I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. I know exactly how that feels-- our cat was the same age to the month when she died a year ago. Even though you know they had a good life, it's still so sad.

About the rug-- I personally, would not buy online. I tried twice and both times was unpleasantly surprised by the actual colors. One was inexpensive, so we ended up putting it in our bedroom closet. The second was more expensive, and I ended up paying quite a bit to send it back. I know others have had good luck, but I wouldn't do it again.

I am so sorry to hear of the loss of your beloved kitty. What a beautiful picture above.

Yes, I did order rugs online. I think I tried about as many rugs as wedding dresses!

One was from RugsUSA. It was free shipping to me, but I think I had to pay for return shipping to send it back. Can't remember what that was $. I just got an RMA, paid them, printed the label here at home, and dropped it off at the UPS store.

I also ordered from JCPenney. Free shippping to me and I could return to the catalog desk at the store for no charge.

Finally got the one we have from a local store, but it was still several tries back and forth to find "the one".

These were all 5 x 8' so I can't imagine working with anything bigger than that.

So sorry to hear about your cat. That is such a beautiful picture of her above. Losing a family member is so hard.

I have ordered rugs online - from Overstock. I've had good luck. I read the reviews (hopefully there are some) to see what others say about the colors and how true they are to what shows online. I say that in the plural form, but can only remember one specific rug I've ordered from there. Huh. I'm sure I've ordered more than one. I just see so much more variety online that buying local is difficult.

I also have multiple dogs (4 currently and not tiny ones) and so for me rugs are temporary design features. I know they won't last me but a few years given the wear and tear that happens, not to mention the upset tummies sometimes. So if it isn't perfect, it won't be around forever.

My sympathies on the loss of your dear pet.

Sometimes an area rug will be available in a small mat size. I think it's worth the hassle and expense to order the mat to see the colors and construction before ordering the larger rug. Just consider it a part of the overall cost of the rug.

I've ordered three rugs online. In each case, the rug was to provide the primary pattern and color in the room, so some variation from the picture was okay as all of the other elements could be adjusted. I didn't have to return any of them.

I'm so sorry to hear about Sochi. It's always hard to lose a pet, but I hope that her longevity and quality of life will be some consolation in the weeks to come.

I have browsed rugs online to find styles I liked, but need to see and touch a rug to know if it's The One. For a cheap rug or a welcome mat, I would consider buying online. But once we get past $200 or so it ceases to be cheap in my mind, and I want to see it in person.

So sorry about your kitty cat, she was surely a beauty! I am glad that you got to enjoy her for 17 years.

I have ordered a rug before, from Crate and Barrel, so it was a store that I was familiar and comfortable with. The colors ended up being very true to how it appeared online. It was for a kitchen (has since been relocated to the living room) so there aren't as many as "soft" surfaces that needed to be matched (at least in my kitchen)

So sorry about Sochi. It sucks, doesn't it? :(

If you plan on spending a good amount on a rug, then buy it in person. We did with our Persian.

Online I only bought some runners which weren't true to color from the pictures, but they were okay so I kept them.

My last rug I bought online was larger, but thanks to the reviews I went ahead and ordered it. The picture looked like it had dark pink in it, but I loved the print. All the reviewers said it was red. I ordered it and it matched my furniture perfectly!

Read as many reviews as you can.

Such a beautiful picture of Sochi and your daughter. So sorry for your loss.

I am struggling with the same question about buying an area rug online. I have been searching for rugs and decided, just as someone above suggested, to order a smaller size that can be returned easily. I really want to see what it looks and feels like in person. The Home Depot website has many, many rugs to choose from and they can be returned to the store therefore avoiding return shipping charges. Good luck in your search!

Oh Sochi--I am so sorry about the loss of your Sochi cat. She certainly was a beautiful cat, and I am sure a very special one. I know she will always hold a treasured spot in your heart.

I have no advice regarding rugs, but had to extend my condolences and send along hugs to you and your family.

I've ordered two from Wayfair and had very good experiences. I like to order from places with reviews. People often say if the colour is same as it looks on the monitor.

Such a lovely cat. I send my sympathy, too.
As C. S. Lewis said to his stepson after the death of his wife, the little boy's mother, in "Shadowlands," "The pain now is part of the love then."
So we keep taking that risk and loving our darling animals, whom we are destined to outlive.

As to the rug question, I've bought numerous indoor-outdoor rugs on line, both for the porches and for the kitchen, and been quite satisfied - usually from Ballard or from Home Decorators - but only one small regular patterned pile rug, and I did keep it, but it isn't nearly as nice as I had hoped.

I don't have any experience with online rug buying. I just wanted to say I' so sorry for your loss of Sochi. What a beautiful cat with such expressive eyes.

sochi, so sorry to hear about your kitty. Been through that pain several times, I know how hard it is for you. Thanks for sharing what must be one of the most special pictures in your life.

As far as ordering the rug online. I have always been nervous about it. Even from Overstock, even though you can get free shipping, the cost of shipping it back must be high. BUT, the rug for my living room appeared one day on HauteLook.com, and they have a no-return policy. What to do? I took a leap of faith and ordered it. I love it and cannot wait to actually finish that room. And I even ordered it without any reviews. At least on Overstock there is usually feedback from other buyers who can tell you about the color, etc.

So sorry about the loss of your dear pet. The Rainbow Bridge Legend has given comfort to many at such times.

As for buying rugs on-line, I've always had great success with Overstock. Their customer reviews are quite accurate and helpful in making decisions, and their prices seem to beat the competition.

Here is a link that might be useful: The Rainbow Bridge

Last Christmas we bought a rug from costco.com on sale. We definitely took a chance. Good news is that we like it; it's just the right color combo for the living room. I will say that an absolutely incredible amount of wool fluff is still being vacuumed up from this rug, but maybe that's a feature of wool rugs? For $300 I'm not going to complain about it too hard.

Funny, I also use an online name borrowed from a family cat - not here, but on some political sites. I loved that kitty and he died way to young. Our Siamese cat, a little 10 pound fireball, was born a year before our first child and died after said child left for college. She (the cat, not the kid) was almost 19. It's hard.

I bought an area rug from Overstock. It was just what I expected and we are very happy with it. I found my living room rug on line at Slumberland's site. They were able to order it when they placed my love seat order. Again it was just what I expected. I wish I had ordered two but wasn't comfortable with butting them up against each other. Since then I have seen it done several places and I guess it works.

Have nothing to offer about rugs..always buy in person. But your beautiful sochi...I am sorry and I am sure pictures like the one above will bring you joy and comfort in the future.She was a treasure . c

Just sorry about your kitty.

sorry about your kitty!

I've purchased several rugs online - nice, hand-knotted rugs. I know they are not "top" quality because of the price, but they have been nice. I mostly but from S&H rugs off e-bay, good pictures, and the colors are pretty accurate most of the time. The dealers on e-bay will send more pictures if needed. Shopping locally for the same type of rug is usually 1,500 -2,000 more!!! yikes! I did just have a BEAUTIFUL rug delivered, it was perfect, perfect , perfect - colorwise, but one side was 5" wider than the other!! It was weird looking, and I sent it back, and because it was not as described, they had to pay the return shipping fees as well. Now I'm searching again.. but I will buy online!

Thanks so much everyone, for the good wishes and sympathy about Sochi and for the great advice on ordering rugs online.

I will try to find something I like locally, if I can't find anything I will look at some of the sites you've mentioned. My city won't have the selection that you can find on-line of course - I"ve become spoiled by the choice offered by the internet.

bronwynmom - thanks for the wonderful quote from Shadowlands, what a movie. I saw it with my now DH years and years ago, I cried a great deal as I recall. The pain now is certainly part of the love then, but in the midst of the pain I do have to ask myself if it is worth it. No more pets for us I think, for many reasons. I know that once this immediate difficult phase has past I will know that the pain was worth it. But it is just too difficult for us right now.

Thanks again all.

I love that movie, too. We bought the soundtrack because the music is so evocative of England, and the deep but mature emotions in the story.

And I know exactly how you feel when you say "no more."

When the time is right, you may find that the best cure is to start to love another thing with fur.

And if not, not.

I am so sorry for your loss -- Sochi was a beautiful cat, and I can feel your pain in your posts.

We lost our kitty, at age 18, when my oldest child was 6. Spot (I know, what an original name) had shared my adult life -- I got him when I got my first 'real' apartment. He adjusted very well to several new homes, and to the birth of two children. I felt as if I had lost my firstborn when he died, and I couldn't imagine having another pet.

Eventually, however, my children were the driving force in getting another pet. They mounted a campaign a few years later, and we welcomed a dog into our family about two years after Spot left us.

I would hesitate to make any major purchase right now... If you can wait a bit, your emotions will not be as raw. You don't want to associate the rug with the loss of Sochi.

I just talked to my daughter who is expecting #2 in another 3 months. She just bought a rug advertized on CL. The woman had bought 2 matching rugs, one of which was rejected out of hand by a teenage daughter who wasn't having anything with pink in her room. Rather than pay to send it back, she sold it on CL, so my daughter lucked out. Fortunately, Baby Cakes will have no opinion on the color of rugs in her room for years to come.

I agree about finding a new furry to love as soon as the time is right. When my dog died (she loved me the best!) I swore I'd never get another because the pain of her loss just wouldn't go away. A few months later I finally decided to get a dog of the same breed, and she filled that huge hole in my heart immediately! I always thought my Lily sent her to me. :)

sorry about sochi. what beautiful eyes she had!

regarding rugs, I bought 1 handknotted oriental online from an ebay seller. It was the right size for my odd space. It is not the most beautiful thing but it works. The colors were very different than I expected but I was okay with that. Monitors are seldom accurate.

But if you are buying a machine made type rug, I second the poster who said to buy a smaller size first. I've done that to check color. Look for shipping deals to keep the price down. Also, some places will send you tiny swatches for free. I know Ballard Design sends swatches. I think you can get something like up to 6 swatches, you just pay shipping which might be about $5.95. It was a good deal. The pieces you get are only about 4 x 4 but it gives you some idea of color. I think it's smart of them to do this, it gave me the confidence to order the big rug I needed without worries.

I just want to say how sorry I am about the loss of your kitty Sochi. Losing a pet is just so darn hard. We lost a cat a few years ago when he was 20 and he was just the best cat ever. We did get a new one within a year because our home and family just felt like it was missing something. We're glad we did.

Re: the rug - I wouldn't order on line but that's just me. I don't order anything on line because I need to touch and feel things before buying. It's that tactile thing.

Sochi is so pretty. My deepest sympathies.

Wow, gorgeous cat. So sorry - like others, I've been there, done that, sobbed my eyes out, still miss them a great deal, but am not above appreciating a cat-hair-free life. We had them indoors and out because besides the house cats I have been neutering and feeding feral cats for many years, but the last "porch cat" died in 2010.

I have no experience with ordering rugs, but note that a site I often order from - Sierra Trading Post - does carry some. I don't know how their policies apply to rugs, but for the things I have ordered (clothing and shoes), I find their selection and customer service quite remarkable and so can recommend them. They run rotating deals for subscribers to their daily emails, the site is good for reviews, and their return policy very gracious. As a Canadian who fortunately lives near the border, I order to a receiving office just over the border since shipping costs into Canada are astronomical.

One factor that would probably determine whether I bought a rug on line would be local availability. It is pretty good around here, so I'm not sure I would have to go online to find a good rug (unless I wanted a specific one, as I recently did, but I couldn't order it because the company wouldn't take a Canadian credit card!).

Karin L

I've ordered 3 rugs online. Very mixed experiences.

The first one was from a company in England called Myakka. They had a wool kilim on their website that appeared to be *exactly* what I'd been wanting. If you'd pulled it out of my brain, it couldn't have been any closer. It was reasonably priced, with outrageous shipping, but I figured I'd take the plunge. When it arrived, it was NOTHING like what I thought I was buying. Long story short, I got to keep the rug, and had purchase price + shipping refunded to me. All in all not bad since it was free. Anyone want a rug? :)

2nd & 3rd experiences were better. Both were sight-unseen, but I labored over the reviews. One I was pleasantly surprised with. It was prettier in person, and I ended up really loving it in the room - I thought I might like it. Third was not so crucial - an outdoor rug.

Sympathies on the cat. I'm a dog person and have had to put down more than my fair share (I tend to take in abused animals, which also tend to have abbreviated lifespans). Been dreading the day since we got our current "fur baby" 6 years ago... Not sure I can do it again. :/

karinl - thanks for the tip about Sierra Trading Post, I will check them out. I'm in Ottawa, it isn't that far to the border if I have to go. Hopefully I will find something locally though.

I admit to looking forward to not having litter, cat hair, smelly dogs,etc. around the house. But I've had cats and/or a cat and a dog my entire life. It remains to be seen if I can handle a home without a dog or cat.

Sorry to hear about your cat. No, I wouldn't buy a rug online. I prefer to see the colors and feel the texture before buying something like a rug.

I'm so sorry about your cat.

In re rug shopping, as others have said, I only do it if I can buy a very small one first to check it out.

i hit send too soon.

I meant to add that I find rugs especially tricky. Even if you can see the color accurately on the screen, colors can look so different on a horizontal plane. That's one thing I think Dash and Albert does well - they show photos of their rugs on a floor.

Awww, so sorry about Sochi. Every time I see your screen name, I think about your beautiful kitty.

I bought rugs from Dash & Albert online after reading recs from people on GW. In both cases, the colors were true (on a Mac - don't know if that matters). I'm really happy with them. Sometimes, companies are willing to ship to a dealer retailer so that you can examine the product in person. Worth a phone call, if you see something online.

I also bought some wool rugs from Targét that I think are surprisingly nice. With all the pets I have, I don't like to spend too much money on rugs. I'd rather just not spend as much and replace if I absolutely have to. But, I also have a spot bot and a carpet cleaner, so I try to stay on top of the inevitable stains.

So sorry about your kitty.

I ordered two beautiful rugs on Overstock. As others have mentioned, check the comments and it is helpful to look at the same rug in different sizes to see if the color is accurate. That said I would never have found rugs in such a variety and the prices are so reasonable, about a third of what I would have paid. Quality is great too.

Sochi, I hadn't posted because I didn't have much to add, but wanted to tell you my heart goes out to you on the end of your sweet kitty's time with you. I have a similar photo of my long-ago cat with my daughter the day after she was born, and I treasure it.

Love the idea of buying a small rug to sample. I've purchased rugs from Overstock and have been very happy. I only buy those with many reviews, which I read carefully. If there are questions about the colors, O's customer support is helpful.

What a beautiful kitty..... So sorry for your loss....

Oh my goodness - what a beautiful kitty!! So sorry for your loss.

tina

What a gorgeous kitty and how lucky she was to have such a nice long life with you.

For big rugs I tend to buy at Pottery Barn because they are expensive and I like that I can take them back in case I don't like them. PB rugs are hit or miss in my experience - 50% have been fantastic and worn great and the other 50% had a weird extreme shedding problem and I return them.

For smaller rugs that are less expensive, I have ordered a jute rug from Ballard (love and simple for color selection) and woven one from Garnet Hill (also love and it was pretty simple and grey).

I have almost ordered a 3x5 just to see color when I was considering a larger rug from an online store - with the intention that I would either stick it somewhere or return it if the shipping was not too much. At least I would be more confident of the color when ordering the larger rug. But I did not end up doing this.

I have almost ordered several rugs from FLOR and love their sample program.

(Writing this makes me realize that I have almost ordered a lot of rugs.. I must have commitment issues!)

Oh what a beautiful kitty she was! You were lucky to have her with you so long. My sympathies on your loss.

Sending along hugs and we grieve with you .... such a beautiful and much loved soul!