It's a Jungle in Here

Home Decorating Chronicle #1: The new wife decorates the husband's home of 3 years.

I am a bright color kind of girl. In the 3 months since we've been married, the stainless steeled kitchen is now accented with lime green, the solid white dishes have been replaced with a brightly-colored fruit pattern, and our bedroom is laden with cranberry red.

I love our home. Dean built it almost 4 years ago and has lived in it alone since. He has great Italian taste - in fact, when I came over for a New Year's Eve party on the night he first asked me out, the very first thing I noticed were the classy light fixtures. Euro, stylish, and it proved he had an eye for detail. Which is great. Hot, even.

Now, let me mention that our living room is light blue. My Better-Half is proud of these walls in the otherwise leather-brown living room. He says the actual name is "Silver Sage." He picked it out originally and loves it today because he finds it calm and soothing. And it is a beautiful color, I admit. But it seems too....quiet. For me, anyway.

In the meantime, we decided to get a new rug for this room. I love animal print, so I proposed (in a sweet little voice) that we go bold with the light blue den and get a zebra rug. To my surprise, the Man was game.

Could it work with a blue-ish room?, I debated back and forth. But I knew I would love it when I saw this picture online (not my house, though i wish):

So when I found this at T.J. Maxx, I pounced (ha) and had the sales associate carry it to my car.

But I once I got home, and put it with the brown leather couch, the hardwoods, and the brown wood blinds, I decided that the black and stark white was too bright and loud. But guess who had since fallen in love with a crazy zebra rug??? Oh, yes. The "calm, soothing light blue" boy.

I convinced him that if I could find a brown zebra rug, it would look better. And so it might. But when we wound up at Pottery Barn, he took one look at the rug and said: "Don't zebras only come in black and white?"

Hmm...good point. But this was not the time to be literal. Who knows what color zebras come in? Not me. And who cares, as long as it brings our den to life. We bought it just the same. And put it under the leather couch/ottomans.

Him: "Babe, this rug looks dirty!"

Me: "I think it is the caramel background color."

Him: "Zebras come in caramel??"

Now we have two huge zebra rugs at the house (zoo), both of which are wrong. The first one too stark, the second one too muted, and we are hoping that Goldilocks (just right!) is waiting for us at West Elm. There the zebras come in ivory and espresso.