Finally broke down and ordered a rug

After many hours of scouring the web, changing my mind about what colors I really wanted in my living room, and your general hemming a hawing, I have finally ordered an area rug for my living room and this is it:

It's the Moorish Tile Rug from Pottery barn and it was wayyy on sale. I actually preferred the rug in pineapple as opposed to the clementine that I ordered but I couldn't commit to ordering it fast enough and that color sold out. I'm happy with the color choice particularly since the living room pretty much devoid of any color. I wasn't tied to a color scheme so I can really make any color work.

So that's the rug I ordered, and here is the one that got away. Isn't she fabulous? It didn't actually "get away" persay. What really happened is that the sale at Macy's ended before I ordered it and the rug basically doubled in price and thus no longer fit in my budget. I'll get over it eventually.

The topic of my budget reminds me that I wanted to share with you how I decided on what rug size to purchase and how I figured out what would work in my space. I originally had my heart set on an 8'x10' rug for the living room. The Moorish Tile Rug that I ordered was actually a great price for an 8'x10' rug but once you factor in shipping and tax it was starting to become more than I really was able to spend. Would a 5'x8' work in my space I wondered. Only one way to find out.

Make a 5'x8' rug out of scrap paper and shopping bags and see how it looks. I was pretty pleased with the proportions and went ahead and ordered the rug in 5'x8' (for $199!). Once I have the rug in place if it feels a little small I might consider layering it on top of a larger sea grass or jute rug.

You can use this paper method for any piece of furniture you are considering bringing into your home. I recommend using newspaper which is what I should have done but it already went out with the recycling. It's also great if you are starting a room from scratch. You can make paper templates of all of the pieces you wish to bring in the room and mess with the layout in the sapce. This way you are only shuffling around pieces of paper instead of dragging around sofas. Personally, I love drawing layouts on graph people I but I know many people who can't visualize the drawing in the physical space. This way you get a feeling for how everything will look and fit.

Rug update not related to the living room. How fabulous would this Jonathan Adler rug be in Bedroom Option #1 instead of those striped mats from Ikea? I can dream can't I?