Emily Henderson's Quest for The Perfect Rug Features Blue-Green Blue Parakeet Rugs Beauty

Emily Henderson, renowned design guru and blogger, writes about that all-too-common feeling that your living space isn’t quite right, yet. So on the Tuesday after Thanksgiving, she decided to do some experimenting, starting with — what else? — the rug.

“Was I unhappy with my living room before? Hmm. ‘Unhappy' isn’t the right word but no, it wasn’t there yet and that’s okay. It just felt a bit boring and serious so when Sheba, who owns Blue Parakeet Rugs said I could try out this rug and see if it worked, I took her up on it.”

Sheba arrived with a gorgeous, jewel-toned 19th Century Persian Mashhad in blue and green (Emily’s favorite colors) on an ivory background, and the two got to work styling the furniture around the centerpiece rug. In the world of antique Persian rugs, blues and greens are relatively unusual, much less common than the familiar reds and browns.

Photos of each new look illustrate what a big difference swapping out a piece of furniture or playing with scale or color can make in a space. Her living room is still in flux, but the rug was a hit! Emily emphasizes that decorating is a journey, and the way to get to that dream space is to experiment with different furniture, colors, and arrangements until nothing feels out of place. “But boy is it fun and honestly, I love this rug and I’m going to bring it up to the mountain house to see if I can make it work in the master bedroom with a pretty white headboard,” she writes. Wherever this lovely Mashhad settles down, it’s sure to fill the space with color and warmth.

See the full story over at Emily’s Blog. All photos by Sara Tramp of EHD.