I’ve FINALLY got another real life transformation from our little slice of life this morning. Other than the recent bathroom makeover, I know I’ve been a little quiet on the home front as of late. Thanks to everyone for your patience with me as I continue to work out this new schedule I’ve got going on #newjobpandemonium. At any rate, things are starting to calm down a bit and I hope to be back in the swing of things in terms of house projects ASAP.

So. That said, here’s one of the last switcheroos I was able to get done before I started the new job. It was actually one of those unplanned things that sort of happened organically one calm weekend. I think it all started while flipping through the latest Better Homes and Gardens magazine – One of that month’s home features included a dining room that caught my eye. It had my style written all over it: modern, clean lines with a touch of eclectic flair. Just before turning the page, I happened to look under the dining room table in the photo and saw that, although the room largely read “modern” to me, it had a VERY traditional area rug under the table. Woa. Mind blown. I actually LIKED it!

As I usually do when getting hit with inspiration, I paused for a moment to consider our own situation. At that point, we had a contemporary patterned rug under our table (from Ikea). I wasn’t completely sold on it but didn’t know of any affordable options that we had on hand to replace it with.

You may remember that we ATTEMPTED to replace the Ikea budget buy with an outdoor rug from Overstock. Although I loved the pop of color, the outdoor material just wasn’t good for bare feet inside. So off it went to storage.

But that’s when it occurred to me that we had a rather lovely traditional rug in the basement. It was initially relegated to that room because I’ve been consistantly moving away from a traditional style, but I’m becoming more and more convinced that a combination of modern with a touch of traditional is where it’s at – At least for us and our own personal jam/style.

So up the old rug came from the basement where it landed under our dining room table and chairs. First of all, it’s a MUCH better size than the original Ikea rug. And secondly, the brown color sceme just makes more sense with the rich brown stain in the dining set and the chocolate colored feature wall.

And now that the rug is up out of the dungeon that is our finished basement. you can really appreciate the intricate pattern and coloration in the new/old rug.

Plus, Rocky seems to like the newer softer rug to rest his weary paws on. In fact, ALL of our three pets have been taking to this new landing zone for nap time. It really is soooo much better in terms of quality than the Ikea rug.

Believe it or not, this oriental rug was FREE. I entered into a drawing during this massive sponsored open house tour several years ago and got a call back that I had won a rug. I figured I must have won some kind of door mat or something, but when I arrived at the showroom to pick my prize out, I was shown a floor-to-ceiling display of swinging oriental rugs. I was blown away as I walked away with a massive new living room size rug under my arm. Fast forward to today, and we are clearly still loving it.

What do you guys think? Are you Team Contemporary Ikea Rug? Or Team Traditional Prize-Won Rug?