the great rug debate.

so far and away, the singular thing that has caused the most tension in our house over the past three months that we have spent living through this renovation, with half of the house in a construction zone and the other half functioning as a storage unit, essentially camping in our basement and cooking on a hot plate, with no consistent routine in place and a multitude of decisions to be made on a nearly-daily basis, has been rugs.

rugs.

yep, apparently the downfall of our marriage is going to be attempting to have a civil discussion about a home decorating accessory whose primary function is to be walked on.

here's how it breaks down: i like rugs. i tend to be barefoot around the house, and i like the softness under my feet. i think a good rug can take a room full of furniture and make it feel complete and loved and lived in. especially a room with hardwood floors - the texture and softness are what make people want to get comfortable, take off their shoes, and stay awhile.

my husband, Mark, does not like rugs.  he thinks they cost way too much money. he doesn't like that they cover up the floors, especially since we have just invested time and money into our floors. he is very concerned that over time, rugs will cause large discolored areas on our floors because of the sunshine streaming through the windows and fading the floors around the rugs.  he REALLY doesn't like that rugs in a dining room make it more difficult to slide the chairs in and out, and that our old dining room rug meant that the chairs were always half-on and half-off the rug. he absolutely detested the one corner of the old dining room rug that he always tripped over because it refused to lie flat.

in our old house (pre-renovation) we had three rugs:  1) a too-small, low-quality 5x7 in the fireplace room that i picked up from Home Depot on a whim for maybe $40. 

2) a too-small flatweave 5x7 in the dining room i had to beg and plead talk my husband into letting me spend $30 for from IKEA.

and 3) an Orioles tailgating rug that is designed to be used in a parking lot but instead lives in our basement that i bought for $15 at a yardsale just because i thought Mark would like it.

grand total, that is less than $100 i have ever spent on rugs. ever. Mark still thinks that is too much.

i am of the opinion that we should be hunting for two larger rugs: one for the living room, and one for the dining room. probably an 8x10 minimum, good quality, but at a reasonable price point. additionally, we could probably use a runner in the entryway and a small rug in front of the sink. Mark thinks we should not be covering up our nice new floors since they are just so pretty.

we're both pretty stubborn, and so far have been adamantly holding our own positions with no real sign of a compromise in sight. in the meantime, the old living room rug is acting as a placeholder in the living room, and the dining room is definitively rug-less.

if i had to guess, i would predict that a day will come when we will eventually compromise on a new larger rug in the living room, and no rug in the dining room. but it is not this day.

and thus concludes my 550+ word diatribe on one of the first-worldiest of first-world problems we could ever dream of having. anyone have any good resources for shopping for large rugs on a budget?