Custom size area rug.

The showpiece of our dining room is this one stunning, huge, 10'-long, rustic harvest table, we had custom made from reclaimed Ontario barn wood. We just love it. It serves us well. Every time we entertain we have a full house and even at 10 feet long, we often times struggle to squeeze seats in around it. We bought our current house FOR this table... it had the potential for a large dining room that would comfortably fit it and so here we are... 

But, the problem with a table of this size is that it is impossible to purchase a rug to fit perfectly underneath it... unless it is a special order in a custom size (we needed approximately an 8'x14'). Nice, quality rugs are already expensive enough as it is, so imagine the bill we were facing if we were to order a rug in a specific size. Personally, I refused to drop $7k+ just for one rug. So, I had no choice but to get creative. I searched and googled, I put my pinterest into overdrive, trying to come up with an economical but still high-style solution for the dining room area rug. But I just couldn't come up with anything nice enough!

One day, I was lazily browsing through the rugs at my local home improvement store and noticed a few rolled up in a corner on sale for $99 each. A white one with a gray lattice motif caught my eye... but when I realized that these rugs were a bit off in size and that two of them arranged side by side would give one rug with my desired custom dimensions, I couldn't believe my luck! Jackpot! I figured I could easily attach two of them together. Because they were shag rugs, the longer pile would disguise the join and no one would ever know any better! And that, ladies and gents, is how we ended up with a really great, modern, classy, custom size area rug... for a steal of a deal at $200!!! 

Check out how I transformed the two rugs into one...

The first step was to determine which sides to join so that I get as close to my desired dimensions, with as little waste as possible, all the while matching the lattice pattern. I laid out the rugs side by side, rotated them around a few times, until I knew exactly along which two sides I'd be joining the rugs.

In order to perfectly match the lattice pattern, the rugs had to be overlapped and slightly staggered, which meant I would have to trim one of the rugs along the joining side, as well as the overhanging side on each rug.

Before trimming, I carefully pulled back the binding off of the overhanging and the joining sides on each rug. I did this because I wanted to save the binding to reattach it back on once the two rugs were joined and trimmed to size. That way I didn't have to buy new binding and I only had to bind the edges that were cut off. 

Once the binding was off, I aligned the lattice pattern again by overlapping one of the rugs...

...and trimmed off the excess from the "bottom" rug.

Luckily, I only had to cut about one inch off the rug. I didn't want too much of it to go to waste so that the rug didn't end up being too small.

To attach the rugs, I simply taped them together using a heavy duty, super adhesive tape that I found at my local home improvement store. Because the tape was very sticky, I found it was easiest to work with in short strips; first I placed strips of tape along the joining side of one rug, pressing down firmly on the edge of the rug to ensure the tape stuck well to it...

...and then I attached the other rug, bringing the edges of the two rugs tightly together, ensuring there were no gaps.

Since the tape itself wasn't very wide, I added a few extra strips on each side of the join to make the seam more secure.

The hardest part was done! Check out that flawless seam! If it wasn't for the overhang, you'd never know where the join is!

Next, I cut off the overhanging sides on each rug.

The original manufacturer's edge had some of the pile trimmed off along the edges...

...so I did the same along the newly cut edge. 

Trimming the pile makes it easier to attach the binding and prevents if from being too bulky.

Finally, using a large needle and fishing line, I sewed the binding back onto the edges that I cut off to make the rug one even width.

And that's it! Just a couple of hours later and we have a brand new, custom sized area rug! Can you tell where the two rugs were joined together?

I have to say that this project was a lot simpler than I anticipated. Cutting the rugs was a lot easier than I thought it would be. An exacto knife or a sharp pair of scissors worked wonderfully for me. I also wasn't sure how I'd sew the binding back on and I imagined myself trying to push the huge, thick rug through my sewing machine, but hand stitching worked perfectly. The rug was porous and I didn't even need to force the needle through it.

The point where the two rugs are joined together is totally invisible! This is because the rugs have a longer pile, which disguises the seam. The rug truly does look like one piece and unless you peek at the underside, you'd never know it's actually two rugs!

Truth be told, this style of rug would probably not be my first choice if I had no issues spending the big bucks and was buying one for this room. But for $200, I'm more than happy with it. I love that it is a light/neutral colour because this room needed some brightening up and this rug certainly tones down all the dark brown flooring that is happening in here. I like that it's a modern yet classy pattern, which perfectly suits the decor in our home. And although it is a dining room where crumbs on the floor are inevitable, I love how cozy and luxurious the thick pile feels under the foot.

But most importantly, it frames and creates the perfect backdrop for our lovely table.