Shortly after we switched out carpet for travertine in the office I turned my attention to the bedroom floor. In a perfect world, we would lay travertine across the whole house (it's already in the rest of the main spaces) but it was expensive and not everyone prefers hard floors over carpet (which isn't great for resale).
So instead I decided to cover up the beige carpet with layers of rugs.
My reasoning was like six-fold.
First, I wanted to do something different. The very best part of our military lifestyle is that we get to move and change things up every few years. I'm married to Paul (and therefore the Navy) but I'm not married to any design decisions because "hey! We'll be on to the next thing in 2017 anyway!"
Second, I thought it would be fun to bring in some color. I'm a neutral fan but pretty rugs are still my weakness.
Third, I got to collect something! It took me about a year to find all of these. The three biggest came from Craigslist. The small red one came from a local thrift shop and the pink and orange striped came from Project Bly which is a rad site that sells some one of a kind found items and even lets you "bid" on some of them.
Fourth, they are so flexible. At our next house I can split them up and use them in different rooms if I want. I can also resell them, probably for almost as much or potentially more as I originally paid, if I decide I'm over them.
Fifth, we're protecting that beige carpet for the next homeowners.
And sixth...rugs are rad.
Over the past few months as I have been sharing peeks here and there I have got a few questions I thought I would address if you're wondering the same things.
No, they are not hard to vacuum. We have this robot vacuum and it does a spectacular job, even over the different layers. On occasion it's wheel will get stuck, but that happens. It's a million times easier than trying to vacuum myself. And yes, the robot vacuum works great on our travertine and Ellerie's carpeted room too.
No, I didn't professionally clean them all. Most I just set out in the sun for a few days and vacuumed really well. One came from a nice guy with a dog and that one smelled so it went straight to the cleaners before it came home with me. I think it was $100 to clean and I paid $85 for the rug, so not cheap, but much less expensive than a new huge rug.
Yes, that red/brown striped one is from Ikea. But I did get it on Craigslist in good condition for cheaper.
Yes, they do sometimes get wrinkled or bunched up. It's annoying but not deal breaker.
I didn't do much planning at all, just bought them as I thought about it or as I saw one pop up. Obviously I went with a loose "red" theme which was planned. But I didn't think too much about sizes. I also didn't worry about fully filling the space under the bed.
I still have a spot by the door that I haven't figured out how to cover. The door is really close to the ground so it will have to be something extra thin to slip under there. We'll see what I can find. Either way, I'm happy to stamp this rug collection project nearly complete. This house is thisclose to being "done."
links to a few of the other DIYs in the bedroom : hanging mobile, ikea hack nightstand, hanging plants, white curtains, black and white triangle quilt
