Floors First

I went to the Stark warehouse sale in early May and bought 5 carpets for our new house. It was a major purchase and one of the first for our home. I had a lot of guilt after I bought the rugs, mostly because I have never bought so much for myself before and I hoped I made the right decisions! I usually start decorating rooms from a fabric- not a carpet so it wasn't the most natural flow for me, but the warehouse offered so much, I couldn't pass up the chance to get these carpets at such low prices. There were hundreds of beautiful remnants and also discounted stock items which you could order to any size. I had to seize the opportunity and I got there the first day the sale opened to the design trade.

Anyway, I am now SO HAPPY I made the decisions I did. The carpets are amazing and such beautiful quality. I got a runner for the stairs and upstairs hallway, a greek-key type rug for the master br, a blue star rug for Teddy's room, a yellow candy stripe for Athena's room, and a natural sisal in a wavy pattern for the front sitting room.

I will focus on the kids rooms first: I am not changing the wallpaper in these rooms, mostly because the paper isn't *that* bad and I would like to spend the money elsewhere. The wallpaper in my daughter's room is white with green leaves (a little 80's - sort of painted leaves) and even though it was really not my style, I thought I could work with green and yellow since I have an amazing vintage bamboo dresser (yellow bamboo) and Athena's big-girl bed is green. So I looked for carpets which would tie together with the wallpaper but also incorporate other colors so I could use it somewhere else (maybe a nursery eventually).

Athena's wallpaper:

The vintage bureau:

The candy-stripe yellow rug:

And how it looks in the room (as of last night!):

It appears green in this picture, but it is more of a yellow when you see it in person! I think it looks amazing and hopefully will tie everything together!!!

As soon as I saw the rather cheesy lighthouse motif wallpaper in the boys' room I knew I could work in a Stark star rug and play up a larger scale on the floor to downplay the cutesy-ness (is that a word?) of the lighthouses. They aren't that bad, and now with the bold carpet they look cooler. I love this carpet and so does my husband. It is such a great color blue and I think it will grow with Teddy - I can imagine an antique cannonball bed or sleigh bed in this room. For now we are working with the white crib, changing table etc...

Teddy's room before:

Close-up of the new carpet:

In the room:

Here is a shot of the leopard for the stairs and upstairs hallway, which won't be installed for a while...

This is our master bedroom carpet - I love how the Greek key is deconstructed!

I will add a picture of the sisal once we get that one down...

Have a happy Monday!