Hi Mike, Dont buy the oxypetalum. I am sending you a few pieces of this one. It is true that they grow like crazy. I left this one at my parents house when I moved out because it does take a tremendous amount of space. I got a call from my mom and she told me that she was waiting for the day that that was going to strangle her..LOL. Once you have an established cutting, you can expect some new growths to be a couple feet long. No joke, mine had some growths that were 4 ft long in one summer!! The blooms are great! Just make sure your going to be home to enjoy them! Mine only lasted one night and that was it. As soon as the sun went down, the bud would begin to open. By the time the sun came up, it was closing. Logees describes it as having flowers the size of dinner plates. I had some that were even larger than that!!! Mine is pitifull now compared to when it was in its glory. I wished I would have found a way to care for it here. At one point, that plant was around 10ft long but I have had it for over 10 years. You can control the growth with pruning. Just make sure you do it at the right time or you will end up with no blooms. I will have to read up on my notes on this before I can tell you when to prune it. I can send you 3-4 nice cuttings next week with the others if you want okay? I also have a nice big pink epi. I don't know the name of the variety but it is really pretty. Trust me, neither of them will take a lifetime to get blooms from. My oxy bloomed in 1.5-2 years after I got it. I started a couple for friends and the one I gave to my landlords mom bloomed the same year I rooted it! The pink variety I bought locally and they had rooted cuttings with buds on them. I will say that it may take a couple years for those blooms to reach there potential. Andrew

Yes, it is rough on the feet. My 10 yr old son complained! I don't think I would put one in a room where you might sit or lie on the floor. I've heard that it softens over time. Will be interesting to see if that happens. Right now I almost always have socks on, but once it warms up I will be barefoot most of the time. I am wondering if I will hate it then. Hope not, because I love the way it looks. At first, my powder room door would drag. But, it was not sitting totally flat due to being rolled up during shipping. Now, it's flat and the door is fine. But, I suspect if your door is real low, it might not work.

I tend to be willing to pay more to support local businesses and to sustain good relationships with them, but $400 is a bit of a jaw-dropping amount. Yes, I would ask, but (a) I would not necessarily ask for the full $400 difference. After all, if she says no, you have roll up this rug, take it back or be there for someone to pick it up, order the other one on line, see if it's in stock, PAY SHIPPING, wait for it, unpack and unroll it... well, you get the idea. Depending on how complicated its removal is, $100 or so worth of your time may be secured in the fact that this rug is already in your home. (b) watch the timing and the tone. Keep in mind that if she says no, you still have to arrange and complete the return transaction (and finish the couch transaction if I understand correctly). In fact, if it's easy to roll up and handle (negating point a), you could even roll it up, put it in the car, and go ask her in person - then if she says no, it's a quick return and clean getaway. Also remember that if the online seller turns out to be out of stock, you'll want to come back! (c) maybe you could tie it to further purchases for another rug, if she has something in her store that you like. As in, if I buy this one and a smaller one, could you discount both of them? Finally, rugs off craigslist - keep in mind that you probably would want to get a CL rug cleaned right away, and that usually costs a hundred or two. You also often have to spend hours on CL looking for the right size/colour combination to come up, plus arrange a time to view and drive to wherever the rug is. In other words, it's about your time again. I've pretty much found that what I save in money shopping on CL, I spend in time and gas (I have driven an hour out of town to get a $15 lamp after exchanging 300 emails trying to find a mutually convenient day and looking at lamp listings ad infinitum. Was it really a $15 lamp?). So it all depends on how important your time is. Those are some of the things I would be thinking. Above all, check what the online seller would charge to ship the rug. Price plus shipping is the real competing price. KarinL

patty_cakes, that sounds really pretty. Thanks for the idea! newhomebuilder, I'll see if I can find SL magazine and look at that picture. I like your flat round basket on the ottoman (and the doggie). I used to have a really large basket on my large square ottoman in my previous decor. Maybe I should consider something similar here. demifloyd, I have been having trouble finding larger trays. They don't seem so easy to find, aktillery, beautiful room! Yes, that ottoman and basket looks similar to what I used to have, although my basket wasn't quite as deep and was larger. Maybe I should see how it looks on my current ottoman, although I don't think it will work very well. I'll have to take a picture.