Stripe Rug Dreams, Nate Berkus and Elle Decor - Shop Like A Rich Girl

I have been looking at striped Dhurrie rugs for about a zillion years. Seriously folks, I saw one in my youth that has been haunting my decor fantasies forever. I keep a little clipping file, hoping for the day I can work one into one of my rooms.
The Mac Daddy is the blue and white Dhurrie beloved by many on the East coast for years and years. It was made famous in the movie Somethings Gotta Give, well documented by Joni at fabulous Cote de Texas. Blue was not a color I used much, so I let the rug dance around in my mind's eye.
Then I started to notice other colors. Red, green, tan - none appealed. I made a half ass attempt with two jute stripe mats in our bedroom, a very pale and wimpy idea. Then black and white stripes started to appear, as in this vintage Nate Berkus room (like he did this a few years ago).Black and white seemed like a good option. But the price point was not great for me, so I even considered painting a faux ironic Dhurrie on the floor - you can't get cheaper than paint. But it was just too much work, and maybe a tad too ironic even for a smart ass like me.
I finally took the plunge after I painted the living room the oh-so-sexy-Billy-Baldwin-brown. Of course you can mix brown and black! Haven't you heard the saying: Black looks good by itself and brown looks good by itself, so brown and black can go together...I don't know, go ask David Bromstad...
Right after I put the room together, I found this photo in a magazine. Mmmmmmm.
OMG Nate Berkus is stalking my mind's eye!!!! The room composition is almost a line by line (ha ha ha) reading. His rug is by the fabulous Madeline Weinrib HERE
She's the darling of Magazine Street here in New Orleans, and her rugs (and pillows) are gorgeous, and cost in the thousands. This rug is called Versa Black and you can get it HERE
Well since Nate is in my mind's eye now, I decided to get into his, ha ha ha. This is a fake magazine cover people, a fun and pathetic thing you can do HERE
Send me your cover, and I'll "publish" it!
But moi rug is sadly not a Madeline Weinrib. It is a Pottery Barn 8 X 10 for $179. HERENow that I have it in my hot little hands, I love it. The quality is very nice indeed, and I think it looks pretty good.Ikea has a wool version HERE
They will ship it, if you are not lucky enough to have an Ikea where you live. The nearest one to New Orleans is in Houston, and watch out Joni, I may just take a ride your way.

The rug comes in 5 X 7 for $179. 0r 9 X 12 for $299. I kind of like my cotton one better, because I have the idea I can take it the laundromat and throw it in one of those huge ass washers. Also cotton is easiest to deal with in the same old sub tropical climate here in the new Nola.
I am showing more pictures of Nate's space in the current issue of Elle Decor, because I really love it, and I am very surprised that no one else has posted them yet.
He uses stripe rugs everywhere. I love the art work, especially the long graphic pieces.

Good old Pottery Barn often has some great art work online. I was slow to order a really great piece with New York Subway stops written in white on a black canvas. When I finally had the cash, it was long gone. When you slow you blow. Anyhoo, the current online catalog has this nice tall piece (about 6 feet tall), that I think is very Nate worthy. You can order it HERE
It's only $99., which I am sure a lot less than Nate paid for his art work.


Another great stripe rug in the entry hall, and two fabulous big lanterns.
More stripes, this time a wider black and white. The linen chair is Nate's design.
This man even has a stripe rug in his pretty closet, along with a couple of Paul McCobb stools. I thought I'd finish this off with some shopping info on some of my recent purchases. I don't ever mind sharing a good source.
First up is the big ass lantern. I stalked it in the store for a couple of weeks, hemming and hawing, is it too big, is it too cheapie looking. So I measured the old chandy, and the big ass one really wasn't that much bigger.
Cheapie. Mmmmm. Well it certainly was a good price that I could afford. Anything else I liked cost 3 0r 4 times more. I have a knack for inserting less costly items into a decor . My designer buddy Michael Pelkey almost fell down when I told him one of my chandys was not a French antique, but a $100. knock-off from Lowes. And so is this one, and you can get it HERE
Next up are some new pillows. Like everyone else I love beachy things, and coral. I have loved it before it was trendy, and I will love it after it's over and out. Hello! The beach is never over. So when I saw this sweet little pillow, I just bought it, not knowing exactly where it would end up.

It was on sale at Pier One for around $7. You can look at it HERE, and toddle on over to your local Pier One and see if they still have it.The Pier One pillow is embroidered. If you can't find it, and you have some real money to spend ($145. each), you might check out these pretty needlepoint ones online at Gumps HERE
While you're in Pier One, look for these Foo Dogs HERE. I bought just one for $20. I actually only wanted one, though most folks go for the pair. They're on sale now for $14.99 each, and they come in the trendy turquoise color made famous and popular by Ivanka Trump (among others perhaps not as famous as she).
Ikat is here to stay. More on that later. This yummy pillow is one of two I borrowed from my favorite store PERCH for the photo shoot. I am keeping them, and have yet to find out the price. The color is so right for the room. They are very well made, perhaps silk, with a nice rope trim. They look and feel expensive. Jack and Caroline at Perch are so nice, and they are letting me pay them off over time. Sometimes a girl just needs the quality and the luxury.


This is a Madeline Weinrib silk Ikat pillow very much in the same vein as mine. There are no designer labels on mine, and I don't know if MW does labels. Her pillows cost in the hundreds, and I am sweating it a bit. You can look at her beautiful Ikat pillows HEREYou can find Ikat pillows at all price points, both in silk and in cotton. eBay has a ton of silk pillow cases that come up if you search Ikat pillows, and they are very reasonable. The trick is finding the right sophistication in the print. I found this cotton Ikat at Linens and Things, done by Nate Berkus!

It was on clearence for $9.99 online, but they seem to have sold out of it. Perhaps if you hot tail it down to your local Linens and Things store, you might still be able to find one. It's so funny, whenever I start shopping for things, they suddenly get hot and sell out. Maybe I'm a decor witch! Woooooooo.

Like I said, Ikat has been around forever, in fact it's one of those ancient ethnic crafts. I recall it in American decor as more of a 1970's thing, when flame stitch was all the rage. To me flame stitch looks like Ikat. It's so hippie dippie looking, but at the same time, kind of fabulous.

This sofa looks like mine! And I could almost do this flame stitch. These last photos are from Google Images, from an auction house HERE. I don't know if these are still up for auction.This is an updated version of flame stitch, which is far less hippie dippie looking. I got this photo from Style Court, a very tasteful blog indeed.
And here's the end of it - finally! But I just have to show you this wonderful rug covered trunk, also found on the auction site with the link above.
Now go out there and shop like rich girls (and boys)!