Part 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.