Monday, April 04, 2005

New Rug, & living room progress

So, what I did this past weekend:

Saturday, took a couple of tatty old wing chairs I got from my mom's neighbor a few years ago to the upholsterer's. I sort of had ideas about reupholstering them myself (and have the books to prove it), then decided slip covers might be more manageable, but... no time. And now we have a little money, thanks to a nice tax refund, so off to the upholsterers they went, along with fabric I bought back in the Fall. Cheaper than buying new chairs, actually. But I somehow feel... very grownup, taking chairs to be reupholstered. Wierd. I think it's the very traditionality (not that that's a word) of having something reupholstered, rather than just tossing them out and buying new.

Sunday, went to Ikea and bought a Persian rug. They have hand-knotted rugs for fairly reasonable prices, and I bought a nice one for what I consider a relatively decent price to replace the cheap rug we bought a few years ago from Home Depot, which will go in Kevin's computer room once we put down the hardwood flooring. The new rug is smaller than the previous rug -- just big enough to go in front of the sofa and under the coffee table, really -- but that's not a bad thing. It actually makes the room look a little bigger, because a little more of the wooden floor is exposed.

I have wanted a nice oriental rug for SO long. There's just something beautiful about them -- I love the rich reds and blues, and you can really tell when they're handmade because they have those little variations that tell you something isn't machine-made. And even when they're a little worn they look good -- if you look at "Traditional Homes" or other such home dec magazines you often see rugs that are worn but still beautiful. I'm tired of buying cheap rugs and having to replace them every few years when they look bad.

I'm second-guessing myself on getting forest green fabric for the chairs, but when I get them back, I intend to get some Kilim runners and drape them over the chairs to add more color to the room and tie them into the rest of the room. There's green in the quilt I have draped over the sofa (which may actually get replaced with a Kilim, eventually), so that helps tie the whole color scheme together.

K. has been working on the built-in bookshelves in the living room, so it'll be nice to have those done soon...

Then we've got the baseboards and wainscotting to do. But at least there's some progress!

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