Rugs For The Kitchen

I’ve been banging away (literally) at the butler’s pantry for the past few days. Still no sink for the island, so nothing much has been happening there, but I did get some rugs for the kitchen today. Before I built the kitchen island I had a 48-inch round oak table in there. I also had a 5X7 foot Jute Rug under the table. Once the table was gone I had a lot of floor. I like the idea of a rug in front of the sink and there will be two sinks so I needed two rugs. I decided to put a runner down on the main walking area past the island as well.

Here in town there is a Kmart and a new Target, but nothing grabbed my attention there. There is also the mall that has 3 department stores and a Ross, but again, nothing jumped out at me when I occasionally perused their selections. Naturally, being a kitchen I don’t want anything too nice. I saw some great wool rugs, but I’m not putting down a $200 wool rug in front of the sink.

Then last week I got a catalog from a place called Ballard Design. I’m not sure how I got on their mailing list but I get one of their catalogs about once a year or so. They had a lot to chose from and some nice designs. Prices varied quite a bit but they did have a few nice designs of rugs made from polypropylene. Here is the info from the catalog.

Grayton Indoor/Outdoor Rug

 
Great for busy indoor areas or to add warmth to 
your covered outdoor living spaces. Both are machine
loomed in a soft sisal weave of durable, non-fading,
washable 100% mildew resistant polypropylene. 
Seagrove features an all-over floral pattern. Grayton
has a subtle tone-on-tone ground with a floral pattern
border. Imported from Belgium. Exclusive.

At first I was a little nervous about ordering them. I couldn’t even begin to imagine what a “sisal weave of polypropylene” would look and feel like. As you can imagine it is not the most luxurious thing in the world, but it looks nice, it doesn’t cost a lot, and it is for the kitchen. I read once that tightly woven grass mats from Japan and China where popular for kitchens and bedrooms in 1890s Victorian homes. I’m telling my self that this is the modern, plastic version of that. I think this is the first plastic thing I’ve bought for the house. I hope it is not a trend.

They are a very tight, flat weave so it should be easy to sweep. If not, they are very light so taking them outside to shake out will be easy, or I could even just hose them off for that matter. They come in 3 colors. The field is always the same and the boarder design can be in Red, Brown (pictured), or Black. I chose black. Here is what I got:

Runner 2’7” X 8’2”
Small Rug 2’ X 3’7”
Large Rug 4’ X 5’ 7”

With delivery it came to about $120. Not bad as far as I’m concerned.