groundcover

A couple of weeks ago (?) I wrote about our ongoing problem with our rugs from Pottery Barn and Costco offgassing and trying to slowly kill me. We continue to have problems so I've taken to burning candles ... a lot. You see, I'm not sensitive to scents. I love candles and flowers and room sprays (apologies to those that don't) but the scent emanating from these rugs gives me the worst migraines and respiratory issues. The weather has been great in Oakland for the past week, so I've been able to leave the windows open 24 hours a day which has helped, but now winter is once again upon us so the windows need to be closed.

We've talked a lot about what we want to do - professional cleaning, no rugs, try some of our old rugs that are in terrible shape, buy new rugs ... we've spent a lot of money on rugs these past 10 years because when you live with a pee cat (or as Alan recently explained it, a cat with "accuracy issues"), you have no choice really. I would hate to spend even more money at this point but there's no hope for it. If it was just the pee smell I could wash the rugs every other week, but the offgassing can't be helped.

I've done a lot of reading on the Internets about others that have dealt with the horrible burning rubber smell that a lot of rugs emit. Some people report it happening immediately, others years later. We're in the years later category ourselves with the PB rugs, and months later with the Costco one. They need to go. But for what? I like the idea of rag rugs because you can throw them in the giant washers at the laundromat, but they're not exactly warm or soft. We looked at Kilim rugs but they're kind of scratchy. Jute rugs would be horrible to clean up Dakota's messes. We're running out of options, I think.

On Sunday we stopped in to Dick's Carpet One in Berkeley and immediately upon entering I was hit with that burning rubber smell. We were near the area rugs. Once we got into the section with the carpet remnants I was fine. We looked around and talked to the woman there (Linda was very helpful) and we may end up going this route since we had such good luck with the green rug in our foyer we bought from them almost five years ago. But in looking at the remnants everything was beige. It was a sea of plain. It could work, but I didn't love any of them. There were a couple in the tan/gold/mustard category that had texture like the one in our foyer but at the size we'd need we'd be looking at $700 + tax per rug. I don't know that I can spend $1500+ on rugs that may or may not find themselves in the basement in a year.

So I've gone back online and I think a braided rug makes the most sense for us.

1. They're warm.
2. They're heavy.
3. They are cotton.
4. They are colorful.
5. They're not too expensive.
6. They're a secret desire of mine.

I've been looking and prices range from $200 to $500 each, depending on the exact size and manufacturer. Alan thinks we need a 9x12 in both room, but I think we'd be able to get away with an 8x10 in each. That's what we've got in both rooms now.

Here are some that I really like (the green and red rectangles in the first few are actually made of hemp, so we know they're a natural fiber).

 

I just hope this doesn't make our house look like a bunch of country bumpkins live here.