Ever since moving into our new apartment and having [gasp!] navy blue digusting berber carpet, I’ve been dying to slap down a huge area rug in the living room to break up the sea of blue. I originally planned to get this chevron rug:

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But that was back when I had planned to have gold metallic stripes on my dining room wall. It was a nice dramatic pattern on the floor to compliment the more tone on tone pattern happening on the wall. Well we all know that didn’t work out, and now I have a dramatic pattern on the wall, and need something more subdued on the floor. I’ve been searching high and low for the perfect rug that would be both light and refreshing to contrast with the hideous floors, yet organic in pattern so that it wouldn’t compete with everything happening on the wall about 3 feet away.

I also knew I didn’t want to really invest in this rug because this isn’t our forever home and more of a temporary fix for some not so pretty carpet. But I wanted something versatile enough to be used in a different room once we do live somewhere a little more permanent. In my search I came across some of these lovelies..

I don’t know what it is about this rug but I’ve been obsessed with it forever. You can’t tell in this photo but the dalmation spots are recessed a little bit giving it some great depth. I honestly see this in my future office, once I’m not sharing with a guy in the middle of his Architecture Masters. He get’s all design say in that room for now ;)

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 I love the organic lines of this and the light colors, but it feels a little busy for an already super busy room.

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This guy is a little out of my price range, but I die for this rug. I mean look at those colors, it would look amazing against our coral living room wall. Alas, it’s too expensive.. and probably will never go with anything in our house ever again.

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I worry that this one is a little too feminine for Derek, but I love the tone on tone greys and the stripes are raised a bit which adds a lovely texture.

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This guy is also not in the budget, but oh so pretty right? I just love it. It reminds me of a mashrabiya.

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I know this isn’t organic at all, but I’ve always loved this rug ever since coming across Nate Berkus’ living room years ago, but it’s probably still too strong of a pattern for the space. Sigh. One day rug, one day!

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Fast forward to last night..

While hunting down some amazing faux sheepskin rugs at Target [more on that later] I came across the most amazing shag rug. It reminded me of this West Elm rug I’ve been swooning over for a year but could never pull the trigger because it’s just so dang expensive. But this one was at Target! Which means.. It’s [usually] not a million dollars.

And it wasn’t! It was only $179 for a 5′ x 7′ [!!!!], which is pretty great considering it’s 100% wool. Honestly this picture doesn’t even do this rug justice. You need to feel it! I’ve never been a huge fan of shag rugs. I mean how on earth do you clean them? Maybe it will just eat all of my crumbs? :) And also I worry about it getting crushed over time, or pilling, or looking super worn. But this baby is durable. Each tuft is felted wool and a little tough, you knot that sort of scratchy feeling wool has. Which means it will withstand some foot traffic. I just love the texture and dimension the colors have, there are about four different creams and tans mixed in there which makes it look less flat that your usual shag rug. Here is a better photo I found online to show the texture a little better:

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Yum. I didn’t buy it yet because let’s be honest, payday needs to roll around. But you bet your buttons I’ll be heading over to Target tomorrow to snag this guy up! I honestly don’t know 100% if it’s going to work in our living room, but that’s the great thing about most retail stores these days, you can always return it if it doesn’t work out. So rather than waiting and waiting to make your next decor purchase in fear of not knowing whether or not it will work out. Just try it! You can always take it back! As long as it isn’t marked final sale or anything.

I’ve never seen this rug at any other Target, but there was ONE left at my new secret Target I found, so hopefully it’s still there tomorrow or I will be driving around to every Target until I find it very sad. They also had this really cool “popcorn” wool rug which I was obsessed with, but it’s way too dark for our apartment, but maybe one of you can buy it and I’ll just live vicariously through you! [this means you, Fresh!]

 I’m very proud of target these days. Usually their rug department is a little lame, but lately I’ve found a lot of great deals and amazing quality. Even that jute/wool blend to the right of this rug is gorgeous. Have you come across any of these rugs at your Target? Do you already own one? Does anyone have a shag rug and know how to successfully clean it without destroying your vacuum? Spill!