So, remember the crazy rug I bought in a parking lot? The one from the sale that showered dirt all over my babe and surely gave me a bacterial infection of some sort? This rug?

I couldn’t decide whether to keep or sell. You guys were not impressed by its Versacesque glamours, but I saw something in there… My spidey senses were a’ tingling. Lucky for me I have awesomely smart blog buddies. Cassie sent me a link to Lisa the Rug Chick, a textile expert who knows EVERYTHING about rugs. Read her blog… it’s amazing. Anyway, Lisa was kind enough to email me with her take on Mystery Rug.

Drumroll, please…

1940s Spanish Savonnerie.

Exciting! I mean, it wasn’t a $4 million 18th century French Savonnerie rug:

But it was something.

In the meantime, I had grown very attached to Mystery Rug. I had plans.

Master bedroom Versacefication plans.

However, Lisa the Rug Chick had some not so glamorous news: Mystery Rug was very dirty, and because it was woven on a jute foundation it would need to be painstakingly hand cleaned by a professional. No hosing this 100 pound beast down in a driveway unless I wanted it to disintegrate. Plus the jute edges had some unraveling and repair issues… plus Ben hated it.

I called Deep Eddy rug cleaners and they quoted me $425 to start — which is not insane to clean a giant dirty antique rug — but I didn’t want to put more money into that particular rug.

Sadness.

I decided to try to sell it, so on a whim I emailed Nazmiyal Rugs in New York. They deal in all sorts of amazing antique rugs, rugs that cost more than my car.

Aaannnnd, I got an immediate call back. They wanted to buy it at the price I had set… If you watch Pawn Stars you know that dealers make you set the price because dummies like me have no idea what their stuff is worth. Therefore I had probably underpriced the rug.

I emailed another dealer, who told me the rug was possibly Austrian. Then I looked up Austrian savonnerie rugs and found this one on Ebay. Looks similar, right?

It’s $12,000. Kinda more than I asked for. Ooops.

By this point I had already entered into an email contract with Nazmiyal. Hey kids, a written email agreement between a seller and buyer is legally binding.

Good to know, right?

And then I had to ship my rug off to NY on approval, which was nerve wracking. What if they stole my rug AND I was out shipping???

They didn’t. They are professional dealers with a fancy brick and mortar location in New York. My little ole rug was chump change to them. Also they were very nice and reassuring.

Cherry popped. Check cashed. Tidy profit made.

Nazmiyal will make a tidier profit, but unlike many people I have no issues with selling to dealers. Yes, they will sell your item for more (a lot more) than you sold it to them, but they have massive overhead to finance PLUS they have invested time and money into building a clientele.

I mean, I could have put my rug on Ebay and asked $10,000, but who would buy it?

Probably nobody.

I hope.

So now I am a tiny bit richer and minus one rug…. guess what that means?

Rug shopping!!!

Probably for the living room (AGAIN), because I think this is going to happen:

I feel pretty good about this plan. I mean, I LOVE my blue rug, but I don’t love it with the red persian rug in the living room.

Two rugs in the same room is just tricky town.

We will discuss this ad nauseum later… I have 700 pictures and opinions ready to share regarding this subject.

And someday I will finish my next how to post on buying rugs. Sorry I am so slow.

In the meantime, don’t forget to enter the mega Graham and Brown wallpaper giveaway!

It ends Thursday night.

Do it.

Welcome to Rug University… or more likely, Rug Kindergarten. The art and craft of weaving carpets is centuries old and even though I have spent years off and on reading about rugs, my knowledge is just a blip on the radar of fiber history. People who really know their stuff usually possess deep generational knowledge about the subject. I am just a crazy person who loves rugs and I’m sure I’ll say something stupid somewhere. Oh well. What I can offer you is information on how and where to buy, and hopefully how not to get ripped off.

Deal? Let’s do this.

For this series of rugucational posts I’m only going to deal with woven natural fiber rugs, or rugs that do not have a latex/canvas backing. They could be made of wool, or cotton, or other natural fibers, but they have no backing and the design is visible on both sides.

This is the backside of my handwoven (knotted) malayer rug.

I’ve been moving away from tufted (latex/canvas backed) wool rugs and towards handwoven wool, cotton, and jute rugs for a while now. Reading The Rug Chick’s blog about how shoddily (and stinkily) many tufted rugs are produced totally confirmed a lot of my fears about mass produced wool rugs. I’m not saying all tufted rugs are poorly made — I’m very happy with the Safavieh leopard rug in our front room:

I’m just saying I prefer to spend my skrillaz on rugs that have the potential to last for decades… if my boys don’t burn holes in them first, that is.

Anyway, today let’s talk about woven rugs that will go with anything. These are your cheap and chic workhorses that generally come in under $5 sq/ft — sometimes a lot less.

It’s a good idea to decorate a room from the ground up. If you choose your rug first, you’ll never have a problem finding fabrics and (even easier) paint colors to coordinate. Working from the opposite direction really narrows your opportunities for interesting and hopefully cheap rugs. Trust me — I found out the hard way.

This post goes out to all the peeps like me who need a rug to play nice with the stuff they already have.

A solid field is the very easiest thing to decorate around. I suspect that’s why jute/sisal/seagrass rugs are so popular. Plus they can be pretty inexpensive and they hide dirt well. Of the three, seagrass is the best to clean but the most expensive, although you can custom order seagrass rugs in any size with dozens of border options at The Perfect Rug for a very reasonable price. Jute is second, and sisal is the pits of hell. To maximize your cost/benefit ratio, you can buy jute and get it from Overstock (wait for a 10% off sale and try to stack a coupon on top) or get it from RugsUSA during one of their 50% sales.

This handsome guy is $180 for an 8×10 HERE.

I don’t consider these to be forever rugs, but natural fiber rugs definitely deserve consideration. I like how they can casual up a room and add a natural element, which is especially nice if you don’t already have wood floors.

Plus these rugs layer up right pretty and they can be so cheap.

A very simple geometric that runs edge to edge is the next easiest to decorate around. I put wool Moroccan beni ourains in this class. MFAMB just did a round up on cheap sources HERE so I won’t cover that ground again.

Any furniture, any colors, almost any fabrics will do. Your rug will be an unsanitary disaster in no time, but that’s another story.

I am constantly picking pollen and leaves out of the West Elm faux beni in our very low traffic nursery. It sure is cute, though. Don’t spend much on this type of a rug, and for the love of all that is holy buy something small enough to shake it out every now and then.

All over patterns (like the one I just bought, for example) are also relatively easy to decorate around because they have no borders and no center medallions — things that can make furniture placement tricky.

Tony Duquette makes it look easy, but let’s face it — nothing about this room is easy.

If you have a wonky inflexible furniture plan and buying a rug is stressing you out, an allover design is your friend.

I don’t hate this Madeleine Weinrib rug, but I personally would never buy a giant cotton rug I couldn’t throw in the washing machine. You want wool — delicious stain repellent wool.

Dhurries (aka kilims, aka flatweave rugs) are relatively inexpensive because they use fewer materials than full pile rugs. This wool dhurrie came from overstock and it’s dirt cheap — $262 for an 8×10. Even Ikea can’t beat that price. Overstock actually has a multitude of well priced wool flatweaves in various colors and patterns. I’m partial to striped or tribal versions, personally… trellis and chevron are feeling pretty dated.

This looks like it might be a wool kilim. I would hit that. Dhurries are nice because they can be used on both sides before they need to be washed. I like to think that a wool dhurrie rug could last for decades if padded, rotated and treated to the occasional bath.

If you buy a dhurrie, a good rug pad is a must. I’ve shopped around and this one from overstock is the best I’ve found. It’s soft, squishy, does the job and doesn’t mark up my wood floors.

The next level of quality and design represents a fairly significant jump in expense. I’m talking about Tibetan type rugs.

I wish I were talking about Tibetan tiger rugs, but a) they aren’t cheap and b) they don’t exactly go with just anything.

Who am I kidding? This goes with everything.

But really I’m talking more about tone on tone hand knotted wool Tibetans:

This may or may not be a Tibetan, but they are often woven in simple muted patterns.

This one is silk and wool. Unlike other handwoven (hand knotted) wool pile rugs, they do not have fringe.

Warning: there are a lot of creepy 80s Memphis wannabe patterned Tibetan rugs out there. Don’t buy them.

Anyway, “Tibetan” rugs are interesting in that they aren’t made in Tibet (because of Chinese occupation). Most are made in India by Tibetan and Nepalese workers… or not. The could also just be handknotted Indian rugs made in a “Tibetan style.” I don’t really have a problem with that as long as the wool is nice quality and it’s handmade. Just don’t pay $8000 for a rug unless you get an appraisal.

Shouldn’t be an issue, right?

I bought mine off Ebay from Pakobel Rugs. He doesn’t have any Tibetan/Nepalese (he spells it “Napalese”) rugs right now, but you should check back since he gets them in waves. I HIGHLY recommend him — totally professional and courteous.

In the meantime, may I suggest this 8×10 handknotted Tibetan style rug for $375? So awesome with kelly green and white. Available HERE from brandrugs on ebay.

I would buy from them because they have a 100% positive feedback rating. Also, all good pro ebay rug dealers will give you a 14 day return option. It’s a safety net that could be expensive to use (I have return shipped a rug and it’s not cheap), but it’s good to have just in case. Also, use paypal in case you need an extra level of protection for disputes.

The last category of neutral rugs I have the strength and endurance to tackle today is the beloved Turkish Oushak.

This super light super subtly patterned rug is an antique Oushak (Ushak). Every decorator and their mama wants an antique Oushak because it goes with anything and it adds that certain handmade, natural/organic element every room needs.

Problem is, a real antique (80+ years old) Oushak is expensive… even on ebay. You can, however, buy a newish one at a competitive price. They will most likely be knotted in India or Pakistan (Peshawar), but they still have the soft colors and large scale patterns that work with a variety of decorating styles. I like Rug Emporium’s listings:

He lists new Oushak type rugs every day. Some are blue, some green, some very light and neutral. I’d wait for a light neutral one with an allover pattern (no center medallion) to pop up. 9x12s tend to close in the $500-700 range, which is not bad for a large hand knotted rug.

Just fyi, Oushaks can also come in fabulous pastel colors that may not go with everything but are still awesome and amazing. Here’s a rug I wish I had bought… it’s an actual vintage Turkish rug and it is HUGE (like 10×16). It went for over 1K which is totally worth it, but totally out of my price range. It sure is good, though.

Can you even imagine how long it would take to make a giant rug like that?

Forever, that’s how long. And that’s why hand knotted rugs are expensive.

That’s all I have for today. Thanks for reading this giant long novel. I hope you’re still awake.

For my next installment I’m planning a post on purchasing Persian type rugs. Excitement! And I also have a post in the works about other kinds of fancy antique rugs.

Let me know if there’s anything specific you want to see and I’ll try to work it in.

Until then, happy shopping!

[Images via pinterest]

Hi friends, I know I know… I pretty much dropped off the face of the earth there. But the weather in Austin has been FABULOUS and that only lasts for about three weeks every year, so I’ve been trying to soak it up. And do masssssssssssive amounts of yardwork. And do some spring cleaning and stuff.

In other words, it’s cocaine and hookers exciting around here.

I’m just kidding, CPS. Please don’t take my children.

Anyway, what IS exciting is my new rug:

Hand knotted Nepalese wool and silk goodness… It’s kinda cray but the pattern will hide a multitude of sins in a high traffic location, and it was dirt cheap for a 9×12 ($375).  It should arrive on Wednesday, so you can bet your sweet booty I will be waiting like a dog at the door for the postman until then.

In the meantime, I already have 800 million rugs yet I find myself continuing to bid on a few beauties here and there… (I really hope Ben isn’t reading this post).

I wanted this 10×14 1920s Khorassan rug something painful, but it closed at approximately $700 more than my top bid. Thank bejeebus, because if it had closed $5 over I would have gotten down on my knees and punched the bare floor on its face.

And then there is this cheap vintage Turkish rug on craigslist which I am FORCING myself not to buy, even though it would be so cute in Ike’s room… but I already have a rug in there. Right???

Basically I need to admit that I have a new addiction to add to art, lighting and chairs.

I have contracted the rug bug. It is very serious and difficult to cure.

I think the solution may be to pass it on to you?

Would you be interested in a vaguely edumacational/rug porn filled post about rugs and where to buy them?

Or should I put my next energies into showing you new rug in its new home?

As I type this Luke is trying to chew a hole through my computer cable, just so you know how much free time I have right now.

Rugs or house updates?

Thanks for reading!

Thanks to everyone for your super smart rug suggestions on my last post. I followed your links and made moodboards and generally drove myself banana sandwiches trying to fit all the moving parts and variables together… do I switch this rug or sell that rug? Layer something small with seagrass or save up and spend big money to buy a big rug? Truth is, I tend to buy antique rugs that may or may not fit in the spaces I had planned for them. Hand made rugs are like pieces of art, and I need to have an emotional attachment before I can have a financial relationship.

I mean I would totally marry this rug, which is very similar to some antique Turkish rugs Karly and I saw at Round Top last weekend. Prices were INSANE, like we were shopping at 1st Dibs instead of a country flea market. The rugs were superb, though. I’ve never seen that kind of quality in person and I wanted to roll around all over the rugs like a dog in heat.

I am also not above having an affair with this rug I’m watching on ebay right now. It’s huge and very old and ridiculously expensive and I LOVE IT. Too bad I’m not rich.

Anyway, I’m not the most practical when it comes to buying rugs for myself, and I just wasn’t feeling anything I could find in my budget. So when reader Jill sent out the bat signal that a local antiques gallery was having a meganormous rug sale in a parking lot, I thought what the hay… I’ll load up the babe and head out early to see what I can see.

 The calm before the storm…

I felt like I had just strolled into a third world country when I arrived, and by strolled I mean I stupidly brought my sweet seven month old baby in a stroller to the windiest, dirtiest, cheapest place on earth. And then something about the vast mountains of concealed fabric transformed me into a frantic suburban hyena panting after the scent of blood, tossing the place in order to see every single rug there (luckily/not luckily I wasn’t the only one).

Totally embarrassing.

I knew there must be something good in those stacks, but every time I forced a nice worker man to dig out the very bottom rug, it inevitably turned up to be a filthy pee stained lime green and brown persian rug. Barf.

Y’all, I have NEVER seen that much dirt anywhere, and I have peed in poop troughs near diseased chickens and pigs deep in the Mexican back country. There was dirt in my teeth (!), dirt on the baby’s face, dirt all over my stroller cum vaguely handy shopping cart… I had to hose that sad boy down with lysol after I left.

The rugs were so dirty you couldn’t even tell what color they were. D.I.R.T.Y.

And then, magically, Jill showed up. She probably didn’t recognize me beneath the layers of sooty filth, but she did recognize my very unhappy baby — the baby I brought to contract some exotic infectious disease from the dirt.

Mother of the year. That’s me.

Thankfully Jill turned out to be a super nice, very normal person with excellent taste. To wit, she pulled up this shockingly not too filthy rug. And then she passed it on to me. Behold.

But what is it??? It’s huge for one thing — 11 ft square. It’s also very old, like maybe 100 years? It’s wool and it weighs a million hundred pounds. The seller dude said it was hooked. And that’s about all I know.

For scale.

It’s not discolored, the field color is actually taupeish and the shadows are from folds.

I have since super mega vacuumed the rug, and I think it’s miraculously not too dirty. I mean, it’s old but not scabies dirty.

But what the what is it?

I know some things about rugs. Like anything I care about, I have obsessively researched Persian rugs since I first started buying them a few years ago. I can tell the difference between a Kerman and a Hamedan (kinda easy, I know), and I can tell you about abrash, kpsi, desirable colors and patterns, etc, but this here is not a Persian rug.

Is it an early American hooked rug?

A French Savonnerie?

Perhaps Spanish?

Or maybe even Chinese?

Here’s the back. I think the foundation is jute… or maybe burlap?

Does anyone know anything about this here rug?

Because I’m not sure whether to keep or sell. I think if I keep, it will live in the bedroom and the bedroom rug will move to tapestry town.

But if it’s worth some real money I might sell it and buy something more in line with the rest of my rug collection.

Or maybe it’s super awesome and I need to learn to love it?

If only I knew what it was…

Anyone?

Keep or sell?

[top image via because it's awesome]

First of all, THANK YOU for commenting on Luke’s room tour! Sorry I rewarded you by taking the next week off for spring break. I’m a jerkface.

So, I have a grand history of choosing, unchoosing, pondering, debating, analyzing, and general indecisiveness when it comes to rugs. Either the size isn’t right, or the color is unknown, the pattern scale is off, or woolen tumbleweeds threaten to eat my home. No matter which way you slice it, unless you plan to just jute it up all over the place, rugs are hard. And if you’re like me, you have champagne taste on a beer budget, which SRSLY compounds the problem. It’s not like I can walk into abc carpet or the rug company and throw $10,000 at the problem. What’s left is the west elm outlet — which I have found to work well for scatter rugs — or the internets.

Thank the bargain gods for ebay and overstock. I love them long time. But buying a rug you’ve never seen and will be difficult at best to return is a major pain in the warp and weft.

Buckle up and let’s discuss the latest debacle, shall we? Some back story, first:

This? Oh, this isn’t the problem. Sort of. See I bought this vintage Malayer rug off ebay a few years ago and I love it and its jewel toned, crumb hiding, hand made awesomeness. The problem, as we have discussed previously, is that it’s too small for this loooooooong room:

I know. I can’t believe our house looked like this right after we moved in, either.

To recap, the table is gonezo and now this lives back there:

Except of course I have compulsively rearranged stuff n things since then. Der. The credenza and the white console swapped places, and now I have a terrible desk but a better looking back wall.

I am all about practicality, aka I need a real (super awesome) desk.

Anyhow, the runner was a little overpowering and a lot slippery, I really really really need a rug back here to protect our floors from little boys and their floor gougery. Plus something soft and plush would be nice to sit on and play legos and other annoyingly small and many pieced games little boys like to play.

I previously tried a 6×9 rug, thinking it might fill the space.

I was wrong, and we all know where that rug ended up.

Here’s the thing: what I really want is a 13×18 persian rug to fill the whole room, but even on ebay cool ones price out in the 2k range. Since the kitchen has me on mega budget 2013 with my belt strapped on so tight I fretted over a $7 Ross dress, 2k is just not going to happen. So I went off and spent $300 on another ebay rug that is too small.

Hey Erin, aren’t you a professional photographer? Why, yes I am. But I snapped these iphone pics to show Karly right after I rolled out the rug, and then I promptly rolled it up. And threw out my back. So enjoy these gorgeous works of art. And enjoy the baby bouncer, most of all.

Also, please do not assume the console styling is for realz. And Gilbert, the leopard pillows are just for you.

6×10 hand knotted deliciousness… too small, right?

I should return this, right?

I need a 9×12 that fits almost end to end with the front room rug I already have, right?

Now I just have to find one that I like under $500. Also it has to flow with the other rug. Also also it has to look good with the back room stuff.

This?

This?

This?

This?

This?

Sike! None of these are going to be under $500.

Rugs are dumb.

Please help me by either finding a cheap wool 9×12 that I like (I am tres picky), or by hiring me to take pictures and/or spend your money on decorating projects…

Assuming you have more money than me, that is.

Thanks for reading today’s novel. I will be laying down and icing my back now. Me and my phone await your solutions to all of my problems.

Wow… I didn’t expect the Blue vote to be so unanimous! Seems you guys feel the best is yet to come for the nursery. However, Mazey is pretty surprised the race wasn’t tighter and isn’t quite ready to concede the election. Meanwhile Frenchie doesn’t give a shit because he just wants to smoke some pot and marry another Frenchie.

What? I’m only talking bout rugs, y’all.

Seriously, thanks for voting. For everything. For important stuff.

 Please keep me on your reader because I have lots of updates to share, including the new rug in situ (which will it be?!), and a MEGA CRAZY purchase that could be fabulous but might be 100% fail… Also I have gone on a pillow binge that shows no signs of stopping.

Oh yes I did.

And finally the hall wallpaper should be up soon…

Hooray me! Obviously I am the winnah here.

Later, taters. It was so awesome to hang out again!!!

See you soon.

Hey guys, it’s been a while. So, guess what? Taking care of two kids is more than twice as hard as taking care of one. The baby never naps and Ike never slows down. Our living room is littered with more flotsam and jetsam than post Sandy NYC and the housekeeper just left a few hours ago. I am on my seventh load of laundry in three days because they baby won’t stop pooping and puking every time I consume the tiniest bit of hidden dairy products. Meanwhile Ike has been staging swift and furious rebel uprisings that would make Robert E Lee blush.

It’s a good thing (we think) our kids are cute.

Despite my exhaustion, I find time at 4am to buy things. It’s like the consumer center of my brain is on overdrive while everything else has shut down. So here I am, back at the blog doing what I do best: Waffling. Indeciding. Not listening to myself.

I need you to help me choose a rug for the nursery. Remember this?

Cute, but I feel like it needs another layer. Here are my top picks.

Option 1:

Frenchy. Neutral. Love the black border. But is it too stuffy for un petit bebe? And does it clash with American revolutionary drummer boy? You may remember him from Ike’s old nursery. But wait — might he be French, instead? It seems the French flag sports colors suspiciously close to those of America AND they also had revolutions and stuff. Copy cats.

Option 2:

I kind of swore I’d never do another black and white graphic rug after the zebra incident. And in fact the zebra is dying a slow, painful, toddler inflicted death in Karly’s nursery. But this… well, this is insane. And possibly amazing. And also possibly way overwhelming and disparate from the rest of our house. I do like the super neutral colors that would allow me to change up color schemes down the line.

Option 3:

Color commitment issues… I am having a phobic moment about choosing blue, but I like that this rug would probably hide the most dirt. Also, it’s cute for a baby boy and the rough border and abrash give it a handmade feel that would add that special je ne sais quoi to all the graphic elements in the room.

And those are my choices. All wool, all 8x10s, all under $300.

So please… vote. For my rug.

And for president, I guess.

I’m about to bombard you with a series of roundups, because that’s all I have time for. Hopefully they’re good roundups, rather than roundups of pinecone arrangements and shapeless taupe sweaters. These are special obsessions that I have been carefully manicuring for years. It’s taken me quite a while to cull the what-I-really-love wheat from the what-fashion-dictates-I-should-love chaff, but in my golden years I have finally found what truths I hold to be self evident. And if you can follow all that punctuation/aphorism drama, you get a gold star.

So hot on the heels of my quilt love comes another textile that I want to wrap my naked body in and snuggle up with all night long. Even more. I be talking about antique tapestries, y’all. I’m smitten by the muted tones, intricate details, and sense of gravitas they bring to a room.

That just happened. If you aren’t as excited as I am about this, GET EXCITED.

Robert Couturier is and will always be my decorator boyfriend.

See what I mean about spending the night with some tapestries? They’re giving me the bedroom eyes.

Tiny picture, amazing idea. I would definitely rub my nether regions all over a tapestry upholstered settee.

Zoffany’s new tapestry print Arden sports unicorns, by golly! Pure as Lancelot and Guinevere, wink wink, nudge nudge.

Zoffany even makes a tapestry inspired wallpaper. You know you want it in your life. Hot sex.

Sure, I may be a smidgen sleep deprived. But I am right about this — tapestries are awesome.

The end.

[pinterest]

Y’alluns are too sweet. Really.

Thanks to you I am using my 30 minutes of quiet baby nap time to bust out a post. My dirty laundry is very jealous, but it’s ok — I can just turn my underwear inside out and get an extra day’s wear out of them.

Don’t laugh. I may not be kidding.

So it’s been a long time since I wrote a post about quilts, therefore I am obviously long overdue. Because what sexier topic could there be than quilting, right? Just thinking about all that calico and rick rack make me hot and bothered…

I mean, have you seen this?

I’m a little obsessed. Like, 5am Etsy trolling obsessed. A giant art quilt may be exactly what I need for this back wall:

I love a good neutral space, but somehow this just isn’t working for me. I think I need to move the mirror, chair, and brass tree somewhere else, rethink the rug situation, and get a pair of matching chairs to flank the credenza.

And then find a giant, colorful but not garish, amazing arty quilt to hang over the credenza.

Same quilt, different setting. Still awesome.

I’ve been looking for some affordable fancy quilts and came up with these:

via

via

via

None of them are quite right, but maybe I could commission a piece for a reasonable price. Looks like a six foot wide quilt could be had for around $250, which is not bad for such a large piece.

Or I could learn to sew.

Yikes.

All I know is the perfect quilt wouldn’t have a ton of white, would be relatively muted and low contrast, and would be free of ticky tacky creepy calico flowery rainbow neon bullshit. I really like the menswear type fabrics shown in the inspiration photos.

Anyone have a good source for cool modern quilts?

Oh, and should I buy those green velvet chairs? I can’t decide if I should hold out for something less modern, or if I should do a custom upholstery job…

Thanks and that is all.

Sometimes I think I have a problem, and sometimes I know I do. Here’s my issue du jour: retroactive shopping. After I buy things, I keep on shopping for the same (better?) things. My mania reaches fever pitch when I make major purchases. Case in point: after we bought a house I trolled the mls for MONTHS worried that a better house might pop up… it didn’t, and I felt all justified and vindicated in our mega sweet buy. But what if the most amazing house in the world had popped up? That’s just setting oneself up for disaster.

Anyway, know what I can’t stop looking at? Curtains. That’s right — I already bought some. But I want more.

Simple yellow with invisible tiebacks.

Pinch pleat with oversized rustic rod.

High contrast burgundy taffeta (burgundy is baaaccckkk).

Greigey violet matched to wall color with uber skinny brass rods… I die.

Nick Olsen shock of cobalt in a neutral room with punchy accents.

More Nick Olsen, this time he does those curtains up righteous. Ball fringe with matching tie backs!

Joe Nye super ballsy pattenered curtains and matching cornice.

Golden showers… with balls.

But no new curtains today. What I do need are some roman shades. I’m thinking of something like this for the nursery:

Anyone have a good but cheap source for custom roman shades? I just need plain fabric with a blackout lining. My sweet MIL can sew the ribbon trim on.

That’s all for today, folks. I have family in town so I’ll be on and off the computer, but I promise to frantically check your comments for golden shopping nuggets of wisdom.

[pinterest]

No, I’m not talking about that 50 Shades of Drivel that seems to be spreading faster than a faux pandemic — like the bird flu or Y2K. I’m talking about my nascent need to add some cray cray custom upholstered masterpiece to my life. Something that will hold the viewer in thrall and command the scene. In fact, I’m pretty convinced that every room needs a little dominating.

Evidence:

 Apparently it has to be a large, insanely expensive item.

I am poor middle class and I can’t sew (a button, maybe?), therefore common sense dictates that I should tackle my wee little chairs first.

Baby steps. Baby dominatrix. That’s kind of skeevy.

Weather is being very uncooperative (rain in Austin? in summer???!), but I promise Ike’s room reveal will be up as soon as I can shoot it.

Honestly it’s good that I can’t do it today because I got about four hours of sleep last night worrying about the cleaning lady coming tomorrow… if I weren’t pregnant I’m pretty sure someone would prescribe horse tranquilizers for my anxiety.

Nesting ain’t no joke, y’all.

 [Pinterest sources for pics hereish, because it's summer and I'm lazy]

Still on a crazy fabric shopping binge. I’m currently in the market for some cheap cantilevered chairs that I can reupholster like these:

Perennials’ City Kitty ought to do. Plus it will repel milk and jelly. I’m hoping to have wood or cane backs and fabric seats only to do it myself and cut down on yardage… maybe 3 yardsish? I can do that.

It’s going to be awesome with my million dollar marble table, which I FINALLY ORDERED.

 It’s supposed to be here Thursday (!!!!!!!).

Also arriving Thursday is the newly hired cleaning lady, which I’m hoping will change my life. Sadly right now I’m just suffering from panic attacks about the Katrina like state of disaster in our house, and how much work it’s going to take to pick up before she can even clean.

I have seven weeks before my due date to get this house whipped into shape. Must solve curtain conundrum (blue velvet was not a winner), paint master bedroom (peach is not going well), wallpaper the nursery and the foyer, finish the front room and dinette areas.

So, you know, not much.

Also, I should probably wash some onesies or whatever.

Meanwhile, Ike’s room is done. Finished. Completeasaurus Rex.

Reveal coming this week… Stay tuned.