the new safari in our house

Rug shopping is serious business for me.

Living in a house with no carpet and 90+ year old wood floors provides plenty of charm but plenty of cold feet too.

Having rugs is necessary.

I, however, despise paying for rugs.

Currently the rug inventory in our house is in sad shape. They consist of Bed, Bath and Beyond, 5x7 solid colored CHEAP rugs, free tile samples from work that I have turned into rugs, two small 3 x 5 Pottery Barn rugs (both bought on clearance) and a 5 X 7 crewel rug from a previous job that is much too thin for my tastes but works in the space and was basically free.

The cost of nice rugs is out of control, and it makes me miss having carpet because there's no associated "extra" flooring cost with it.

When we decided to do the baby's room and do it up right, I knew I wanted a new rug. The one in the room currently, leaves a little something to be desired in the color and style department. It worked fine when it was a TV room and covered with a coffee table but knowing how much food I alone dropped on the thing makes me want to clean it, roll it up and store for another day, possibly. I mean, we only paid like $80 bucks for it almost 5 years ago, I can't say I'd be terribly heartbroken to see it go. Plus, the pink nail polish stain on it that was so conveniently hidden by the futon has been glaring at me for the past few days. 

I started searching for rugs and quickly decided I wanted a zebra rug for her room. 

Don't get me wrong, I know it's been done. I'm aware that this is not my most creative moment of all time. But I knew with everything else that I was planning to do, a gray and white zebra (hide shaped) rug would be perfect. 

And I guess to say it's been done before is almost an understatement:

But I obviously don't care.

The search was on but I only found one gray and white, zebra shaped rug. I couldn't afford Thomas Paul and since his sold so fast or were discontinued the one I had found would have to do. Except, it turns out it was an outdoor rug and was not quite the soft, plush, infant friendly rug I was hoping for.

I went home somewhat disapointed from work and walked into the living room to find my new Fall 2010 West Elm catalog sitting on the coffee table. Fresh from the mailbox. I've sort of lost interest in West Elm lately and almost didn't pick it up but I'm glad I did because inside I found something similar enough:

Ok, so it wasn't a hide-shaped rug, which was a make or break deal with me, but it was $100.00 cheaper and actual tufted wool, softer and a little more appropriate for the application. 

While we were in Dallas last weekend, we hit up the West Elm Store, which is a really well done store. They have the right font, the right flooring, the right materials, the right fixtures, all of it works for them really, really well. It sort of made me a fan again, everything about the store was fun, besides the rotting wood floor piece I almost stepped in when I wasn't paying attention. But other than that, seriously, a fan.  

We checked out the Safari Rug, liked it, and bought it. The 8 foot roll was added to the heap of furniture boxes, bags and luggage in the back of the Highlander ten minutes later and we were on our way!