Holly Thompson Homes

luxury kitchens + interior design studio

  • Home
  • About Holly
  • La Cornue
  • Kitchens & Interiors
    • Kitchens & Interiors
    • Products + Services
    • Why Hire A Designer?
    • Custom Homes
  • Press
  • Contact
    • Contact
  • Our Work
    • Portfolio
    • Holly’s Blog
      • Never miss a post!

The Rug Dilemma

February 27, 2017 By Holly Thompson Leave a Comment

Rugs are finishing touch items, which is a new frontier to us.  That’s because we always have bigger fish to fry than picking finishing touches, like installing a shower on a deadline when you don’t know how and creating a staple-free subfloor for the kids.

But things have changed, and we now have a deadline for both construction and finishing touches, so the game is on.  In the next month or two, we’ll be sharing more about what we’re up to and why we have a deadline, so stay tuned!

But for now, the topic is rugs.  We have a room that looks like this:

img_20170221_170750

You’ll notice there doesn’t seem to be any furniture in the middle.  That’s actually my favorite thing about it, because it means that if Hubby or kids come by and trash it, I can kindly ask them to remove their belongings and no one will be able to say they don’t own their toys/tools/socks/food/wrappers/dishes/books/pillows/Legos/homework.  It’s also so I can make pillows or whatever and lay out the fabric on the floor.

But from a design standpoint, it’s a little weird to have a huge empty spot in the middle.  Normally you’d have a coffee table (and, like, a couch or something, and a rug).

In addition to being a craft/sewing room, it has four smaller chairs around the outside because 1). I like chairs 2) We like to read and/or have conversations and coffee, and 3) I like chairs a lot, especially midcentury ones, and I wanted open space in the middle for projects.

But now that we’re ready for finishing touches, it needs a rug.  And this is a bit tricky, because the rug needs to add softness and style without making it look like a living room where the furniture is missing.  Right?  And also, it has a wallpaper focal point wall (I’m avoiding the phrase “accent wall” because that sounds like 2002).  The rug needs to enhance and not detract from the rather subtle focal point wall.

You know those really cool antique Persian and Turkish rugs?  I’ve never had one of those since we usually find our rugs in the floor model section of Pottery Barn (and I wasn’t one of the preferred heirs who got to choose from my grandpa’s collection).  But I really wanted to try one, and this room was my chance.  Unfortunately, not many of them come in neutrals:

img_20170222_082745

It’s adorable, actually, but turns into the focal point instead of the wallpaper wall.  Plan B: a more neutral one with softer colors.

img_20170221_163837

This one I really like in the picture, but it was expensive and scratchy, and even the cat wouldn’t sit on it.  So back it went.  Then, we tried this, which was my husband’s choice:

img_20170221_164402

This one was interesting, but the more I looked at it, the more I wanted it to go away. Then we tried this one, which we liked a lot at first, but then it started reminding us of a grandma’s house from the ’80’s.  Although it’s beautiful, it also tends to steal the show (though now that I’m looking at it in the picture, I kind of like it again).

img_20170221_161548

The kitty especially liked it.

img_20170221_161034

So then we tried our white wool rug from the living room, which was a little boring.  So we added a kilim-style rug from West Elm on top:

img_20170226_165507

Which made the space a little too West Elm-y and modern in contrast with the wallpaper.  So we layered a smaller rug we had upstairs on top:

img_20170226_165744

and thought the modern West Elm rug showed too much still.  So we took it away:

img_20170226_201653

and gave up on it because we found this vintage Turkish rug:

img_20170227_135551

which I am a HUGE fan of!  Look at it:

img_20170227_135616

Yeah-hoo!

img_20170227_135625

We have a winner.  Except for the craft room, which needed a rug.

Back to the drawing board.

(Below is a little snippet of why I was wanting a room to myself, if you’re interested):

img_20170226_102122

img_20170226_102133

img_20170226_095850

 

 

 

Filed Under: Blog, decorating, design, kitchen, Uncategorized, vignettes Tagged With: character, fun stuff, interior design, renovation, rug, style, update, vignette, vintage, wallpaper

« Beautiful Lighting (on a budget)
What Clients Consider the Grossest Thing Ever »

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

About Holly Thompson


Nationally-featured designer specializing in kitchens and whole-home design. Master's Degree in Interior Design. Regular contributor to American Farmhouse Style magazine's online content. Expert at making clients' dreams a reality through exceptional interior design and highest-quality products.

Search Holly Thompson Homes

Recent Comments

  • Are Barn Doors Too Trendy? - Holly Thompson Homes on How to Use Barn Doors. Well.
  • How To DIY Without Cheap Results - Holly Thompson Homes on DIY Painted Checkerboard Floor Tips
  • Holly Thompson on My Newest Project

Archives

Categories

hollythompsonhomes

Holly Thompson • HTH
A colorful vintage rug and iconic chairs are alway A colorful vintage rug and iconic chairs are always a fun time.
#thonetchairs #bentwood #iconic #chairlove #persianrug #vintagerug #diningroom #chairs #vintagestyle #vintagemodern
Kudos to our 12-year-old son for getting an honora Kudos to our 12-year-old son for getting an honorable mention at the Kids' Art Festival in Franklin! His work will be displayed at City Hall!
#franklinartscene #franklintn #drawing #artist #sketching #Tennessee
My daughter is an aspiring photographer and takes My daughter is an aspiring photographer and takes great landscape/wildlife pics. I loved this one and thought I would share it!
#photography #landscape #focalpoint #franklintn #naturephotography #fence #goodlines
Homemade lattes taste better in my vintage Thompso Homemade lattes taste better in my vintage Thompson mug!
#vintagestyle #coffee #weekendplans #latte #Thompson #muglove #homemade
Sunny breakfast nook with a tulip table and chairs Sunny breakfast nook with a tulip table and chairs. The wall color is one of my favorites, Pegnoir by @farrowandball. 
#hollythompsonhomes #tulipchair #midcenturymodern #checkerboardfloor #flowers #breakfastnook #baywindow #pink #farrowandballpegnoir #farrowandball #franklintn #sunny #kitchen #breakfast
This half bath was created with high-end finishes This half bath was created with high-end finishes used in small doses, to get maximum impact without blowing the budget. Wallpaper by @schumacher1889, tile by @waterworks, faucet by @newportbrass, and custom vanity by @hollythompsonhomes.
#moodybathroom #Schumacher #concretesink #reclaimedwood #wallpaper #waterworks #interiors #highend #luxurybathroom #luxurydesign #interiordesigner #franklintnhomes
Follow on Instagram

Copyright © 2023 · Holly Thompson Homes · luxury kitchens + interior design studio

Copyright © 2023 · Hello Trending On Genesis Framework · WordPress ·