When we moved into our home the main stairs in our home were a huge selling feature and a huge source of grief. I did NOT love the oak hand railing and the massive amounts of oak throughout the house. We have since banished the hand railings with lots and lots of white paint and hand cramps.
The original stair runner was yucky. I realize that makes me sound like a second grader but it was so yucky like kooties. And they were not wiping off. We changed the runner to a cheapo striped style from Home Depot because it was a new house for us and we had bigger fish to fry at the time. The tails in our home, specifically Oliver and Sammy [the cats] love to use our staircase as the Nascar sprint qualifying. At approximately 9pm each night like clockwork for 45 minutes it sounds like it is thundering outside because they are hammering each other up and down the stairs. Needless to say, the cheapo striped runner did not exceed expectations.
I began the hunt for a new stair runner. I went to all the carpet and flooring places in our area, inquiring about a jute/sisal stair runner and had every MAN in those stores tell me I could not put jute or sisal on stairs.
Are you freaking kidding me?
Evidently, I do not live in the home decor conscious community. Has no one picked up a House & Home magazine, read a blog, heard of Pinterest? I even brought photos on my phone, only to have heads shake at me.
"We have some great looking traditional broadlooms or neutral floral designs"
I think I left a few of the stores without saying anything.
If you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all, because once you get me going about how much I don't appreciate you for suggesting neutral florals to me.............
Back to the drawing board.
I found a company Natural Area Rugs via Pinterest that made custom stair runners out of sisal, jute etc. to your specifications and bonus not too expensive so my cats will be able to eat for the month.
I ordered the studio sisal with neutral border and it was made and shipped in record time. I love how it looks installed and it has so far been awesome with cat and dog toenails. I purposely waited about a month in case it self-combusted before I said yeah it's great and then had to deal with rug hate mail.
The only thing I could say negative is the natural border is a little tan-ner in person than beige natural as I expected. In our home that is fine but, just in case you are going the same route and tan is not on your radar.
This concludes my rambling stair runner story and it is a happy ending so far.
I hope you have carpet stores in your area that make your dreams come true and in case they don't this may be a good option for you.
There is a man on American Pickers right not saying o'er yonder and it is making the rest of this night very happy.
I junk in person and on tv.
Have a great night,
Meg
ps- This is not a sponsored post for Natural Area Rugs just an honest opinion of my crazy rug shopping experience.
Joining
Stone Gable
French Country Cottage
Liz Marie
Joining
Stone Gable
French Country Cottage
Liz Marie
It looks great, Meg! Glad you were able to find what you were looking for.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kathy!
DeleteI found your post through Hometalk and posted there too. I have had the same experience here! We need to replace our runner and I want to do seagrass or another natural fiber rug. Every carpet store I have gone into has looked at me like I'm crazy and steered me towards "traditional" materials. I'll have to check out Natural Area Rugs. Thanks for posting! -Holly
ReplyDeleteyour staircase looks gorgeous Meg....please come to Wa and re-do mine...lol
ReplyDeleteCame over from Stone Gable! This is a project on my 2013 list so your tip is super helpful!!! I was thinking I may have to just get a couple of runners and make them work but I'm going to check out your source. Thanks bunches!
ReplyDeleteRobin
All Things Heart and Home
Wow! Glad you finally found the sisal runner you were looking for. Our editor Suzanne Dimma recently did a short segment for our Online TV show on staircase runners, too http://houseandhome.com/tv/segment/suzanne-dimma-staircase-runners
ReplyDeletethanks Seema, i actually watched the episode on my iphone this week at the gym.
DeleteI love the runner and it looks fabulous on the stairs. I am a new follower.
ReplyDeletexx, Sherry
Your natural runner looks fabulous on your stairs. Can you tell me what company you got the rug. I am looking for one for my main stairs too. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThanks Yvonne! The rug came from naturalarearugs.com. I purchased the studio with natural border.
DeleteThis is just what I have been looking for! I have wanted to rip the nasty crpet off of our basement stairs for months now, but hesitated becuase I wasn't able to find a runner I was happy with. Thanks for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThis is beautiful! I love it. We just moved to this home in Oct. and for a month I debated whether or not to do a runner at all. I loved the look of the wood. But I finally did the runner with a KINDA shaggy carpet. I love it but I am afraid of how long it will last and look nice. I have runners in my hallways in sisal with black borders. I LOVE them but the only negative is that they are NOT soft and comfy in bare feet. I will save this for future reference. Thanks!!! XO, Pinky
ReplyDeleteLooks great!
ReplyDelete