It’s funny that you don’t really think about something until you are faced with making a decision on it, or have to use it yourself. I remember we had a variety of indoor outdoor rugs at home while I was growing up. Most were fairly large indoor outdoor area rugs and although I didn’t really think about it at the time, they are quite a convenient item.
Our needs are a little different as we only have a medium sized balcony, but non the less we are still looking for some sort of indoor outdoor rug.
Why even bother with an indoor outdoor rug?
To some people the idea of owning a rug that use both outdoor and indoor might seem a bit odd. Personally I never really thought about it, but it makes perfect sense in our climate. We have the most wonderful summers and spend more of our time on the balcony during the evening, but in the winter we wouldn’t dream of going out on it (unless I’ve been forced to barbecue for the evening).
Having a great looking rug that we can use to add a bit of character to the balcony during the summer is perfect, what’s even better is if we can use the same rug inside during the winter. Outdoor indoor rugs definitely solve this issue. The great part is that there are some great looking cheap indoor outdoor rugs that you can pick up – they are much less expensive than I thought.
Types of indoor outdoor rugs
Little did I know that you could find an indoor outdoor rug in so many shapes and sizes. From indoor outdoor braided rugs, an area rug, or even rug runners – the choices are oddly plentiful. Here are just a few that I am considering.
Indoor outdoor braided rugs
I’m not really a huge braided rug fan (who knew I would ever hear myself say that) but the gf does seem to like them. If you don’t know what a braided rug looks like, it’s a rug with braided fabric – sort of hard to explain so I tossed up a picture to the right. You can find cheap indoor outdoor rugs with braids all over the place and they seem to be a bit more durable than a standard rug.
The area rug
We have an old area rug that we used for the longest time at our old apartment. I’m not sure why it hasn’t been laid out yet but it won’t handle the water that well outside. That said, there are a lot of indoor outdoor area rugs that look excellent and seem to weather the elements just fine.
These are often referred to as indoor outdoor patio rugs as well, because most of the time a nice large area rug can cover whatever patio you have. Since all of these rugs need to be waterproof (at least they do in my books) then you can cover a patio with this same type of rug. If I had a bigger outdoor space I might consider something like this, but unfortunately I don’t.
Indoor outdoor Sisal Rugs
Now this is a term I had never heard of before – sisal – which is just a type of plant that can produce very stiff fiber that’s used to make rugs. It is quite popular however, and is very durable to the weather. This makes it a great option for being both indoors and outdoors.
Those are the main types of indoor outdoor rugs, of course they all come in different shapes and sizes from round, rectangle, or square or even as a runner. The runner is actually one of the shapes I am considering for our balcony since it will run nicely across the middle of it, and we can always use it inside during the winter.
However, the gf is leaning more towards a nice round indoor outdoor braided rug – something simple to add a bit of character to the balcony that could easily be put nicely under a side table in the living room. Something tells me she is going to win.
Once I make a decision and buy the thing I’ll update with what we got – but feel free to leave any comments on the topic. We always love to hear them.
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