New Dining Room Rug

One thing that’s been on my to-do list for a while was to get a new rug for our dining room. As explained in THIS POST, it’s one of the projects that I’ve been wanting to do for some time.

I’d been looking for a rug off and on, here and there, but couldn’t find anything I loved. I want this purchase to last – to be our dining room forever-rug, as it were.

When looking for a rug, I had the following requirements:

(1) I wanted the new dining room rug to be made of wool or natural fibers.

Wool and natural fiber rugs just hold up better than the synthetic ones. I’ve owned both, and while the synthetic materials have their benefits (the rugs are less expensive, they can be softer than natural materials), I’ve found that natural fibers are the way to go.

In addition to the durability, I am an all-natural kind of girl, so I want all-natural products in my home. I’d prefer not to have materials treated with lots of chemicals or made from plastic (unless recycled plastic) or petroleum, if I can avoid it.

(2) I wanted the new dining room rug to be a dark color.

I had a light-colored rug in there for a time – the one that was in our living room:

But because the dining room is essentially used as a hallway into the kitchen and back of the house, this light tan rug wasn’t holding up to the traffic. It usually appeared dirty and dingy.

Plus, ELVIS. His shiny black fur stuck to this rug and made it look a mess.

“Who, me?”

So, I wanted something darker to hide the dog hair and any dirt from foot traffic.

Plus, dark gray works with the metal industrial chairs and cabinet already in the dining room.

(3) The size of the rug had to be at least 8 x 10.

I toyed with putting the rug from the breakfast room in the dining room:

You can kind of see it here – it’s a reddish-colored, beautiful rug.

But it’s only 6×9, so not big enough for in the dining room. I tried it – it didn’t work, given the size of the dining room table and chairs.

After searching and searching, I found this rug at HomeGoods this past weekend.

It’s a wool rug (check!), it’s charcoal gray (check!), and it’s 8×10 (check!). It’s very soft and comfy underfoot. And I love the pattern.

So, one item from the to-do list done! Next up: the guest bathroom. I’ve chosen a color! Stay tuned…