Repair Furniture or Toss It? How to Make the Agonizing Decision

OVER THE PAST year, I had the distinct feeling that things were unraveling around me. Actually, it was just one thing—the Persian rug under my kitchen table. 

Watching it come undone was as suspenseful, and ultimately as horrifying, as a Hitchcock movie. One day I noticed a gentle loosening of the fringe. Within a few weeks, loose threads were spreading in chaotic directions as if trying to escape. Every morning it looked worse than the day before. I started to suspect that either my dogs or my husband had been chewing on it at night, but I could never catch anyone in the act. 

I tried to ignore the problem, because dealing with the rug would force me to face a difficult décor decision. Should I fix the rug or get a new one? 

Repair or replace? That question forces an existential crisis in my house whenever something cracks, splits, chips, fades…or unravels. On one hand, I live in a throwaway society where it would be much easier—and cheaper—to click “Buy Now” and have a brand-new rug delivered to my doorstep (with free shipping). But I don’t like to throw away things—I like what I have, which is why I bought it in the first place. Plus, I hate to think of my castoffs becoming more landfill.

“I can’t decide what to do,” I said to carpet expert Richard Habib the other day as we stood in my kitchen examining the frayed fringe.