Runner - Phase 1

We need to get a runner for behind the sofa in the living room, as the carpet there is getting so much wear that it's starting to look a bit grubby and worn, and being tenants we don't want to lose money off our deposit. I have been looking out for one for a while but we want a 4m runner and for a nice one it's quite expensive, even second hand. I also struggled to find what I was looking for in this size, most runners seem to go up to 2 or 3 metres but longer ones you have less choice.

What I wanted was a rug to go with the rest of the colours in the living room, which are grey, black and white. I settled on grey as I though a white rug would get dirty quite easily and black is a bit dark for the room. A pattern was fine just not too busy as it's in a very narrow space and might look a bit much. It also had to be a low pile or a cloth type rug, as the cats would pee all over a deep pile (They pee on the bath mat if they can get to it and a deep pile door mat we once had) as I think they confuse it with dirt!

After seeing the tutorial from this Friday Inspiration post, I decided to have a go at making my own as I'd be able to decide the material and size, and it might be a bit cheaper.

So I ordered a load of fabric samples in my colour palette, this is them laid out in order of preference, from top left to bottom right.

The three on the top row were definite favourites, the two on the right are actually from one fabric I just wanted different areas as the pattern was quite big. I was quite keen on this one as I liked that it was grey but with the cheerful bit of green, but when Tom looked at them he said he doesn't like green in décor, it reminds him of his family's old 80's living room carpet apparently. So that one was out and the top left was favourite, the rest were discounted because they were too light, too busy or we just didn't like them as much in person as we did online. I do want to get some colour into the living room eventually but we don't know what this will be yet and I didn't want the rug to be a main feature in this room, as it's just going behind the sofa to save the carpet and I'll add in colour with artwork and maybe some cushions and a window treatment.

The fabric is called Autumn Leaves in Sable and it's from www.terrysfabrics.co.uk. I've got 4m of it on the way to me, and we're just figuring out something to attach it to as the rubber matting is actually proving difficult to find in the length we want! I have feelers out in a few places and also ideas for alternatives, and will do a how to post one I get all my materials.

In the meantime this will be the pattern for the new rug, and I'm looking forward to the fabric arriving to see it to scale!