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Make Me A Rug

Alternative Flooring _Jute_Big_Panama_Brioche_ Cotton_Claret border

Today we’re talking rugs as they are one of the easiest ways to change a room and give a mini seasonal makeover. As I type I can hear the dulcet tones of next door’s lawn mower and it feels like Spring might finally be in the air. Suddenly I’m looking at the heavy sitting room rugs and wondering if it would be be good to have something lighter for the next few months.

My sitting room, as many of you will know, is painted dark grey and and has a charcoal velvet sofa and layers of vintage Persian rugs.It’s a fabulous evening and winter space but sometimes I think it might be good to have a lighter version for the summer. Since I still love the colour of the walls and I’m not in business of changing the furniture (this week at least) it’s up to the rugs and cushions to ring the changes.

Alternative Flooring Coir Herringbone runner

The Scandinavians are really good at this. They routinely swap from dark fabrics in strong colours to lighter material in summery colours with the change of seasons. Their reasoning – entirely logical – is that we change our clothes to suit the weather so why not our home accessories?

Rugs is a great way to do this as you can roll up the old one (s) and stick them under the bed or perhaps even slide them under the sofa for a few months where they won’t take up too much space. Same with cushion covers which are really easy to store.

Alternative Flooring Jute Big Panama Brioche runner

Now normally I’m one for patterned rugs as my furniture tends to be plain, but these new photos from Alternative Flooring showing plain rugs with some contrasting edging have got me thinking that this could be a good look for summer. As you know I have one of their rugs from their Quirky range – the zebra – in my library and I love it during the winter but I’m wondering if something a little quieter might work well for the summer.

These pictures are from their new brochure which features Moi talking about the rules of rug layout. The brochure is about their Make Me A Rug service which you can do online – choosing the exact size, design and edging that you need for your space and now, instead of having to wait in for the delivery, you can click on your nearest retailer and have it delivered there so you can collect when it suits you.

Alternative Flooring Sisal Super Boucle rug

If you fancy a laugh then you can watch the video of demonstrating the make me a rug service with a special cameo appearance from Enid the Cat, who is never one to miss a photobombing opportunity. Now what type of rug do you fancy?

Alternative Flooring Wool_herringbone_thistle

I had to include this shot from the brochure as well because this is my car! Well it isn’t but completely by coincidence they – by which I mean Alternative Flooring – chose a yellow Fiat 500 for this shot and then it turned out that  as well as featuring me and Enid they have inadvertently included Bob the Minion as well. My Bob doesn’t have a sunroof sadly but let’s not get hung up on the details.

Alternative Flooring Make Me A Rug with fiat

Now rugs – what are we having?

 

I have written about Alternative Flooring many times and after a few posts they approached me and asked me to work as a brand amabassador, something I was very happy to do. This post is part of our ongoing collaboration.

Kate Watson-Smyth

The author Kate Watson-Smyth

I’m a journalist who writes about interiors mainly for The Financial Times but I have also written regularly for The Independent and The Daily Mail. My house has been in Living Etc, HeartHome and featured in The Wall Street Journal & Corriere della Sera. I also run an interior styling consultancy Mad About Your House. Welcome to my Mad House.

6 Comments

  1. I have a question!! I love the split paintwork on the top picture (dark to waist height and light above) but what height would you have the split if you have pictures on the wall? Does it matter if some of the pictures cross into the darker paintwork section and some don’t? The centre of the pictures are all around the same level but some are different sizes than others… or would you not do a split wall in that scenario?

  2. Kate – I wonder if I could pick your brain? I am quite keen to paint my woodwork in my sitting room dark grey….but, what do I do with the door frame? If I paint it dark on the inside then it will be white on the outside. If I paint the entire door frame dark then I will end up having to paint all the skirting boards in the hallway and then up the stairs and then…… you get the picture!

    1. I don’t think you have to have the door the same colour both sides is my first point. I think you can absolutely have it dark in the sitting room with a dark frame and white in the hallway. But you don’t have to paint the door frame if you don’t want to. You can do all the skirting boards dark and leave the window and door frame white. You can paint the skirting boards and the door frame dark and leave the door pale. Or, which is what I have done – you can paint the edge of the door in the dark grey so that it’s all white until the door is open and then you see a band of colour – I have done that in pink with my spare room and it’s just a hint of colour. Basically you can do what you want and if you don’t like it you can always repaint.

  3. I bought a (not as beautiful) rug of this type from Next for about £200, with edging choice of natural or chocolate. It’s worn reasonably well – it is now two years old. I wouldn’t spend so much on the Alternative Flooring rugs, because, well, what’s the point? There is a difference between them, but about 20% nicer for many times the price. Just go to Next…

  4. We had one of these rugs in our old house and weren’t that impressed. It was pretty pricey and actually didn’t wear / age that well. It was a tough material but the ribbon edging got really grubby / shabby and was hard to clean and cleaning those natural materials was actually really challenging.

  5. Loved the rug, but mostly Enid the Cat. Now she has a credit on a commercial video, I suspect she will be off making more. Don’t forget to collect your 10% from her.

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