designPart 3: Rugs

Rule #1 about rugs:  Spare no expense! Spend the most you can afford. If you spend the least you can afford you’ll end up with a glorified bath mat. GAH-ross.

A good rug is a workhorse.  If you’re spending money on a high quality antique you have to remember that this rug has been traipsed on for over 100 years… and still looks good!  It’s been on a dirt floor in Persia… and it still looks good! Twenty years in your home isn’t going to kill it.

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The first nice rug Ruthann and I bought was a 2’ by 3’ Chinese Art Deco piece that I got at a vastly reduced price, and we had it in front of the sink in our first home.  Years later it’s still looking fabulous, gracing the floor our powder room.

Rule #2  Always go with wool.  It’s the most durable, and won’t disappear up your vacuum cleaner and need replacing in a heartbeat.

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RULE #3. Pick Your Own Poison! When it comes to pattern and color it comes down to, of course, find a motif you enjoy.  Personally, I like geometric patterns, so most of the ones in our house have elements of that.

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RULE #4: Be aware of the a-wash! Something else to look out for is the “Abrash” which is the way colors fade from one into the next (as opposed to “ombré” which is a light to dark fade).  The gentle movement from, say, a mauve to a green should carry the eye with you, not shock it into blinking.

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RULE #5: Have a Lesser Budget? Layer! Finally, there’s a new trend towards layering rugs.  The cover of House & Home Magazine just last month featured two different, but complimentary rugs side by side.  This looked excellent, and could be a way of stretching a tight budget as two, good quality, smaller rugs will usually be less expensive than a very large one.

This post was brought to you complements of moi and a little thing I like to call #RedemptiveDesign.