Cut sum rugs

More "woe is me" tales about how expensive it is to buy things for your home here, I'm afraid. In my effort to furnish my new place, I'm now moving on to rugs. My floorboards are lovely but could do with some brightening up. And rugs are always really useful for covering things like red wine stains. Not that I've ever needed to do that. Ahem. But, boy, are they expensive. If I had an unlimited budget, there are hundreds I'd like. I'd definitely shop here or get one of these or these. In reality, I own one rug, from Ikea (refuge of the cash and idea strapped homeowner). Here are five alternatives for households on a budgets - carpets that are no less magic by being cheap. 

If you are happy with a cotton rug, head straight to Urban Outfitters (don't even peek at the amazing cotton number at the bottom of this post, oh no). Alongside its collection of usually overpriced clothing and drinking games, the online store stocks an amazing array of colourful and cheap rugs. This polka dot rug? Just £7. Yep, you read that right. 

How do you accessorise your Kapow cushions? The only possible answer to that is this Pow! rug from Next. It will fight tedium in your home for only £35.

Superhero not the look you are going for (shame on you)? A more classic - I'm not going to say grown-up - design can be yours for £44.99 with this Dandelion Rug from Dunelm Mill.

Breaking the £100 barrier but still impressive for hand-tufted rugs is the range from Sabichi. I'm particularly impressed by the louche bohemianism implied by this peacock rug, provided for a not-so-decadent £120.

For the same price, my heart is lost to this Designers Guild Daisy Stripe Peony Rug, exclusive to Heals. It's one of the prettiest things I've seen this side of Liberty. Like the Urban Outfitters rug, it's cotton, but at about 17 times the price. In this particular case, I'll happily take cotton as I'll never be able to afford Designers Guild silk wool.