Welcome to Is This Available? by Dana and Maria, our weekly blast about something we find on Facebook Marketplace.
New York, New York
I don’t know much about rugs. Why can some of you get away with shag and others can’t? How does color theory work with rugs - should it match the floorboards and the couch, or the walls and the floor, or all three? What about circular rugs? Can a rug be the last piece you buy for a room, or does it have to be a central decision point? Why do they always look better in LA?
As such, I find rugs extremely difficult to shop for. My current apartment mirrors my bf’s interior decor approach to Sims 2 the Ultimate Collection (Mac), “Rugs? I don’t do rugs”. Shopping for a rug feels harder to me than shopping for a couch, even harder than finding a car - yet rugs are similar to both, expensive with the promise of immediate depreciation. Rugs hide crumbs, get spilled on, can hold odors and are deceptively slippery - above all they necessitate a 5 star vacuum. While they aren’t as crucial as finding secondary lighting harmony, they have a serious ability to bring a room together. They’re one of those style choices that when done right says “I know what I like and what I like is great” about a person. But why should we care, we spend our lives stepping all over them for crying out loud.
Crisis cont.: I also feel stunted and uninspired by the rug category. I abhor the blocked color-IKEA aesthetic and I don’t have the patience for sites like Wayfair or Ruggable. Readers… I don’t even know if pawning a rug off of Facebook Marketplace is the answer.
Whether or not you’re buying rugs from NYC strangers, these 10 are selling.
Cheesy try hard. Lines too thick, colors too terrible.
“Minimalist rug?!” More like, “Woah! Watch your step, looks like someone barfed up a shaggy planet earth.” This rug needs to take a stroll down deep-cleaning rug TikTok lane.
2x3’s are just glorified bath mats. Even I know that they shouldn’t cost more than $200.
Low pile rug (good), that looks like bleu cheese (stinky).
Is it awesome or does it just look good on that concrete?
Is it amazing or do I just want to go to the east village this weekend?
Flat weave that thinks it can get away with an ugly design because of flat weave superiority complex.
Jute rugs belong on outside on a porch. Don’t let Big Rug fool you into believing otherwise.
It frightens me that I can’t tell if this green shag is sexyyy or scary.
I didn’t learn anything!
Maria’s miss of the week: I actually BOUGHT this rug (well it was 0$) on FBMP this month.
The listing said “Kid’s Rug” and I said “that looks like Hilma Af Klint and I MUST schlep it on a bus through Crown Heights for my health.” I will humbly admit that the seller of this rug did offer me a “bunch of other kids stuff” and I had to tell her that I don’t have kids, just a childlike sense of wonder that makes me covet things that are meant for a baby to crawl on.
Another BANGER