The Saga of the Rug

When we bought the house six years ago, we were thrilled at the hard wood floors downstairs. In an effort to make it feel a little more homey (and a little less echo-y) we put area rugs in the living room area.

For all six years, it has looked like this:

What you see there are two 5' x 7' area rugs from Target. They took a lot of wear. Those light squares were originally a cream color. Not so much anymore. Also, since there are TWO rugs there, the one not anchored by the arm chair is constantly sliding off at odd angles when confronted by running children.

At the time that we bought these rugs, we also bought a couple of smaller ones for the front hall.

These also slide all around, especially when Toddler Terrorist "helps" me by dragging the vacuum around on them (which you can see happening over by the front door).

In addition to constantly spot cleaning, I take the rugs outside once a year, put them in the driveway, and use Oxyclean and a hose to clean them as best I can. Afterward, I leave them on the lawn to dry in the sunshine and hopefully lighten some of the really grimy areas.

I have wanted fervently to change out these rugs for something else for over TWO YEARS.

The problem comes down to money. To replace them with more Target rugs would cost $129.99 EACH. Getting two of them now puts us at $260. Add to that three rugs for the front hall (two longer for the hall way and one welcome mat) brings us up another hundred or so. Let's round down a bit and say approximately $350.

Hm. That's a lot.

Instead I went to the big floor covering place down the street. After talking with the sales woman, I picked out a rug that I liked that was supposed to be durable and good for high traffic areas. Then I stupidly and asked how much it would be to get a 15 x 8 piece. $907. NINE-HUNDRED SEVEN DOLLARS.

Seeing the horror clearly visible on my face, this nice woman mentioned that they had an outlet in the next town where I could get a remnant for cheaper.

I thanked her, got in my car, and drove off at the speed of sound.

It turns out that this outlet was on the way to my son's school. I stopped in and looked, but didn't find something that was right. I continued stopping there and looking every other week or so since October. Last week, just as I was really starting to despair, I finally found it.

It's the middle, sand-colored one with the pretty design. It was 15' x 11', which means it could be cut down to 15' x 8' for the living room with the rest as the hallway runner. Talking to the guy there, I learned that this is a remnant from a high-performance, high-traffic, Stain Master carpet.

STAIN MASTER, PEOPLE!! STAIN! MASTER! And it's designed to take abuse and keep looking good! And it's already close to the color of peanut butter, which just saves my kids time staining it that way!

IT'S SO BEAUTIFUL!

We bought it for $180 ($194 after tax).

The man asked me if I wanted it bound, and I said that I refuse to pour money into anything more expensive until the boys are in college. He totally understood, and advised me to get a fray-stop type adhesive from Joann Fabric to prevent the edges from tattering.

Five bucks for the adhesive.

Two days later they cut the rug down for free, and I got both pieces home in the Subaru.

This morning we put it in. I cannot explain to you how happy I am. It's not only beautiful, and designed to last, but I saved a lot on it!

Now I just have to put the Fray Block on the edges, cut down the hall rug a little to make a welcome mat for the front door, and convince the boys that terrible things will happen if they do anything to harm this rug. That goes for Husband, too.

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