We purchased an Amber Lewis x Loloi area rug for our living room, and after living with it for 2 months, it may very well be my favorite rug ever!
The Rug Saga
If you recall, after our wood floors were uncovered from their carpeted prison and restored, we were left with this oddly shaped patch of pine in the middle of the room.
Our plan was always to get a new rug for in here, but now I knew it needed to be a very specific size. I threw myself with reckless abandon into the deep hole that is online rug shopping (maybe the hardest kind of shopping there is??).
Apart from the size requirements, I had several other demands:
- A pattern without an easily-identified center - Since the center of the rug wouldn't be the center of the room, I didn't want it to look noticeably off-center.
- Vintage-look - The feel we like for this room, and thankfully mass produced vintage looking rugs are easy to find because they're so in right now!
- Soft! - Life's too short to have not-soft rugs in your main living spaces.
- Under $500 - A tall order for a large area rug, but felt doable!
So I looked at every rug option from every major online retailer, and eventually landed on this one.
Did I care that it was mostly ivory and I live in a house with a cat and two young children? Did I care that it was backordered for 1+ month? NO! Too battered by the hours I'd spent looking at rug after rug to be bothered by pesky practicalities, I liked this rug. I ordered it.
And then we waited. And waited. And waited.
The initial back-in-stock came and went and still, no rug. We watched the date get pushed back further and further, all the while our living room lacked the coziness we wanted from a rug.
An Amber Lewis x Loloi Rug Saves The Day
We were approaching 2 months with no rug and we all were growing impatient. So I found this Amber Lewis on a whim, cancelled our first order, and ordered the Amber Lewis instead.
It came 3 days after I ordered it (YES! 3 DAYS!) and is amazing! Like, so amazing I immediately forgot all about the original rug I'd ordered and have zero regrets. (An ivory rug? what was I thinking??)
The Pattern
The pattern here is printed on the rug, which I find sometimes can look overly-manufactured, but I think the texture of the weave actually makes it look pretty convincing as a vintage rug!
Plus, it met my requirement of being a non-symmetrical pattern.
The Colors
The colors are dark and cozy - the listing describes them as ink and salmon which I would say are navy and a mix of blush and rust. They are really beautiful in person!
Also, what was I thinking ordering a light-color rug initially? While we were stuck in backorder limbo, a toddler knocked a cup of coffee out of my hand and I distinctly remember cleaning it up off the floor thinking, good thing the new rug isn't here yet. Dark rugs that can take coffee spills in stride are more my lifestyle.
One thing to note - and from other reviews I've read I think this only applies to the larger sizes - is that there is a slight color difference between the top half and bottom half of the rug. In ours, the colors are just a touch darker on one half than the other. It is very slight, but is still something I notice. Probably once we get a coffee table it will be even less noticeable, but is something to be aware of if that would bother you!
The Material
I have historically been wary of polyester rugs and now I don't know why? This one is 100% polyester and is SO soft, doesn't shed at all, and is a breeze to care for.
The Pile
My one hesitation with this rug was its low pile height. It is quite thin at less than 1/4". Typically I look for rugs in the 1/3-1/2" pile height range because I love a plush carpet underfoot. But! With a good rug pad (which you will need since there's no backing), this has not bothered me!
The Value
This rug is such a steal! I thought it was wishful thinking to land a rug this size for under $500, but we ended up well under budget. I imagine the low pile is what allows this rug to be priced so relatively low, but it really is a quality piece.
Just don't forget to factor in the cost of a rug pad when calculating how much this rug will be!
The Availability
Okay, a major selling point for this rug to us was that it was actually available! You can find it at so many retailers, and there is always a sale going on with at least one of them. (Plus, the best thing about ordering a rug online is that it ships straight to your door!)
We ordered ours from Rugs Direct, but you can also find it on Amazon, Wayfair, and Lulu and Georgia.
The Durability
Obviously, at the just-over-2-month mark we're not too far into the lifespan of this rug, but it appears to be thriving amidst the rough and tumble treatment it receives in our home!
We vacuum it on a low-pile setting regularly, and any spills are spot cleaned. One great thing about this being a low-pile rug is spills can be dried up really quickly!
Also, I am undecided yet whether this is a pro or a con but this rug never looks dirty. With our previous rug, the cat would shed a single fur and it would be like a bullseye anywhere it landed on the rug. Not so with this one! I'll walk confidently across only to find myself unexpectedly in a goldfish crumb landmine.
SO GLAD we ended up with this rug! It is a winner.
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