The useful rug guide
How to choose and where to shop (in my subjective opinion)
Before I get to rugs, it’s bothering me that I don’t always manage to post once a week (despite wanting to) and the simple reason is I spend farrr too long on each email. Just when I think I’m done, I remember something else that I wanted to mention and I’ll add more and more detail. It’s how my Christmas gift guide snowballed from an intended 48 items to 102.
Finding the self-control to stop when I’ve done ‘enough’ is something I need to get a handle on. I also tend to edit and rewrite large sections of each post until I’ve lost two or three days to needless revisions and extra research. I’ve always been a thorough worker rather than a fast one, but my quest for perfectionism (and fear of rejection, if we’re honest) is a trait that bites me in the arse when I spend not just one evening, but Friday, Saturday and Sunday working on Substack.
I see other writers share little and often in a way that seems quite freeing and casual, so I’m going to pretend that I too am an easy-breezy kind of gal (I type that with a grimace), rather than a people-pleasing overthinker who never feels like I’ve done enough.
All that to say, I’m going to start interspersing my usual content with some shorter posts that don’t meander off on 17 different tangents and don’t take a weekend to read. That’s the intention, anyway. I generally hold my caution with a firm grip when it’s windy, but we’ll see if I can relax a bit…
Also, I have my first Ask Me Anything coming up soon. I took questions via my Instagram Stories but if you don’t follow me there, you can DM me in the next couple of days – just use the button below. I can’t answer everything but I’ll choose a few to start with and if people seem keen, I can do another in the future.
Back to rugs!
It’s been a while since I shared an interiors-specific piece here, so read on for a few practical thoughts about choosing rugs and where to put them. I’m also sharing my favourite sources for great rugs (overseas friends, note that I’m based in the UK). This newsletter is advice-centric rather than a shopping edit, so I haven’t picked any specific rugs to feature this time. If you haven’t yet seen the round-up of 37 rugs that I shared last October, it’s linked here.
I hope you find it helpful and feel free to leave me a comment if there’s a specific topic or item that you’d be interested to hear my viewpoint/advice on in the future. I’m very particular about things (some would say fussy) and I have a lot of opinions about the way things look, so if I think I can help, I will.
The importance of rugs
Do you ever feel like your tables and chairs look adrift at sea; bobbing around untethered on an expanse of floor? I don’t currently have a rug in my dining area or bedroom and as a steadfast rug fan, I have to say it’s agitating me. The dining situation is less of a pressing issue as there’s already quite a lot going on there but our bedroom looks so empty and unloved without a rug hiding the landlord’s exhausted beige carpet. We used to have a striped flatweave under the bed but I moved it to the living room and when I took it away, it was like zapping the life out of the room.
For me, rugs are right up there with art and lighting as the hardest-working homeware investments. Choose well and they’ll carry the whole room.
A good rug is the most effective way to anchor your floating furniture and pull everything together, creating cohesion where there wasn’t any before. The texture makes a room feel more cosy and relaxed by absorbing echoes and if you think a huge painting transforms a room, see what effect a statement rug has – it’s artwork for the floor.
You’ll notice very few living rooms and bedrooms are photographed without any rugs at all because they do so much heavy lifting, especially when tactility and comfort need to be conveyed through a flat image. It takes a skilled interior designer to make a project feel layered and complete with bare floors.