It would be an understatement to say I don’t love the tile in our entry and kitchen. The pattern reminds me of watercolor paint, and not in a good way. It’s in good shape though, so it will be sticking around for a couple of years. For now, I’m attempting to hide it under area rugs.
In the kitchen I wanted something extra durable to withstand the water and food it will inevitably be covered in, and luckily we had an outdoor rug laying around that we used to stage the sunroom in our last house.
The hallway was a little trickier. I bought this rug at Target:
At seven feet long, it was way too short, so we used it to add a runner to our stairs, and kept looking for a longer runner. I really like the look of geometric patterned rugs, and Safavieh has a great selection of geometric runners at various lengths. A lot of companies only do 8′ runners, this one is 11′, perfect for our entry hall. It was about $100 on Overstock.com.
As a nurse, though, putting rugs in my house goes against my every instinct. Falls are one of the leading causes of death in the elderly, so they ingrain in us to tell everyone to remove all rugs from their homes because people trip over them. We don’t have too many elderly visitors, though, so I think we’re ok. In any case, adding a pad to the bottom of the rug increases the height of the pile, further increasing the risk of falls, so I love the solution of using silicon caulk as an alternative to a rug pad:
It creates traction to grip the rug to the floor without the use of a rug pad. I make lines about 6-8″ apart:
If my lines are tall I smooth them out a little with my finger, then let it dry for three hours. Once I flip the rug over, it grips the floor and stays in place. Easy solution.
