1/25/11

The Only Time I Like Goodwill

Photobucket
I stopped in at Goodwill Sunday night to get out of the house with Ruby and almost tripped over this 5' x 7' rug from Target that was rolled up in the linen section. I had looked at the same rug at Target the month before when I was price checking every place in town and decided I'd better really know what I wanted before shelling out the dough.

Photobucket
Goodwill feels overpriced on their used, vintage stuff but their half-priced, new items from Target feel like a great deal.

Photobucket
Apparently, this rug has been claimed. Ruby and Sebastian have been lounging on the floor all day on this shaggy thing. It's made their room so much brighter and I love having something soft to sit on.

We came up with a new house rule, though. No eating, drinking, peeing, throwing up, sneezing, or wiping boogars on our new rug.

I resisted the idea of rugs for awhile after our Flor tiles got pretty dingy. I think a whole tile had a coffee stain on it. I know wool rugs have stain-repellent qualities but they just remind me of the eighties.

Whether you have kids or pets it's hard to keep the house pristine but you don't want to sacrifice some creature comforts right? How do you deal?

xoxo,
Rachel

36 comments:

faith ann raider said...

Oh - how brilliant! what a great rug :) I haven't made up my mind about if I love rugs or not - I have four kids (with a fifth on the way in July!) and a dog who pees if she gets too excited so deep-cleaning the carpet is an every-other month all morning long chore for me. Sometimes I wish we just had some rugs that were easier to clean and showed less stains - like the one we put down under our eating area.
Every time I start to feel dissatisfied with how nice our things are one of the little ones finds a permanent marker and reminds me that the time will come for having nicer furniture and stuff - it's just not now :) lol

Unknown said...

Out of all the places I've lived there was this one, an older 1930's home and it had the most amazing wood floors, I hated putting a rug down on those beautiful floors but it made everything more "cozy and warm". I think a rug also brings and area together creating a space!


www.abbiejsmithphotography.com

Katie said...

I love rugs! We have hardwood floors, so it makes everything more cozy. That said - the first time my rabbit peed on the rug and couch, I was really upset. But a friend of mine gave me some sage advice - "It is just what they do." It sounds silly, but now I'm able to take it all in stride!

Hello, I'm Vicki said...

ah the joy of children and their messes!!!! i love rugs too but we don't have any - it comes of having 2 boys and too many cats...... i just need to be prepared to clean the floors alot instead and realise that with kids your house doesn't have to be perfect xxx

Trina M Curran said...

Oh, gosh...what a great find! I have been watching that rug at Target too, but worried about the spills on it. Thank goodness juice boxes are clear for the most part these days. We have a Storehouse rug in the living room that has seen its time with kids and pets leave a few marks. But our house is lived in, and baskets under the coffee table help hide the evidence. :)

Unknown said...

We have to have rugs because we live on the top floor of a three flat and feet on hardwood all the time would be too noisy. We have one "nice" rug, but otherwise we use floor mats that I think are designed to be used in work rooms - they are from Target and are like $10-15 a piece! I like your house rule!! :)

IndieJane said...

I have hardwood floors throughout my whole house and I'm only brave enough to put one rug down, in my office. I have four dogs who are quite fond of rolling in the dirt, so it's not even worth the hassle. In my dream world, I'd have rugs in every room...and tidy dogs.

LauraP said...

I deal by not caring if my house in pristine....or maybe that's an avoidance technique? Ha!

Laura said...

i've had the home depot version of this rug (it looks exactly the same) in my kids' room for over three years and love it. be encouraged! it still looks great.

Gina Thomas said...

love the rug! I can never find good things like that at my local goodwill. you must have the thrift good luck bug;)
gina

The anxious mother said...

Your girl is just presh! I also have rules. No one is allowed to wipe boogers on their car seats, I hate that!

keepcalmandcarryonblog.blogspot.com

Samara Link said...

I agree. It's worth having all the members in your family that you love (in my case, two dogs and a cat) even if they are messy. And I want my house to look nice and be comfortable, too. I try to buy colors that our animals hair doesn't show too much on, and I vacuum a lot. I buy nice stuff but forgo any luxury items so I'm not too worried if I need to replace them at some point. And I love this magical product called Holy Cow. It gets everything out -- any mess my animals can possibly make is no match for that stuff.

LindseyJoy said...

they usually have a day where military gets 1/2 off... that goes on top of sales usually

RachelDenbow said...

Linnie Joy,
I need to find out about this military discount! I will take advantage of that whenever I can! ;)

Rebekah said...

we have a brown shag rug that stays pretty "clean" and is much nicer to do my workout on than the hardwood but sometimes when doing crunches I look around and see the little cereal bits hiding in it :)...we got ours at homedepot here in Seattle it is HUGE and only set us back about $90 so we can replace it every few years and not feel so bad...oh and funny about goodwill it is one of the only places to find thrift here in the city I wish we had better second hand stores around here.

Dawn Trest said...

I have this exact rug. Unfortunately, I didn't find it on half price... :/ So fun to find a great deal!

Cindy J said...

We don't buy white stuff or anything super pricey unless I just HAVE to have it. and I try my hardest to keep things stain free, but with a chihuahua and a 14 month old that's nearly impossible, so I just keep in mind that one day I'll be able to decorate with expensive fabrics and furnitures but right now making memories with my little ones is more important :)

Rubyellen said...

good rule: no peeing on the rug! i like that one.

Gina said...

i love to use rugs for a splash of fun &/or color in a room and something soft to lay on too. I have the same rule of food & drinks in the kitchen only and no shoes in the house. Makes keeping the house clean easier as i have 5 kids and a husband running thru the house.

Tara said...

I am totally a neat freak and I'm challenged by having a male roommate and a dog... I'm constantly allowing things to be just a little less tidy than I'd like so that I don't go crazy! It's a lot of work to keep it clean, but is it really THAT necessary?

thursday said...

Those moments are magic eh? (oops! my Canadian just came out). Although vintage scores are the reason I thrift, there is something so perfect about the times I find the exact same thing I was lusting over at the 'real' store. It doesn't happen often, but that thrift high is a very lovely one indeed.

I wish I had some tips for keeping some spaces/things sacred, but I'm constantly struggling with the same thing. There have been a few things that I've scored that I keep tucked away until the day they can be safely displayed. The other day Georgia broke my very favourite depression era glass jar and it was just a reminder that this isn't necessarily a delicate time in her life.

Carrie said...

I am currently obsessed with rugs! I can't seem to get enough! But I usually steer away from a rug if it is not wool because cotton is hard to keep clean and I don't like the feel and semi shine of polypropylene. I guess I have never thought of wool being eighties, I actually always thought the opposite. But now that you mention it, I kinda know what you mean.
I have a great big white shag rug in my living room that I've had for a few years now. Even with a dog and 3 kids it's still holding up great! I think you'll find with the shag, even being white, won't really show dirt.

cupcakesandcoffee schwartz said...

Great question! I look forward to reading all the responses. We have a few nicer pieces, mixed with a very durable sage-y green couch. We don't let the kids have food in the living room and take shoes off at the door. However, we have a free range kid policy and do allow the couch cushions to become the occasional fort. Also, we have an area (over tile) that is specific for art creating and it is kept to that area. Oh, and oxy spray--it works wonders.
(Love the rug, btw)

Meredith said...

i adore goodwill. i'm no vintage pro but cheap clothes are cheap clothes. the goodwill near us is amazing and i've banned myself or i'd go way too often. ;) also, rugs are fab but not in dining rooms or bathrooms. seriously, what are peeps thinking when they carpet those areas?? my kid is way too messy to eat over a light rug.

Little Tree Vintage said...

great find@ she looks so comfy!

Stephanie said...

one of my friends that has a brilliant aesthetic and a wonderfully decorated home told me: with kids this age, it doesn't matter how nice or not nice the rug is... it will last the same amount of time.

with that i embraced the fact it won't stay in pristine condition forever, but i would try to vacuum it 2-3 times a week, and clean up any spill quickly with a sham wow {cheesy, but mine works!}

and i have become a bit of a nag as well. :)

Erin said...

the carpets in our rental are so disgusting i can't even think about it. i can't wait to move somewhere with wood floors. that rugs is beautiful & cozy looking.

ps i love ruby's outfit, so adorable

Gaby said...

Looks like a great rug! And Ruby looks super adorable rolling around on it. I don't have any pets or babies, but my husband's pretty messy. Does that count?

Kristen said...

I am glad to hear you think Goodwill is overpriced too.
I thought it was just a thing here in California...where everything is overpriced.

shelly said...

congrats! aren't those little gifts wondeful? I have 2 black labs, cat, husband and 2 kids. How do I deal? basically I have sacrificed my car (90K mile/10 yr old minivan) and my house to those people mentioned above. Honestly, I look at it as a blessing when a stain/tear/etc. happens on a new piece of whatever.... It's a sign that the object has now been 'hazed' into our home and be a part of our life.

btw, a 2 door convertible Volvo and white furniture awaits in my future....

Anonymous said...

I don't have kids, but I have two cats and they are little stinkers when it comes to destroying rugs. Hubby and I were looking at getting Flor tiles just yesterday. The idea is that if they destroy one tile, we can replace it instead of getting a whole new rug. What was your experience with them? xo, Viv.

Desiree said...

Ugh, I hear you... we have a nearly-2-year-old, 2 cats & a dog... SO MUCH MESS all the time. I feel like I never stop sweeping the hardwood floors! :D

Chelsea said...

We have a spot cleaner, which works really really well for our rugs downstairs. Just important to remember that if you're cleaning it over a hardwood floor, put a towel underneath where you're spot cleaning so it doesn't get a wet spot under the rug and create a bigger problem!

Unknown said...

you lucky duck!! i actually have that same exact rug from target! i think i got a meager 10% off. it's a great rug!

Unknown said...

I find this little guy very helpful with children. Not only a rug cleaner but carseats too! What I loved about my FLOR tiles is that you can pop them up and rinse them.


http://www.target.com/Bissell-Little-Green-Portable-Cleaner/dp/B000069K6U/ref=br_1_3?ie=UTF8&id=Bissell%20Little%20Green%20Portable%20Cleaner&node=236306011&searchSize=30&searchView=grid3&searchPage=1&sr=1-3&qid=1296045245&rh=&searchBinNameList=target_com_category-bin%2Cstyle_name%2Cprice%2Ctarget_com_brand-bin%2Ctarget_com_primary_color-bin&searchRank=salesrank&frombrowse=1

katie said...

We bought paisley a white flat woven rug from ikea. I think it was like $30(?). It totally makes me feel better that most of her beige carpet is covered and I had to nod my head when you mentioned that it brightens up the room.