Here's the link to my ideabook with additional photos. Hope it works.

https://www.houzz.com/ideabooks/94235366/thumbs/last-choices-on-sofas

We will order these sofas as soon as we get a few people to agree with us that the fabric looks okay. I know we should be bolder and just believe in ourselves, but the saleswoman's ill-humored comments about the fabric left us puzzled.

I like the blue fabric, but then, I'm partial to a blue sofa with an oriental rug, because that's what I have.

Guess I didn't make it clear: I'm asking about the taupe-y fabric on the right. The blue will be for the pillows.

I don't think you can go wrong with either one.

I'm with you. I like the deeper gray. I don't think it will look "purple" at all once you remove the other sample. It's the 2 of them together that may be throwing you off.

BTW, if you're wondering about the little piece of blue fabric on the floor: we were going to get a large ottoman in that fabric, but when we laid down the rug last night, we decided that our glass coffee table looked fine (actually better than before) and that we'd keep it for awhile, saving $500.

prepmom thanks--hadn't thought of that. That may have been what was going on with the saleswoman too. She acted like she was losing her commission if I took the darker one over the lighter one--but it's a family business and no one seems to be on commission, so I think she was just having a bad day.

I agree that either of your beige fabric choices will look good with your beautiful rug, but one of those blues would be AMAZING.

I'm too cautious/conservative to go crazy with a blue sofa. That rug is about the craziest thing I've ever done design-wise. ;-)

I suggest that any pale color will lose out with your rug…Were you rug mine, I would be paring with a deep smokey teal.

Both of your fabrics sample will work nice with your other choices. They both do have a red undertone. The darker one you could probably start to lump in the taupe category which has more of a purple undertone than red, IMO. The only colors I would be careful about pairing with a neutral that has a red undertone are orange and yellow because it can make the neutral appear dirty. Creams, blues, reds, etc. all look great with it.

I like your choices and think that rug is very pretty.

JudyG, I know we could do it and it would look great, but we've made our decision on one of those two fabrics. We had decided on the neutral sofa long ago; only purchased the rug last night at Home Goods. (So it's not like it's an heirloom or anything.) It was a solid burgundy rug for the past 10 years.

I can't tell you about the purple from a computer monitor-may look so different in real life. I do know a local couple just put a gray siding on their house. It happens to have a really lavender look when you see it on the whole house. I'm sure they didn't see this in a small sample. Is there another person in the store that can give you a second opinion. If it's a family business, I would think they would want you to be satisfied.

That said, I agree with Olychick and JudyG: I love your rug and think the gray/beige fabric is just going to give you a so-so look, where the blue will knock it out of the ball park and if you have kids will probably show stains less.

About the blue: my husband just said, "Did you tell them we have cats that shed?"

Bad kitties!

Absolutely the teal in the rug is the way to go with the sofa! Gorgeous with the rug! Cats will shed no matter what color fabric you use. Don't let your room be blah and boring when the answer is right there in JudyG's pictures

She already stated she wants to get one of the fabrics shown. Those sofas Judy showed are lovely and would look great but so will one of the two fabrics she wants to use.

I prefer the lighter fabric with the rug, btw. I was coming back to add that. :)

On my monitor, I'd prefer the "other", lighter fabric. To me it goes better with the creamier colors in your rug, and I'd be scared of the more purplish tone. (I picked a nice gray for the fish scales of my house, and for years I lived in the "purple" house until the sun faded it.)

I vote the darker one of the two....it's got more blue undertones and less yellow to my eyes, so I think it will be easier to get accessories.

However...I'll add the monitor disclaimer...

On my monitor, the lighter of the 2 samples looks more harmonious with your rug, wall color, and exposed hardwood floor (which looks to be a bit on the orange side). If the darker one looks even a little bit purple on the sample (comparing it with other samples is a great way to see undertones you might not otherwise notice), I'm guessing it will look even more purple covering the sofa. If you like purple, then it probably doesn't matter. But I'd keep the receipt for your rug just in case you're not crazy about the way it looks with the sofa.

If you can find someone else in person to give you an honest opinion, that would probably be more valuable than the advice here because what we're seeing may not be quite what you're seeing in real life.

For what it's worth, I also think the blue "inspiration" sofas look amazing with that rug!

Just for clarification on monitor colors: there is absolutely no reddish/purple tone in the lighter fabric. I wasn't in love with it because it was such a dead-looking gray-brown. I would have preferred something slightly darker but didn't think there was anything else suitable (the 3-4 ladies who worked with me always chose the fabrics themselves--yesterday was the first time they were all busy and I got to look on my own). The other is more pure "doeskin" as we called it when I was young. It's the color I had been looking for and the huge bonus was that it's a performance fabric that can be cleaned easily.

And for those talking about the teal tones in the rug: there is absolutely NO teal in that rug. Anything that looks teal to you is blue. That's why we're getting blue pillows and will eventually get a large blue cocktail ottoman.

Perhaps my mistake was putting in your heads what the woman said about there being purple tones in that sample. I should have just asked which you liked of the two.

That particular woman seems to be more on the business end than the designer end. She usually stays up at the desk unless there are too many customers. In fact when I tried to ask her why designers say you shouldn't have sofas right up against walls, she got really annoyed and said, "I don't care what designers say! I don't do any of that!" When her mother took over, she didn't say a word about there being any problem with my new choice of fabric. (And the mother really knows color and designs that work: she started me out with very bold designs that I chickened out on.) I only took the samples home to try because her daughter had made me anxious.

All neutrals have an undertone. A linen color has a red undertone. Beige can have a red, green, yellow, or orange undertone. Grays will have an undertone as well. Monitors do vary but the blue in your rug isn't reading teal on my monitor at all. It's reading the color of the pillow fabric which is blue.

I like the lighter one.

I would go with the performance fabric for ease of care. It looks great with the rug and wall color and navy pillows. And if you ever decide in the future to go with a different color scheme you will be so happy you have a neutral sofa.

Okay, I'm going to go back to the store tomorrow and make one last check with the ladies there about whether they see a lot of purple in the darker one--which I highly doubt. Then I'm putting the money down and giving my husband the receipt/order for his birthday on Saturday.

BTW, everyone: the designer who looked at my choices when I went back said she didn't see ANY purple in the fabric I had chosen. So sofas are on order now. Can't wait.