Our landlady came in a few weeks ago and - first thing she said - "You need more rugs." We are forced to cover 75% of our hardwood floors by rugs to help in noise reduction within the building. We only had about 25% when the landlady "stopped by" unexpectedly and we're up to about 50% now. Multiple challenges in finding rugs:
1) We are not 90 years old. That eliminates about 90% of the rugs out there because they are geared toward old, wrinkled women who probably wove the darn things 75 years ago when they were young bucks visiting Iran. Do I sound bitter?
2) Holy HELL they are expensive. We had absolutely no idea. We scoured all the "usual suspects" of Crate & Barrel, Pottery Barn, etc....then went to gigantic local rug stores here in SF with my Mom, then finally bought (and returned) one from Ikea. Even at IKEA it was $800...not sure I can say WTF on my family-friendly blog, but... WTF?????
We were resourceful on CraigsList (we have bought and sold at least 50% of what we have owned on CraigsList...I would be a paid walking advertisement for that site if I could) and Dave found a woman in Half Moon Bay (about 30 miles south of SF) who was selling a particular rug from Iran out of her house. We thought we were going to see ONE rug she was selling, but it turns out she has at least 30 she is selling! She calls it a "hobby" - collecting and selling rugs. Some do stamp collecting, some watch baseball, this women buys and sells thousand-dollar rugs. Hey, I can't knock it...my husband shines shoes as a hobby for god's sake. SIDE NOTE: Dave added a new member to our family this week with a new pair of Alden 405 Indy boots. (He claims, "I'll have these for the rest of my life!" I'm just not sure how these "lifers" are different than his other 5 pairs of brown boots that are also "lifers" that look identical to these. I realize this is role-reversal and it's a crime to women of America that Dave has more shoes than me, but COME ON!!!!)
But I digress. We had a great experience with the Rug Lady of Half Moon Bay and ended up buying three rugs from her. They don't necessarily fit perfectly in THIS apartment, but hopefully we WILL actually have these for the rest of our lives, which presumably will someday bring us to a real, live HOME (i.e. full size space where you don't have to make things "fit" in one of three rooms). So, without further ado, check 'em out (or 2 of the 3 at least)! The top one is by Dave's desk and is an Heriz rug from the 1930s.
1 comment:
I think the rugs are great. I am impressed, and yes those damn things are expensive. My parents go to upstate NY for the rug auction every year (or every year for the last several years) to get them cheaper.
To me, I would be more annoyed at my nosey land lady. Maybe next time you should really scare her by saying the old TV line, "Get a warrant" and slamming the door in her face.
As for the shoes, I am shocked that Big D has a shoe fetish. I remember when I was starting my first job, my parents suggested I get some Aldon shoes because they would be there for the rest of my life. I thought they were buying them for me...they weren't. I didn't realize life was so expensive.
I still have them, but now I work in a casual environment where these particular shoes have little use.
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