A Lesson On Rugs.

Editor's Note: Today I am wearing J Brand jeans, an Ann Taylor t-shirt, a sweater and Oscar shoes.

Whenever I walk into someone's house---whether they are a client or not, they almost always start making excuses to me about why their house looks this way or that. It comes with the territory of being an interior designer----people are always afraid that they've broken some rule that you are now very clearly witnessing as someone who designs homes for a living.

Surprisingly, their fear is mostly unfounded---they are very few "rules" when it comes to interior design. However, I do see one common "mistake" more than anything and that is when it comes to area rugs.

First, most people often pick one that is WAY too small.

The rug is often so small that it sits in front of all of the furniture like it's own tiny island.

An area rug should be large enough to at least sit a few inches under the front legs of your sofa and chairs.

When I am doing larger rooms like the ones pictured below, sometimes I even make the rug large enough to go completely under all of the furniture.

The other "mistake" I see a lot is the absence of the rug where there needs to be one. Rugs add color and warmth to a room, they absorb sound and they limit dust and dirt. Every major room in your home should have a rug in it.

Rugs are available at a variety of price points. They can also be new, antique, ready-made, custom---you name it.

For the homes above, I worked with Lee Jofa on custom colored rugs. We picked from a large archive of designs and went about picking the thread color for each design element that ran through the rug. The results were amazing!

I also love hand made wool rugs. I get them from a couple of sources in Dallas and from one source in New York that I've been using for over 20 years! Sorry readers---those sources are for Kay's eyes only!

When I'm looking for rugs I usually take a couple of key fabrics in the room and look at sometimes hundreds of rugs before I choose the right one. If possible, I will take two or three options to the client's house so we can see how they look in the room.

After 20 years of buying rugs from my New York source, I finally got to meet their President face to face last winter while I was in NYC for a function. It was wonderful visiting their headquarters and seeing some of their archives.

Adding a rug will transform a nice room into a fabulous room---try it and see!

I didn't cook dinner last night because my mother and I went to Thirsty Thursdays at Rivercrest Country Club, which was such fun! I wore wool pants by Vince, a silk blouse from Ann Taylor, and a C Wonder sweater. For dinner I had a burger without the bun. No carbs for Kay!

Love this Jackson 5 song. Much like good rugs, good music never goes out of style.

Happy Weekend Everyone!