friend/master Laurel.  We tackled adjusting a newer IKEA slip cover to the sofa and the loveseat.  Needless to say, the loveseat went according to plan . . . the sofa not so much. 

The funnest obstacle to overcome was my oversite on the number of cushions our sofa has vs the slip cover (I blame it all on baby sleep deprivation).  The existing sofa had 2 cushions, the slip cover 3.  Ala the web, I found that you could cut upholestry foam with an electric carving knife.  Having convienced Gary of the project, I blatently used his measuring skills and confidence to forge ahead on cutting my sofa apart.  It worked like magic . . . the electric carving knife just went through the foam like butter.  Now I only need to figure out how to let the lower seams out a bit.  Its a bit tight - kinda like my jeans right now. 

The third and final present to date is a fun, funky bar stool.  I just love the power of paint, especially aqua paint.  It transformed an ordinary, beat up Goodwill find into a thing of beauty . . . just look