A Great Room Rug Dilemma

I need some help choosing a new rug.  Here is our great room:

I happen to think the space is lovely...a little on the small side, but lovely nonetheless.  When we moved in three years ago, we needed a rug for our great room because our previous great room was carpeted and we didn't have a rug for the space.  We went to Home Goods and picked one out.  We always knew it was on the small side for the room, but we also knew that finding a bigger rug would be a huge expense, and we really just loved this rug. 

We obviously kept it and now we have a new use for this rug in our office, which we are in the midst of redo-ing (I'm a bit behind in posting about the office, stay tuned for that:).)  By transplanting our current great room rug into the office, we'll have to fill the rug-less hole left behind.  We definitely want a bigger rug, 10' x 13' or so would do the trick nicely, even up to 10' x 14'.  (Our current rug is 7'6" x 9'6".) 

Finding a rug this big is not an easy task.  Home Goods doesn't typically stock rugs this size, and most stores like Pottery Barn, West Elm, World Market, and Crate and Barrel only go up to 9' x 12' rugs, and we'd really like to go bigger.  Ordering online can be tricky too, as I've experienced before.  Colors aren't always true to the pictures, and rugs are not cheap to return.  Still in order to find a rug in the size we need and within a budget we feel comfortable, we will most likely resort to an online order.  I fluctuate between wanting a thick, wool, neutral rug (like our current rug) and trying a rug made of natural fibers like jute.  Here are some inspiration pictures for the natural fiber option:

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

via Pinterest

Part of my indecisiveness results from the fact that we don't intend to change out our great room furniture any time soon.  My style has changed a bit since we purchased our couch and chairs, and the room would benefit from smaller scale furniture, but the fact remains that the current pieces are high quality and are extremely kid friendly.  It would be hard to justify making a change anytime soon.  That being said, I'm not sure how great the texture of our couch would work with a jute/natural rug, even though it's the look (especially combined with a nice light colored cowhide) that I'd really love for the space.  So what I'm saying is I need some help with this decision.  My mind has been so close to the issue for a long time as I've poured over every rug source I can think of...help a girl out:).

Here are some potential rug options:

Dark Natural Diamond Jute

Home Decorators

9'6" x 13'

$320 shipped (on sale with free shipping)

Morocco I Area Rug

Home Decorators

9'9" x 13'9"

$765 shipped (would wait for a better sale:))

Zig Zag Chenille Hemp Rug

Home Decorators

9'6" x 13'

$390 shipped

(The reviews all say that the pattern of this rug is more apparent than the picture shows.  The chevron alternates between a creamy white chenille and a natural jute, much like this rug from West Elm, which I LOVE.)

Premium Jute Braided Area Rug

Home Decorators

9'6" x 13'

$454 shipped

Exeter Wool Rug

 Home Decorators

9' x 13'

$769 shipped

Allure Flat Woven Rug

Home Decorators

9' x 13'

$625 shipped

Handwoven Mandara New Zealand Wool Rug

Overstock

9' x 13'

$880 shipped

Handmade Majestic Beige Wool Rug

Overstock

9'6" x 13'6"

$620

(This has a green cast to it, that I don't think I love...if it was straight brown/beige, I think it'd be in our great room already:).)

Moroccan Brown/Ivory Dhurrie Rug 

Flat Woven

Overstock

10' x 14'

$600

(Our hardwood floors are dark cherry colored, so I don't know if this one would provide enough contrast.)

Hand Hooked Alexa Moroccan Trellis Wool Rug

Overstock

9'6" x 13'6"

$610 Shipped

(In my opinion, tufted wool rugs hold up better than hand hooked wool rugs.  It's not a deal breaker necessarily, but it's something to keep in mind.)

I included some blue rugs, which I love, but I tend to prefer a beige rug which would allow me to switch our great room colors whenever I feel like, which historically is quite often (ie: I'd like to decorate with red and green for Christmas if I feel like it, without needing to incorporate blue because our rug is blue...does that make sense?)

Basically, I'm asking you to pick your favorite (or suggest a rug not on this list!) that you think would work best.  I'm especially interested in opinions regarding the first four rugs listed:).  Although prices vary greatly on my list, you know I'll be waiting for the king of sales, and I'll use a coupon and probably ebates too, so knowing that, we're comfortable with purchasing any of the rugs listed.

New Stockings!

In keeping with the red, white and modern theme that some how evolved with our Christmas decor this year, I decided to make some new stockings for our mantle.  Here are the stockings we had before:

And here are the new ones I made:

I had originally planned to make 4 black and white striped stockings with felt tops, but I didn't have enough black and white striped fabric on hand.  Instead, I went and pulled out a bunch of  black and white fabrics from my fabric stash and let each family member choose one for their stocking.  Charm chose the dog fabric, Lucky liked the polka dots, Bill chose the striped fabric, and I picked out a floral fabric.  I picked up four packs of red piping and used close to 1 pack per stocking so the project cost about $8 total.  I should note that it is pretty easy to pick up stockings for $3 or so right now at stores like Menards...so this wasn't really a big cost saver:).  It was just one of those projects that I wanted to try.  Piping the felt 'fold down' part of Charm and Bill's stockings was a bit tricky to figure out, but I eventually got it after using our original green stockings as a guide.  Our new stockings are not perfect by any means, but they are homemade, and that's always nice:).

Here is a quick picture of Charm's pinned stocking, which was the first one I made:

I should also note, that my floral stocking was quickly replaced when I unwrapped this huge-normous red dollar store stocking from Lucky.  Apparently, she doesn't want Santa to skip me:).  I completely love it!

 How funny is this?:

Merry Christmas!!