I’ve been in the market for a carpet.  I haven’t traveled the world in the search of said carpet, but I’ve covered some ground.  NYC, Dallas, Boston.  I’ve looked in the magazines, and on the internet.  I’ve purchased several, returned as many, contemplated going custom, but my budget doesn’t support that luxury.  Believe me, I had my pretty little yarn bundles in the hues I adore, and which lie within the range of the color palette I have selected for this current project.  It’s so little it demands light.  If I threw caution to the wind and made the investment then where would I be.

The Rug Company . Create your own.

That’s the thing about rugs. They can make a huge statement.  My whole young rental life was defined by an Oriental my grandfather left to me, and which I felt compelled to use.  It was of high quality, really one of the only nice pieces that I owned and could use to hint at the fact that I’d graduated from collegiate leftovers to young adulthood.  The problem of course was that it didn’t reflect my style.  It was too serious, and the other pieces I purchased over time to compliment this major statement, also didn’t reflect me.  That hip custom 1950’s sofa my grandmother gave me, and I had upholstered in a pretty french country cranberry shade – not me, the Laura Ashley club chair I bought on super sale in a cobalt blue – I think I threw my jackets on that chair just to cover it up.  This isn’t a pair of Chanel boots that you can tuck in the back of your closet and forget you spent $1500. of your hard earned cash on…a carpet is always there, haunting you, reminding you of your shortcomings and fallibility as a design diva.

Landry & Arcari . Turkish Oushak . think it’s worth a second look….

Well I did what any self-respecting gal would do.  I bought my first condo, put the carpet on permanent loan to a dear friend to assuage my guilt, and arrived prepared to feather my new nest with….nothing.  It was the most freeing design decision I ever made.  Totally unencumbered I forged ahead with purchases;  furnishings, lighting, side tables, pillows and all the little objects in-between that I felt best represented ME.  When I say “forged ahead” I am more like the Tortoise than the Hare in this fairy tale.  I moved at a pace that my limited funds would allow.  This is something to be valued.  Patience keeps you from making expensive mistakes.  You can feel good about a purchase that you have not wavered from in months, in my case, sometimes years.

Landry & Arcari . same carpet, reads so differently on the floor of my living room than in the store.

So now I have an Oushak lying on the living room floor of my new condo.  It’s a bit of an odd size, but fits perfectly into this space.  It is a tad darker than what I have been carrying around in my minds eye, but admittedly looks beautiful in the space.  I’m in a pickle.  This carpet is on super sale at Landry & Arcari.  Super sale does not mean inexpensive.  I’m curfluckled.  I’m in a bunch, a knot, a predicament.  I know together with my other pieces it will achieve the overall look I have been after, but when I open the door and spy it after a long day, will it bring a smile to my face?  Please help dear reader, I feel ill equipped to make this decision on my own.

Landry & Arcari . Saeed, I see some more rug flipping in your future.