Thanks to all of you for your comments and compliments. Wow, so many nice things! A couple of you asked what the floors are, they are your basic 2.5" red oak floors, not engineered. We just had wood floors installed in the living/dining/stairs last fall (was yucky carpet) and then had them all refinished and stained Minwax Dark Walnut. I absolutely love them It completely changed the look of our house. We bought this house 3 years ago and have completely remolded every inch ourselves. And I am glad so many of you like the paint colors! That was a drama filled episode. They used to be Ralph Lauren's Antique Brown then they were SW Perfect Greige and now Tony Taupe. All within 3 years. Exhausting. But I love the current colors. I used Accessible Beige in the kitchen and I have to say that color is my favorite. I agree about the living room rug and the size. I wish I had gone a size up but hubby would have my head if I bought another right now. The foyer rug has to stay this size (4x6) because I have 3 young boys (all under age 4) who like to push their little cars/carts and do relays through the foyer, they would be very upset if I got something larger that would interrupt their race-track;-) One more question-I want to install a shutter and remove the drape on the single window in the living room. My plan is to buy new panels for the large window in living and in the dining. What are thoughts on having a shutter on just one window? The side of the house faces a tot park and we just want a little more privacy. Plus I love shutters. I just installed them in our family room and am looking for excuses to put them other places. Again, thank you everyone!!

Leah I'm guessing you looked at the pix in my link on gillianma's thread? It showed a couple of examples, and as I said, I will have more in my article on Wed, including persian rugs over sisal. Most rugs over sisal are done to either (a) achieve a look or (b) to create a "safe zone" area for spills and/or foot traffic. Personally, I would be hesistant to place a Karastan (and I love Karastans--I've praised them a lot in the past) simply because most are pretty thick and will end up looking heavy and off balance on a sisal--especially since you mention a larger (8x10) sized Karastan. Considering the excellent quality Karastans are known for, in this case you would be better served investing in the larger size.

I agree with Ingrid—a nice sisal would work, except I’d skip the contrasting binding. And to answer your question about whether or not anyone’s done this, my brother & his partner have—more out of necessity than anything else (kind of like you, I guess!) They live in a pre-war co-op building in NYC with terrific, original-but-noisy-for-the-neighbor-below-you hardwoods, and each apartment is required to have a minimum percentage of the flooring covered so they did exactly what you’re considering in both their living and dining rooms. And it looks great!

Thank you so much Flo! This is a GENIUS idea (gold/silver leaf or glitter)! I’m so excited about this now. Yes, I created this poll after my design dilemma didn’t get off to a good start. Lynartist brought this up in the other one. I thought a more straight forward approach, as I knew I LOVED the blown glass chandeliers, just wasn’t sure which would be the best to go with. I’m just now reading yours’ and the pictures above were SO helpful!! I am going to go with the more colorful one (the one that BeverlyFLADeziner placed in the recessed area above).