If there is a Tuesday Morning where you are, I would suggest you look there. The store in our area has a pretty good selection and they are well-made, 100 percent wool or other material. No cheapies.
I just bought one there for $162 for about the same size. I've bought a cheap rug from Target before and that was a HUGE mistake. A waste of my hard-earned money!

You could just get a carpet store to cut and bind you a rug in the size you want.

Have you checked LNT - they're going out of biz and may have a deal.

happymary - no TM by me - I wish

ideefixe - we were thinking about that but thought it would be nicer to have a pattern or more style than solid bound rug.

greenthumb - I checked LNT the other day - they only had 5x7 or under. :-(

I strongly suggest searching your local Craig's List. That's where I found two of my rugs (from two different sellers), and I love them. They're wool, in perfect condition, and I got 'em for a song. I'm still seeing rugs on my CL that I drool over, but I have nowhere to put them unfortunately. Anyway, if you see something that looks promising on CL, you can just go and take a look in person (and take hubby with you!).

auntjen -

Its funny that you mentioned that b/c as I was searching posts I saw your rug and many others who have bought theirs on CL. I have not seen anything nearly as nice as those on my CL - and I have 2 in my area plus I search my MIL. But I am still looking - thanks.

When I saw your first carpet, I thought of FLOR. You could make it any pattern you like. They send samples inexpensively. They are at flor.com.

I don't know anything about the quality of the rugs at HD, but I love Mohawk Parma Dk Red and Mohawk Parma Dk Red Okra in that order.

Laurie

I had an HD rug in my previous house for about 6 years and when we moved it looked exactly the same. I had a very open floor plan with carpet and I put the HD rug on top of the carpet in my dining area with the table of top of it to sort of define that room as different. It wasn't as heavy as the Karastans I bought for my new home but at the time I didn't want to spend big bucks on it. It was pretty and it served the purpose and in the same situation I'd do it again. I even had it cleaned a couple of times when they did the carpet and it turned out great. I think for the money they are a good buy. They are just not an heirloom that you're going to pass down for years. I like the Mohawk Parma Dk Red Okra, the Shaw Caroline Loden, and the Mohawk Parma Dk Red and that's my order of preference also. The only ones I don't really like for your room are the beige ones, I think you need some color in it. I also don't care for the Target one.

msrose - Thanks for your vote on that - I agree that one of the ones with the red in it would be better.

mimi - I am glad that you had a good experience. They are definetely in the budget and they seem to be better quality than the cheap one from JCP. thanks for your input - those are the ones that I like as well. The one with the red border was nice too but I wasn't sure if it had enough color. The Caroline loden is nice - I saw it in person as well but I feel like its too much green with the green couches as well. I wanted to bring in other colors. There is other carolines that have a red center and a black center - but was unsure about those...

Caroline Garnet

Caroline Ebony

Thanks so much!! Anyone else have a vote??

Ruth

If you're wanting to bring in red I like the Dk Red Okra because it doesn't have so much red as some of the others. That Shaw Caroline Ebony you just posted is very nice, too, and I always love black in a rug. From the pictures those are my 2 favorites. I do know that rugs can look very different in person though so choose what you like best! Or even better, bring a couple home to see and return what you don't want.

Thanks mimi - Thats why I am now getting ones that I can easily return in store. I will most likely be getting one hopefully this weekend. We are ordering a cord of wood and having that delivered - so I may have to wait a week now to get a rug.

But I will definetely be taking home maybe 2 or can easily order one and if it doesn;t work in the room - I can go and get the other one.

I agree that I like the red Okra - I like the fact that it is not entirely red but you can see the red more in that one than in the med beige (which has the red on the border)

the red okra I would have to order from their site - so I have to make sure I can easily return it to the store. I can only see a samll corner of it as a sample in store but I definetely like the red that is used in that rug.

I was drawn to the black one but was only concerned that it was too dark. But that one is definetely an option.

I think now I am going between the red Okra (beige border with red center) and the Caroline Ebony.

Do you have a Pier One in your area? I was just there yesterday and they had some very nice rugs on sale.

I do - I'll have to check them out this week or weekend.

I like the same rugs as Msrose (Laurie) with my favorite being the Mohawk Parma Dk Red and then the Mohawk Parma Dk Red Okra. Both these rugs will bring color into the room without being overpowering. Are you going to have a coffee table also?

I am going to be the odd man out here. If I remember correctly, the loveseat at the end of the room is at the other side of an open doorway. So, the rug that you are getting won't sit under the couch and the loveseat, but just in front of the couch.

Because of that, I don't see using such traditional rugs with such defined borders, that leave the matching loveseat so clearly not a part of the seating visually and chop the room into sections.

I would rather see something plain, perhaps with some nubby texture and some tweedy color effects. It would warm up and soften the hard floor, but not be so defined by a border or pattern. You also have a strong pattern in the stone fireplace to work with.

You can bring in pattern and color with pillows, more substantial (meaning size, not price, LOL) artwork, and accessories. Perhaps down the line you will want to add a large ottoman or coffeetable, and then it will be even better that the rug is simple and without borders and strong pattern.

I would look at a carpet place (they also sell area rugs, by the way) and see about getting a piece of carpeting bound. A frise in a rich warm beige with some other colors twisted in would be very nice, imo.

Les - you are right that there is another opening to the room that comes from the entry hall.

the one problem that I will be having with the rug is that NOTHING in the room is centered - b/c of the opening the sofa is not directly in front of the fp. The FP is 8ft wide. If I place the rug centered with the FP it will have a foot on each side and will sit just under the legs of the Loveseat and will cover to just the end of the sofa on the other wall.

I don't know if that makes any sense - but I am attaching a pic that shows the entry way opening into the LR. We now have base molding up but I don't have any new pics.

We do want to get some kind of a coffee table/ottoman. I am thinking more of an ottoman. We like to put our feet up. I just hate that the couches have to be so far apart - but the ottoman is moveable - and I was also thinking of getting 2 small square ones that can be tucked away and taken out for extra seating or if we have people over and are watching a movie - they would be able to put their feet up.

I will look into getting something that is from the carpet store. Here are some that I have found on HDs site.

Eloquence dark gold

Mohawk Solid Squares - Biscuit

Mohawk Constellation-Teak

Mohawk Frise Shag Black (looks just like the teak one on the computer

As for decorating and accessorizing. I definetely need help with that. Finding the right scale of artowrk and accessories has been hard. Dh and I were living in a small house (only 700sq ft) and everythng looked huge there - once we moved in here we realized everything was so small. So I am always looking for new accessories for the mantle and the walls.

Ruth

I was at HD on my lunch break so I looked at the rugs again. I definetely still like the Parma - still have to show it to DH. But I was also looking at the Caroline one again. The Loden which I thought was going to be green was actually brown. It looked Greenish on my monitor. I wonder how that would look since I am looking to bring brown in - in person it didn't look nearly as busy as it does online. But I know DH is not too fond of the more traditinal.

I also checked out the Mohawk solids. I didn't care for the shag one. I just feel like my dogs nails will keep pulling out the pieces. The solid squares was nice but I think its too plain. The red was not a bad red or the bisquit. But it wasn't that plush.

So I still don't know what to do - just have to rbing DH there and bring one home to see how it looks I guess. I also have to find out if they can be returned at the store if I order some of the special colors that they don't carry in store.

My MIL said JCP was having a sale and I am still leary about them since my other rug was terrible. but I wanted to get opinions on a few and see if any of you have had experience with these...

Timeless - Burgandy, Beige or Brown

Any other ideas - suggestions..
Ruth