There is No Vug Under the Rug

Baylor told someone he was scared of rugs yesterday.  Thanks Dr. Seuss!

I got a new camera lens...yippee.  It's really fabulous, but it's still not in any way a wide angle lens.  Whereas the standard 18-55 that came with my camera (that I managed to trash) functioned as a little of both.  Not sure why I feel the need to give y'all a play by play before every post now, but there it is.  I still need to mess around with it, but it's definitely not meant for room shots.

Onward and upward!  If you need a reference, click here for the older pics of my family room.  And here again is the preview I posted last week.

  Now get a load of how lucky blessed I am.  My super darling friend Dayle, precious owner of Decor Once More (that I talk about incessantly here) acquired this amazing ginormous rug with an entire estate.  These were fancy world-travelers who purchased most of their home's treasures on their journeys.  Remember the awesome carved brass chest that I bought for my husband's office?  Same owners.

Well, when Dayle brought the rug into her store, she noticed there was a small little spot on it.  Okay, I promise she said I can share this:  She tried to remove the spot with Oxyclean.  EEEYIKES, I know.  You should see the face on people when I tell them that.  Poor dear sweet girl!  The small spot turned into a giant yellow stain in one corner and the rug became un-sellable. 

SO SHE GAVE IT TO ME.  What?!  Because guess who can hide big yellow corners of rugs?  People with sectionals.

Yeah, that's a yellow tinker toy, not the stain.  

We are pretty sure the rug was bought in either Turkey or Iraq.  I had the rug professionally cleaned and when I told the guy the oxyclean story he was bummed.  "That's a shame...that's a $10k rug."

It's really very beautiful.  It's vegetable dyed wool.  I found this little chart fascinating:

Common "Vegetable" Dyes....

Color in the rug	From this material	Notes
red to orange	root of the madder plant	Rubia tinctoria
salmon	depleted madder dye	as dye baths are re-used, the dye gets weaker and colors get lighter
bright red to burgundy	cochineal (dried insect carapace)	often from Dactylopius coccus
blue-red to purple-red	lac (resin secreted by insect)	often from Coccus laccae
light blue to navy	indigo (extracted from the indigo plant)	Indigoferra
pale yellow to yellow-brown	larkspur or isparuk (a flowering plant)	Delphinium sulpureum
pale yellow to yellow-brown	weld (a flowering herb)	Reseda luteola
brown	oak bark, tree galls	Quercus
black	tannin, oak tree galls, iron	this dye is often damaging to wool
green	double-dye of larkspur and indigo

Yes, my curtains are still too short.  I wanted to have a trim added and haven't decided on what so I did nothing.  Also that really awesome chrome chair I bought for $20 moved in here.  I haven't changed out the zebra pillow...I do realize it's a bit much with the ottoman. 

My word these pics are blurry...I was in a bit of a hurry before my child commandeered the room for his Curious George and Apple Jacks morning extravaganza.  I could have shut the doors on the end table I suppose.  I'm also still learning my new lens and this is clearly not it's purpose.

An immediate change has to be any remaining orange in the room.  The paintings over the couch are clashing big time.  Orange is seriously the only color not in the rug.  I whipped the barstool cushions off instantly. (Old pic)

But what else?  My long term plans have always included dark hardwood floors, but they got pushed off last year in favor of ripping out all the carpet upstairs for our allergy-plagued child (kids are so expensive...I thought that ended after diapers, but nooo.  They still want to eat and breathe and stuff).  I've always assumed with dark floors, the navy walls would be too dark.

And the rug is pretty dark too...

And if you follow me on Pinterest, you know that I dream of navy velvet sofas.  When I finally land my dream one, I always assumed I would lighten up the walls.  But look at this blue on blue.

Or even lighten up the sofa choice to a more purply-pale blue number...would work with navy walls right?  A little moodiness to a room is always nice.

I have pinned this picture 5 different times for different reasons.  I clearly love it.

And while you're mentally redecorating my family room for me, don't forget this hot little midcentury number under the TV.  I'm still pretty obsessed with it.  Don't say I'm going to regret painting it white.  Dang it.

Alright, go!  Tell me every little thing.

You may remember that at 2 1/2, Baylor experienced his first 4th of July.  And somehow managed to quickly memorize the words to God Bless America and sing it incessantly for months.  You know how you think a phase is NEVER going to end and then all the sudden it does and you didn't even notice?  I was nostalgic yesterday so I got us going again and followed it up with the Star Spangled Banner which he knows most of as well.  He loved it!  Then he got serious.

Him: "Mom, I don't want to talk about America anymore.  I want to talk about real stuff."