I'd say it depends on your DR and the rug in question, but it could certainly work in my view. Pinkpaula's rug is lovely and something similar with the right colours could easily work in a modern scheme I think.

Will post photos shortly.

Here are the photos. My table and chairs are temporarily moved out. Table is a pine trestle table and chairs are black.

Please tell me whether or not a natural fiber rug would look better than the braided one. Thanks.

Are you keeping the red walls? They enhance the primitive look. I think changing the walls to a more modern brown tone would make the rug work and would be fresher. Many beautiful brown paint colors have been posted here recently.

Sort of agreed about the seagrass trend but I still love mine, HOWEVER, I would be remiss if I didn't state the following:

I have 1 flat braided seagrass or jute rug in my LR and it's trashed. I replaced 1 room already w/ an area carpet and will be replacing the LR rug w/ something similar. I still love my seagrass rug in our MBR & have no desire to want something different.

I just can't imagine how the style of my braided seagrass rug could possibly withstand the constant moving of DR chairs on it. Mine has not held up well in a high traffic area like I always see in magazines.

If I were to buy a seagrass rug again I would buy carpet tiles from Flor w/ a seagrass/ jute look for durability.

Pinkpaula, if you are local to me I think that your prior rug is now residing in my MBR lol!

PS on the flat braid rugs: JC Penney used to carry a nice selection of flat braided rugs in current colors. I thought they were great.

I think the decision about whether the rug can support a modern country feel is not decided alone. What else in the room are you thinking about changing? Is the rug the element that you want to have to work around?
To me, the rug reads definite country; the shape, the colors, the width of the braided pieces, it will be difficult to work with but not impossible if you are changing several other items. A rectangular, finer looped, more neutral braided rug would have been much easier. Pinkpaula's is a perfect example.
I would probably remove it. I would replace it with a neutral, but not seagrass because like prev. posters I think it is difficult to move chairs on seagrass. I would probably go for an easy to clean man-made fiber rug, maybe even indoor/outdoor in polypropelene or olefin. Perhaps something with a tone on tone pattern or a geometric design, paired with white/neutral walls, linen or burlap panels and your existing furniture and I think you would be well on your way to modern country,

Pretty room! I love your pine hutch with ironstone, the chandelier and horse artwork. The artwork adds a fresh and modern whimsy to the room.

Your red walls look nice IMO, but if you're ready for a change, I agree with juco that you might want to change the wall color first. You could also add another modern country piece of artwork on a different wall.

I hadn't considered braided rugs for my newly built home (a modern craftsman-ish lake cottage) until I recently saw a few featured at home and cottage show. The vignettes were beautiful with an updated country cottage feel. I decided to purchase a couple braided rugs in addition to the many Dash & Albert rugs I'll have.

Look through some of the photos linked below. I say you can definitey have a fresh, modern country look with a braided rug.

Here is a link that might be useful: [Braided Rugs on Houzz[(https://www.houzz.com/products/braided-rugs-prbr1-br~t_515~a_1183-6510)

Thanks to you all for your ideas. To be honest I am planning to keep the wall color, at least for now. I have just added the ironstone so the rug was the only thing I am looking to change at this point. Ironstone platters will be added to the wall opposite my hutch.

I do want to change the wall color down the road if any of you have any suggestions about that. I don't want to do white though and I have a lot of green already.

Mainly I want to get away from the more primitive look. Thanks again.

Forgot to mention that the dining room is rarely used for meals so not worried about the chairs and the seagrass rug.

I was playing with a more neutral, more contemporary wall color and stronger, clean lined graphics and came up with this mock-up. But I just saw your post where you said you wanted to keep the wall color. Oh well, at least you can see if you like the concepts or not. And if you don't like them, well, that's helpful too -- now you know why!

awm03 - thanks so much for the mock up. I am interested in a new wall color but won't be painting right now. What is that color that you posted?

It's just a color I made up in Paintshop Pro, the image manipulation software I use.

Here's a rough mock-up of your room with a seagrass rug. I couldn't find a picture of a seagrass rug online that had a good perspective or that didn't have furniture on it, so I just pieced together a "rug" and pasted it into your photo. It looks a little off, but perhaps you get the idea of how a seagrass rug might look.

I have a seagrass in my dining room, and I have to say it wears like iron. I have metal garden chairs for dining chairs (several years ago when my wood chairs gave out, I bought them to hold up to my sons & their friends on game nights). The seagrass rug withstood young males sliding metal chairs in and out, spilled snacks & drinks, AND has even withstood our cat barfing on it (why she chooses to barf on this rug is a puzzle to me). It's impervious to liquids -- they wipe up with a damp cloth. The only downside is the rug is not soft underfoot -- in fact, it's downright painful on bare feet.

That said, I love love love braided rugs and have been wanting one for years. I only got the seagrass rug because it was less expensive than the beautiful, neutral braided rugs I really wanted.

Sis2two, also wanted to say how much I love your beautiful pine floor. Is that heart pine? It is gorgeous.

Thanks awm03. I am looking at Pottery Barns seagrass rug with the natural binding. Thinking it will give the room a fresher look and my new daughter-in-law has her eye on my braided rug so it will be used.

Like I said the dining room isn't used often so I'm not really worried about the rug getting a lot of use.

Yes it is reclaimed heart pine. Thanks! We love it too.

I bought my seagrass rug at Natural Area Rugs.com, and was happy with the price, shipping, & rug/binding quality. They frequently have sales too.

Here is a link that might be useful: Natural Area Rugs.com

I love braided rugs. I've also had jute rugs that were ruined in a just a year or so. I think that braided rugs are less expected and therefore fresh and "new".

If I do keep the rug, any wall color that would look good? It would need to go with the elements in the room as well as furniture.

Unfortunately I see the room as it looks now, with furniture and red walls and braided rug, as looking entirely like a throwback to the country cute look. I'm sorry if this sounds harsh, but the combination doesn't read as anything modern whatsoever...it all really looks like what was popular 30-40 years ago.

A natural rug would at least be more modern. But the barn red paint on the walls and the outdated pine furniture just doom it, in my opinion, to stay looked sadly frumpy at least if all else stays the same.

I would definitely switch out the rug and paint the walls. If you can't change out the furniture, I"d consider painting that as well and maybe updating the hardware.

Ann

I would paint the room a very very VERY pale yellow in a heartbeat and keep the rug.

Yellow walls with ironstone will add so much brightness and cheer you'll want to eat in there everyday! lol.

runninginplace- your opinion is not taken harsh at all. That is the reason for the post because I need help. The furniture will stay however because my hutch and pie safe are antique pieces that I love. I guess Im wanting to update the room by either changing the rug or repainting or both. But beyond that the rest will probably remain. I do appreciate your input. Do you have an idea for wall paint?

I still think a darker neutral would look modern. I'm not familiar with paint colors like some here are, but I just looked at the BM site and Danville Tan, Sandlewood, and Olive Tone all look like possibilities. Along the lines of the color that awm03
photoshopped for you.

White, or a very light color from your rug?

[Rustic Dining Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/rustic-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2111) by Portland Media & Bloggers Julie Smith

[Rustic Living Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/rustic-living-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_718~s_2111) by Seattle Architects & Designers Bosworth Hoedemaker

Oaktown- I love those photos and the style of both rooms.

I think I have about decided not to use the rug and get a natural fiber rug.

IMO, no rug would look better than a seagrass or jute rug. Most rooms that look good with natural fiber rugs are all around neural, so texture is the main appeal of the natural fiber rugs. In you room you have a lot of color and not much softness, so I would want the rug to be something that makes the room a bit more welcoming. I remember your initial struggles with what rug to put here and am surprised that you have changed your mind on the braided rug so quickly, if it were me I would try a different wall color before giving up on it.

Try SW sea salt paint color. Remove the silver wall sconces, more contemporary chandelier, and remove some of the displayed dishes.

I may be confusing some of you with the way I worded my post. I DO like a country look but am wanting to get away from a primitive look. My furniture is staying including my pine trestle table and black chairs. Would like to freshen this room up. If braided rug works that's great and if not I don't want to use it. Although initially I didn't want to change wall color, that may need to be done. I am afraid some are thinking I want a modern look. That's not what I mean by modern country. Thanks.

sis2two, if you figure out better terminology for your "modern country" look, please share! I love primitives (in theory, don't actually own any) but we are going to end up with a compromise "contemporary farmhouse" or something like that . . . I think your dining room is great, those look like some really nice pieces.

I love this Bosworth Hoedemaker project, even though it probably is more country than we will end up with.

[Rustic Home Office[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/rustic-home-office-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_732~s_2111) by Seattle Architects & Designers Bosworth Hoedemaker

[Rustic Bedroom[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/rustic-bedroom-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_715~s_2111) by Seattle Architects & Designers Bosworth Hoedemaker

Oaktown- love those photos! Oh I wish my home looked like that! As far as terminology goes, I love a country farmhouse look. Having said that I don't want the room looking " frumpy" but fresh. I am more confused now and really need some direction with the keeping of my furniture of course.

I had a sea grass rug years ago. It really hurt to walk barefoot on it. I kick my shoes and socks off as soon as I get home. It was very hard to clean. The crumbs go into the big cracks. The only way to properly clean under it was to move it. It was too big to do that. I prefer the braided rugs. Being in style all the time really doesn't matter to me. I prefer people that don't have their houses looking like everyone else.

Could you try putting the table and black chairs back in the room WITHOUT the rug to see if you like that look? I was just looking around on Houzz for some ideas for my dining room that happens to now have black chairs and saw several pictures of wood tables with black chairs and no rug on the floor. Here's one example. Put black chairs in the search under dining room on Houzz to see more.

[Traditional Dining Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2107) by West Chester Architects & Designers Archer & Buchanan Architecture, Ltd.

Here's one more pic from Houzz. You can even see some dark red on the walls, even tho it's only a very small area.

[Traditional Dining Room[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-dining-room-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_722~s_2107) by Little Rock General Contractors Bret Franks Construction, Inc.

I've never been a braided rug fan but find that your rug does a beautiful job of combining all the colors you want to keep, the wood tones, black, white and red. You could try one of the lighter colors on the walls as others have suggested, but the current red walls are beautiful. I think you need to work on finding a good ASID interior designer to help you "tweek" what you have. There are a lot of wonderful things going on in your room already. By the way, the wood floors and the long windows are also quite lovely.

I joined the bandwagon, and gave photoshop a try. This is BM Wickham Gray with a white trim. I think a sprightly color might inject the yin to the yang of the primitive country. I am a fan of the braided rug and the furniture.

bac717- thanks so much! Going to take up my rug and see how it looks! The more I look at my red walls I really like them. They are much prettier in real life and I like my ironstone with the deep red. Thanks so much for those pics.

Sis, I felt badly that my comments were harsh; thank you for taking them in such a gracious spirit! I apologize.

In my response I was reacting to a change I just made in my own dining room--got rid of an Early American matched set that I'd had for 25 years(!) and now have more modern furniture in there. The new stuff is so different--larger in scale and British Colonial instead of Tell City hard rock maple. I like the new look but your thoughts about keeping antiques are resonating with me right now! (I actually kept the DR table, which was my mother's, and will save it in case daughter or son want it eventually).

Anyway, I second the suggestions for a lighter wall color and maybe try removing the rug and leaving your floors bare to see if those changes lighten/air out your space. It might also help focus the room on your antiques that you want to highlight.

Good luck!
Ann

I love the wickham gray!!

Pinkpaula, I am in love with your room!!! Very serene and elegant.

onedog- thanks so much for taking the time to do that! If I come up with some different colors, could you do that again for me? Thanks so much.

Would someone photoshop BM's Stratton Blue , Van Courtland Gray, and Wedgewood Gray.

What's interesting is that on the knob on my pie safe is an old clor very similar to Stratton Blue which I think is a good starting point. Thanks so much.

And Wythe Blue too?

Simply put -- no. I'd update the rug if you want a lighter, more modern feel.

Violet- are you saying no to the rug or also no to changing out wall color? I have decided not to use the rug after all.

I really love that red with the furniture and ironstone! I'd take up the braided rug first.

ooh, no to the rug. Sorry, am behind the times, as usual.

I like the room as is. You could change up accessories and art if you're looking to freshen up. I should mention I like color and contrast. My first thought about a sisal rug is it could blend too much with your furniture. If you were keeping the braided rug (sounds like you're taking it up) my first thought was a pale blue or pale green gray paint like how the photo Onedogedie posted looks on my monitor. I also really like the rooms Oaktown posted (first set).

I like your furniture, horse pic, and the ironstone!

Are you honestly tired of your braided rug? Whatever you end up with, just remember to be true to your style.

You could also take up the rug for now and maybe just use it in the winter months to change it up. It's very nice looking.

I'd take the rug up and see how you feel and consider painting going the painting direction first since it's cheaper than a new rug.

Thanks sheesharee! After really giving it some thought and doing some foam boards with sample paint yesterday, I have decided to keep the wall color. The color is actually so much prettier when you are actually in the room than it shows on the computer. I have been iffy about the rug since I got it to be honest.

Across from the pine hutch is a black bench that matches my chairs and I plan to have ironstone plates above it. I took up the rug and put my table and chairs back in, tweaked what was on the pie safe and I like it much better. So for now at least, no change in paint color.

So grateful for all of you who weighed in and gave your opinions. Looks like my daughter in law gets a new rug!

I'm glad you are keeping the beautiful wall color. It really does work so well with the furniture you have in the room. Do you have any pictures to share of the room without the rug? Isn't it funny how you can update a room by removing one of the elements?

I have had a seagrass rug under our breakfast table for about 3 years now (maybe longer). We eat every single meal there, and moving chairs hasn't been an issue at all. It still looks perfect. Also, no stains, except that the neutral fabric banding needs a cleaning sometime soon.

bac717- I will try to post pictures sometime this weekend. I wish my wall color showed more true to life in pictures. It is Berry Red by Ellen Kennon and has a very rich vibrancy to it which doesn't come through in pictures. Thanks for saying that you like it.

nosoccermom- have decided to not use a rug, at least through the summer. I actually like it bare. I do like the seagrass rugs however. Just not sure it would be thevrightvrug in my space.