It’s official
We’ve decided against any carpets in our new house. Wood floor and painted floorboards it is.
We both love the look of it, it’s easy to keep clean but also I have become obsessed with rugs. Maybe it’s the Erica Davies effect…?!
We got our first rug last year from West Elm, a huge Beni one which covered almost the entire living room. It transformed the room, plus had the added bonus that we could take it with us when we moved and now it can transform another room (in time).
And my obsession has recently moved to more traditional rugs. I’m sure most of you follow Frances Loom on Instagram – she sells rugs every Thursday at 8am through her website and usually, they’re sold out by the following day. Her instagram is a a feast for the eyes and she has impeccable taste that mixes modern with traditional interior elements, something I’m trying to do with our Edwardian renovation. She even Photoshops interiors images so you can see how a rug can transform a room – genius.
I am always inspired by Hotel interiors, and Artist Residence is high up there in my kind of aesthetics. And I’ve just discovered they’ve launched their own interiors showroom too: Salisbury & Co where they sell similar wares from their hotels. The actual dream.
So now we are on the hunt for the perfect one. But we can’t afford an antique version sadly, so I have been researching online and here are a few affordable rugs I have come up with – personally I have my eye on the Next one and think it has amazing potential. But let me know if you’ve seen any good versions recently – I’m open to suggestions.
One of my favourite rugs by far is the jute rug, click here for inspo.
Rugs and wooden floors everyone. Fitted carpets are men especially when you have a mud magnet puppy! Also you can switch them around to change the mood.
That was meh not men, spell check!
Such a timely post, I was literally just looking at rugs!! I wonder if the distressed ones might look a bit rubbish in person though.. I’ve been eyeing up this one but decide I need to live in my house a little longer before I take the plunge! http://www.johnlewis.com/john-lewis-recycled-sari-ocean-rug-multi/p2463473
I’ve found some fantastic kilims on ebay of all places. I paid less than £100 for a massive wool kilim last year. Well worth a look.
We got ours in the French Connection sale and I absolutely love it – until we can afford to replace the lino floor in our living room the rug covers pretty much the whole floor and is lush to walk on!
where is the enormous brass mirror from?
Ha! I was thinking…..! Completely agreed, I love how you move them about from room to room (especially as I am so fickle – I am always changing my mind about interiors style!) x
Always – I am always sold by the current trends !! I was thinking that too – will it look ‘on purpose’ worn, or just ‘old’?! I love the JL one – nice to bring out the colours in it x
Oh yes! need to sit down properly – sometimes have to psych myself up for eBay! xx
Funnily enough I walked past French Connection Home yesterday and though ‘ooh that’s a good rug’ – I never usually think of the for home x
I’m not sure! Trouva always have great stuff (one of my go-to sites) https://www.trouva.com/boutique/haygen-in-n18eg/house-doctor-round-mirror-brass-large
Loving the rugs in made.com, always beauties in the clearance section and you can view them on Charing Cross Road! I’m sure I remember an old post of yours re: carpets and stair runners, do you mind me asking where you bought yours from….Im one of the few who’s remained in SW!!
Oh great tip, thank you! Our stair runner was from discount carpet warehouse – on the bridge between tooting broadway and colliers wood x
Rugs are it! We have a bland beige carpet cos our floorboards are unplayable, and have ended up with rugs everywhere and I think they are really transformational. We have them on our travertine tiles in kitchen and as almost doormats in our porches- they are so beautiful, I can’t only put them in “safe” places. I also use my Mum’s silver cutlery, although it’s a pig to clean and crystal glasses although we smash them regularly!
Do you think it’s best to sand and treat original floor boards or bite the bullet and have a floor laid?
The rug in the artist residence pic is French connection I think (?) currently online at an amazing £155! Called ‘poppy’
They do some lovely ones. Great post as always! X
Have you seen the new Silkeborg rugs in Ikea. They are handmade Turkish rugs. Haven’t seen in store so can’t comment on quality..
I think the Artist residence ones are vintage ones! But will definitely look at FC x
We have sanded old floorboards downstairs and it our last flat – it looked great and not (too) difficult. It depends on how good the boards are, the ones in our new house have all ben cut and chopped up to lay pipes etc so might have to go for a runner over those and lay floor in a few rooms – also for downstairs it might help with heat, we were thinking? x
I was in ikea last week but couldn’t see any I liked as yet…I’m always a bit haunted by my Ikea days as a student with rugs! Need to go back and look xx
Thanks for the rug links. I can’t afford the expensive gorgeous rugs but your selection looks classy without the off-budget price tag. I’m off to investigate!
Tk Maxx have some really good distressed rugs in at the minute. I have a blue one the same as the West Elm rug in your post and it was only 50 quid!
https://www.frenchconnection.com/product/homeware-collection-rugs-and-runners/862d8/large-poppy-field-rug.htm
I thought it looked like the FC one too – had a check and pretty sure it is! Their homeware really does look pretty good.
Might be purchasing…..!
Amazing! Love a bit of TK Maxx!
I like the first rug, that pattern is so cool. Thank you for sharing about the account of Frances Loom, really inspiring.
What about the slip factor of rugs on wooden floors? Has anyone found a non-slip underlay for rugs that actually works so the rug doesn’t buckle or move?
Oh I hadn’t thought of that! My kilim rug doesn’t seem to slip x
Love this post about rugs, we’re going floorboards and rugs in our fixer upper too!
Random question for you: we currently have a huge persian rug (I think maybe 10 feet by 10 feet) that we rescued from being thrown out by a friend, who told us he paid multiple thousands for it about 10 years ago – I think it’s pretty legit. We brought it over from America and it’s worked in our rental a treat. But we don’t have any use for it in our new place, and unfortunately the dog loved the flavour of the corners so it’s pretty chewed up… needs a good clean too. Seems such a shame to chuck it on a skip, when someone might love it’s “lived in” look – especially when it must be pretty pricey to buy one that size now. Do you think it’s worth trying to sell? Do you think a specialist interiors/rug person like Frances Loom would be interested or just chuck in on Gumtree? Geez sorry this post ended up being much longer than I thought it would be – can you tell I’m overthinking everything to do with our fixer upper?! Hopefully you can relate!!! Thanks in advance! 😀
Ooh interesting – yes maybe get in touch with Kelly from Francis Loom – and she might be able to give you advice anyway on how to sell – and tell you if there’s a market for it? xx
Love rugs, and also really inspired by Frances Loom lately! Have you seen Rose & Grey? They have a beautiful collection of rugs xx
Oh Lucy Williams loves Rose & Grey (and she has amazing taste) – need to check it out!