Our New-To-Us Dining Room Rug

The last time we checked in on the dining room, we'd just updated the space with a sideboard but were still on the hunt for a rug to make the space feel a little more tied together. Well, that day has finally come!

We'd been on the hunt since we've moved into the space, but it took a while before all the pieces fit into place as far as finding the right size in a pattern we both liked with a price that worked. Most of the rugs we seriously considered on the retail front were going for the $399 - $799 range, depending on where we were. So, when we saw the above rug laid out on display up at the annual Church Hill community sale, we didn't think twice about rolling it up and taking it home when we found out it was a 9x12 for a $100 asking price.

The woman selling the rug told us it had been in her family for years. It had been made in Belgium in the 60's and lived in both Paris and London before making its way to Richmond for the past several years and now into our keeping. In true "picker" fashion, we loved the rug as soon as we saw it, but getting that background story made it that much more special to us.

We were lucky to have a stretch of really beautiful weather that weekend, so after getting it home, we let it air out the old fashioned way across the railings of our back landing:

Then it was a matter of unrolling it in the space, getting full once-over from our "rug inspector" and vacuuming it out more times than we care to admit:

We're both really happy with the final result:

We love the way it adds a new layer to the room and ties all the other elements together. We're most excited about how it helps cancel out the echo in the room and just makes it feel much cozier and warmer in general.

It's definitely a big improvement from before:

Somebody else has taking a liking to the new rug too:

Sometimes we'll walk through the room and catch him just stretched out and snoozing:

So that's the story of our new-to-us rug for the dining room. It's funny how a smallish update like this can really tie all of the other elements of a space together to make it feel more complete. Now, we just need to figure out what we want on the walls...

What finds have you scored lately? Making any smallish home updates that pack a big punch?