A Rug of Many Colors,

Our apartment here in Genoa came furnished with all the necessities, but a bit spartan. Our apartment (see photo from 1893) is a mix of turn of the 19^th century structure (walls, windows, and flooring) and modern modular upgrades (kitchen and bathrooms full of modern appliances). It was livable but we needed to warm it up a bit, make it more comfortable and a bit more our own. It needed some Hygge* elements. We have added comforters to the beds, some throw blankets, a few more lamps and light options.

The high-ceilinged rooms are somewhat small, but the windows allow light when it is sunny. The classic marble grit Genovese floors shine with the polished hard work and centuries of scrubbing and buffing. We decided that the shag rug in the living room wasn’t quite working for us. We needed a new rug, but what type/color of rug? The couch in the living room was modern and a fairly bright teal. The painting over the couch was a nice local scene of the beach town in Camogli, done in pastel earthy tones with hints of lavender, beiges, blue, and some light green. We have already purchased an ottoman, a bit darker teal green blue, but we have to wait another month for delivery.

I decided to get out my new watercolors and mix up some color swatches of colors present or that would likely blend with our living room décor.  We measured the existing rug as well as the largest space that could be covered by a new rug. We hadn’t seen any modern rug stores, but we had passed a couple of Persian rug stores in the neighborhood which we had casually looked through when we first got here. We decided to go back and see what we could find.

Steve and I entered the store mid-morning, “Buongiorno!” we said.  “Buongiorno, Prego!” the older man called from the back welcoming us into his store. He came to meet us towards the front of the store. I brought out my color swatches…”Ho bisogno…questi colori?” I stated haltingly that, “I need … these colors?”  “Grande.”  “Come questo!” “Like this!” I pointed to a rug hanging on the wall that was 300cm x 200cm.  He looked at the proffered swatches, actually, the rug on the wall was a good approximation of the colors that we needed. The price was a bit higher than what we were thinking.  He pulled out a few other rugs with variations of the color scheme. One was very nice but too dark and busy, also more expensive. “Non mi piace.”  He pulled out a couple more…”Troppo Rosso.”  “Too much red,” I said.  He offered us a better price on the dark, busy rug.  Tempting, but neither of us wanted to buy I rug that we didn’t really like. I kept looking at the swatches then at the rug on the wall that we saw initially. I pointed and asked if he would take less. He indicated it was already marked down on sale … as low as he would go. We kept looking around. Finally, he offered 50 € less, and agreed that he would deliver for that price. Sold! He gave us the certificate of authentication for the Persian rug, got our address, and we paid. “Seidici ore!” he pointed to the address and to his watch, and raised four fingers. He would deliver it to our apartment at 4 pm.

Later, at 3:30 pm, another older man walked from the store, across Piazza Colombo, and around the corner to our apartment. He carried the rug on his shoulder. Luckily, he and the rug fit in the elevator. Steve had rolled up the old rug and stowed it away in another room. The man laid out the carpet. It looked beautiful… a mix of old and new in our eclectic apartment. Just the way I like it!

*For those of you not familiar with Hygge (see Meik Wiking’s book, “The Little Book of Hygge”, the Danish way to live well.