*This post was sponsored by Annie Selke. I only partner with brands I love, and all thoughts and opinions in this post are my own. Thank you for supporting Holland Avenue Home!*

Hi, friends! I’m here today to share a very exciting living room update with you. If you’ve been around Holland Avenue for a while, you’ll remember that our colorful kitchen rug recently made an appearance in the living room. I loved the warmth and color it added to the space, but the color was a bit overwhelming. Don’t get me wrong- I love color. In my opinion, totally neutral spaces are missing out on opportunities for warmth and cheer. But when I brought in the colorful rug, all of my other colorful accents seemed like too much. A few weeks later, it was time to bring out the Christmas decorations. I knew that all of the red and green would clash with my brightly colored rug, making the space feel too hectic and “thrown together”.

Here’s a peek into our living room decked out for Christmas while we still had the colorful rug. It is definitely cheerful, but it felt too overwhelming in person.

I started looking for a more neutral rug that would allow me to keep the color in other places without feeling too crazy. We previously had a white rug in this room, but it was too small and too boring. (It is currently living in the dining room, and is the perfect size and color for that space!)

In my hunt for a neutral rug, I was only finding boring options that I didn’t love. I wanted something that still felt warm, but could help tone down the color craziness that was happening. You guys know that I love black and white gingham, so when I saw the Annie Selke Tattersall Woven Cotton Rug, I was in love. I love that the pattern is classic and traditional, but still feels fresh and modern. This plaid pattern would be right at home with many different decor styles, and provides a perfect base layer for either colorful or neutral spaces.

I reached out to Annie Selke to see if they would be interested in sponsoring a post, and to my delight, they said yes!

Louie was my little helper the day the rug arrived. I moved all of the furniture off of the colorful rug to give it a thorough vacuuming before rolling it up.

We recently removed the carpet from the living room, and haven’t yet refinished the original hardwood floors. Luckily, the 9×12 rug is large enough to cover the weird dark spot on the floor until we can refinish it.

The rug arrived in a large cardboard box, and was rolled up and folded in half inside a plastic cover.

Even the ribbons were fancy! “Dash & Albert” is the name of the rug department of Annie Selke. If you’re shopping for your own Annie Selke rug, don’t be alarmed if you see the name “Dash & Albert”!

Louie needed to inspect the giant foreign object before we rolled it out across the whole living room.

Luckily, it passed her inspection!

Here are my toes for reference for the scale of the pattern. On their website, the 2×3 rug is shown no matter what size rug you select. In some of the reviews, people said they were surprised that the scale of the pattern is so small. I wasn’t surprised because I’ve seen other photos of this rug in actual homes, but if you’re expecting a large scale pattern it might be a bit surprising.

The following photo is how the rug appears on their website, which could make it seem like this part of the rug is the whole thing! Just be aware of the small scale pattern if you decide to purchase the rug for yourself.

The black and white will look great in our living room year-round, but it is really perfect with our Christmas decorations.

Here’s a view of the other side of our living room, where most of the color lives! I was worried that the bold mustard yellow rocker might look strange with the bold black and white, but I love the combination. The modern plaid pattern seems to bring the vintage La-z-boy into the 21st century. (Also, I moved around the floral bird pillow for some of these photos, so that is why it is showing up in multiple chairs!)

When I was looking at this rug online, I didn’t really pay attention to the word “woven” in the name of the rug. I suppose I expected the plaid pattern to be printed onto the rug like my other wool rugs, but the fibers really are woven to make the pattern! It looks exactly the same on the underside of the rug.

I waited the full month after receiving the rug to write this blog post so that I could give an accurate review, and I can attest that this is a high quality rug that will make your space! The only negative I’ve found is that it really needs a rug pad underneath to prevent it from bunching up. It is thinner than wool rugs, but that doesn’t mean it is poor quality. The woven cotton makes it floppier than wool rugs, but the material is sturdy and well-made. It is very soft and comfortable to walk on, and having a rug pad underneath would make it perfect! I’m hoping to purchase a rug pad after Christmas to help with the bunching.

I love getting a peek of the rug from the office. It grounds the space (pun intended), and is the perfect neutral solution for our cozy living room.

Annie Selke has a lot of wonderful rug designs, and after working with them I can highly recommend their company! The Tattersall Woven Cotton Rug is an A+ in my book, and I love that complements many different interior styles (including mine!)

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I want to say a huge “Thank you!” to Annie Selke for providing this rug and sponsoring this post. I am very thoughtful about which brand partnerships I take on, and I say “no” to brands that are not a good fit. This partnership was exciting for me because I reached out to them, and I’m thankful that this blog allows me to work with incredible companies like Annie Selke! Stay tuned for Part 2 of our Living Room Update coming next week.

Thanks again, Annie Selke!

With love,