apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

i prefer the neutral rug for several reasons, but the yellow and white striped one is great for summer. great choice! generally, it would seem that the only sustainable choice would be rugs made of renewable resources with low maintenance, such as grass.

I think I prefer the neutral one myself, but it could be the composition of the second photo that's throwing my judgement off. I bought two of these rugs in black and white a few months ago hoping to do the same thing, but turns out the edges are not perfectly straight.... and they would not line up properly AT ALL.

Neutral rug is better, but you can always use those IKEA rugs some other place. Any reason for the rug positioning under the table? I would get one more neutral rug and tape those together and have the rugs run from wall to wall under the table.

ditto on above.

My vote is for the neutral rug, but I LOVE the idea of binding two smaller rugs together to make a bigger one. The though hadn't occurred to me.

Nice rug - tho I would have purchased 2 more of those runners and covered as much of the floor as I could...
(weird placement I must say)

I prefer the neutral rug and would love to know where it is from... my biggest challenge with sisal is staining... is there a great cool sisal with stain resistance? I love the table setting and the casual linen cloth display with flowers... sweet.

Will she move the table once the choice is made? Or is it supposed to sit on the edge of the rug? If so, why?

Love and adore the yellow one, but you just KNOW that the sisal would reappear SOMEWHERE in the house, perhaps even with a little painted decoration on it.

That new rugs makes a huge difference. It brightens up the room and adds a nice punch of color. Well done!

I find it hard to judge which one is better becaust the pictures are taken at different angles and the one with the 'after' isn't a very nice picture. The 'before' shows much more of the top of the table as well as the bookcase, which gives a much better feel for the room and it's use. I like the mix of chairs and I think it's a great idea to piece together smaller rugs to make a large one :)
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Yes, the placement is throwing me off.

As for the top comment about "renewable rug materials"
what about wool? the sheep keep on growing it. I'd say that's pretty renewable.
and cotton? there's lots of options other than grass rugs.

^yeah but farming those sheep isn't very earth friendly (nor friendly to the sheep in most cases). ;)

i'm with everyone else on the neutral rug being my first choice, but i do love the yellow! i'm also wondering about the peculiar placement....i'd like to see the whole room all at once.

Weird idea-border the sisal with the striped rugs to give it a bigger, bolder summer impact. Then, in the fall, revert to the sisal, maybe with a smaller autumnal colored rug placed on top?

I have to say I love that in both cases she's put the table off-centre on the rug. I've never been a fan of an "anchor" rug directly under a dining table (to my eye it always makes the dining area look cramped, like you can't pull you chair too far out from the table). I think the off-centre rug gives the whole room a much more relaxed feel here, while it's still uncluttered and beautifully balanced.

Sorry, but it is "which rug do you like better", not "best". For two points of comparison, the word is "better"; for a superlative comparison (three or more), the correct word is "best".

I like the natural one better as well. I bought that same yellow and white rug thinking I could use in my kitchen it looked great but I just do not need another thing to wash once a week so I now use it as a picnic or beach ground cover.

Instead of duct tape, consider carpet seaming tape for joining rugs together. Should work better, last longer, etc.
I'm with the neutral rug crowd.

The neutral rug seems a bit bland in the space. I like the color pop of the yellow striped rug but don't like the look of the joint caused by having 2 rugs duct taped together

I like both looks, but I wouldn't be able to live with the seam.

I HATE it when "before and after" pictures are not taken from the same angle. It is absolutely impossible to tell what setup is better when the angles are different.

Seriously people, stand in the exact same spot to photograph. Better yet, do it at the same time of day so the lighting matches also.

I am not a fan of the yellow stripes and I agree that the rug should be under the table, not weirdly asymmetrical where it seems that all it would do is serve as a tripping hazard. But probably I'm just bitter because of the different angles in the photos.

I vote for the natural rug. Those IKEA rugs get filthy so quickly and need to be washed fairly frequently in order to keep them from looking dingy. I imagine they'd be even worse for wear under a dining table (food stains, crumbs, etc.)

I don't quite 'get' the point of off-centering the rug. It just looks like the edges of the chairs will kick up the rug when they're pulled out.

Why is this even a question. The first one is so much better. The room feels cleaner and more sophisticated. It compliments the colors so well and makes the room very warm. I appreciate the DIY on the 2nd rug and I do like the rug but it has got to be the 1st one for this room. If you want my opinion.

i'm usually a neutral-fiend but i like the yellow striped rug much better. it's fun and makes you appreciate the lovely timber flooring.

if the rug was underneath the table you wouldn't notice where it's joined as much.

The yellow rug looks nice, but that seam would drive me nuts.

I like the yellow stripes! Lovely.

change with the seasons. why not use sisal in the fall/winter and yellow stripe in the spring/summer. nevertheless, a great affordable rug solution!

I am afraid I don't like either one very much.

The yellow and white feels like a bad color choice to me -- maybe it's the bright contrast with everything else, or the idea that rugs that light in color don't "ground" anything.

The sisal is too plain and too close to the floor color.

I'd suggest a bound carpet remant closer in color to the sisal but with multi color stripes. (Or something more that flavor, anyhow.) And I am another who finds the half off half on placement of the table off-putting. But it's not my room...

I thought the neutral one was the new one at first ... it's so much nicer! The yellow striped ones look wrinkly and easy to trip over ...why replace an understated, sophisticated textured rug with something like that?

I'm looking for a chair like the turquoise one -- anyone know where to find one like it?

Cute dining room!

They are both great rugs and I appreciate her ingenuity in duct taping the two rugs together.

The only issue with the yellow rug is that it will get dirty very quickly and never realy come clean. That and odd sizing are my two issues with these types of rugs.

Elsie here (actually my name is meg, but my blog's name is elsiemarley, so I understand the confusion). I had no idea there were such strong opinions out there about rug placement. We have two toddlers, so putting the rug directly under the table would just mean disaster (or constant washing).
To answer some questions:
1. the sisal (or jute, I thought it was jute) rug came from Ikea also and it might stain, but you sure can't see it.
2. the yellow rug(s) can be washed in the washing machine, which is why I got them in the first place.
3. It's just for summer.
4. I didn't take these pictures as "before and after" shots. The first one was taken two years ago.
5. The yellow rugs were actually 10 bucks a piece.

I got two more striped runners while I was at Ikea and put them in the living room. You can see them here. Thanks for all the feedback! I wasn't contacted before this post, so it was quite a surprise to see my house on apartment therapy.

i love the yellow and white stripes! so fun and cheerful!