{{!gwi}}

Pretty rug, but my personal opinion is that the pattern is too similar to the wallpaper to work well in your room.

I agree with forhgtv. Too similar to your wallpaper. A lovely cream color would be nice in your room with this rug IF you decide to remove the wallpaper. (I would, and did, and am much happier with my room)

Dee
Sophia rug:

No wonder you like it - it is very much like your wallpaper! As others have said, too much so.

Your room, of course, but I don't see the drapery really working with the wallpaper. I would think about taking the wallpaper down and putting a warm vanilla color, something like the color right next to the blue in the small swatch on the floor. Just be sure it isn't TOO yellow a vanilla; you want it to be more of a brown vanilla to work with the drapery.

Once you add in the pretty rug, I hope you will take off the tablecloth. You want the rug to be the interest around the table, the light color to catch the eye.

I would also check the color of the blues in the rug - your wall color blue reads a bit greener. Of course, that is the limitations of the monitor. I would

Here's a couple color ideas I "painted" for you....

Thanks so much to all who responded so far!

Forhgtv and deeinohio--thanks for posting the link of the rug. As soon as I saw it juxtapositioned with the rest of the room, it was clear that it would be too busy, as I'd suspected.

Les917--lol about the tablecloth. Typically the table is uncovered, and the beautiful quarter-sawn oak adds to the warmth of the room. I only dressed it up to have its pic taken!

Re the drapes--the wall paper has gold which really doesn't show up in the pic. In real life, the drapes warm the room up nicely. I agree they don't show well in that pic, which was taken at night.

Re the wallpaper--should have stated in my original post that it was there when we bought this house. I wouldn't have chosen it myself, but it's a good quality paper in excellent condition, plus DH likes it (!), so we're probably going to leave it up for now. The area below the chair rail was painted that deep mauve paint which was popular in the 80's. I'm drawn to a blue and gold color scheme for my dining room and was delighted when, after trying about six different shades of blue, we found the one which harmonized with the paper.

That being said, justgotabeme--very helpful to see the alternates for the paper. I especially like the cream.

Well, I've decided to not buy the Sophia rug at this time. But I still love it. :)

GM, I wish I had a better way to "paint" the walls. Windows Paint is really limited on getting just the right shade. I was trying for a warmer ivory/vanilla, but could only get that bright shade. I figured I'd post it because sometimes even close can help.
I certainly don't blame you for not wanting to tackle the removal of good quality wallpaper. It's a chore and a half at the very least. Not something I'd want to do myself, though for that pretty rug, I might think about it.

Justgotabeme--what you did is very helpful! As a matter of fact, 24 hours later, I'm considering removing the paper. I realize I have a very positive response toward the rug ("I still love the rug") but have never had any such response toward the wall paper ("I wouldn't have chosen it myself.")

I have two concerns about removing the paper--1. What color to paint above the chair rail--as I said earlier, I have a vision of gold and blue for this room; 2. what to do with the big blank wall areas which will be created when the paper is removed--I don't have enough art to fill them and wouldn't be able to afford enough for quite a while.

I might repost in a few days about the whole room.

Thanks again--you've influenced me more than my previous response indicates.

If you remove the wallpaper, you could hang a collection of thrift-store plates. Depending on how many plates you hang, you can cover a large area with "art" for almost no money. Here are some examples.
{{!gwi}}

Garden, I love that rug. As Les has said, I could understand the appeal since it is so much like the wallpaper that you like. But, IMHO it competes with the wallpaper and neither come out a winner as a result.

Re: the wallpaper - I think you have to decide - wallpaper or rug. I would pick the rug myself and as others have suggested, a creamy vanilla about the rail would look great. Wallpaper doesn't have to be a real chore to remove. Read the suggestions about wallpaper removel and various tools, like the paper scorer or the products like Dif that will be the job so much easier. If there were layers upon layers that would be another story.

Don't worry about the "big open spaces". The rooms I like are ever evolving, layers placed over time. To me when rooms are "complete" it is time to start removing stuff and finding things I like better. The joy of the hunt begins again. The warm weather is coming so the tag sales will be starting, there are always the thrift stores, many cheap deals under $5 to fill those spaces as you go along. Think what fun!

This being said, there have been numerous threads about man vs decorating style. Unless your guy sits and watches HGTV with you, and makes comments like "those drapes are too heavy for that room" then just go ahead and do it. He'll learn to live with it. IMHO as always.