An Area Rug is a Design Element to Figure Out Early On

Hi Everyone,

I hope y’all are doing well this week.

If I were an accountant, this would be April. haha.

Ummm… you know why.

 

It’s the shopping-freaking-early-black-Friday month!

(please check out the all-new holiday shop for 2024, filled with tons of decorations, trees, and gifts for everyone on your list.)

 

***Also, two of my guides, Laurel’s Rolodex and the Etsy Guide,

are getting their annual November updates, which will probably come out on the 30th since Thanksgiving is so late this year. Laurel’s Rolodex gets free annual updates!

For those who purchased guides in the last nine years and are wondering where they are on their device, please read this helpful FAQ page, which will probably answer your questions.

 

Before I get into today’s topic, about one of my favorite design elements, the perfect area rug, please expect a price increase for all of the Laurel Home Interior Design Guides beginning in January.

 

***

Okay, why is an area rug a design element that needs to be figured out early on?

 

To be fair, this isn’t a hard and fast rule. But, I find it helpful to pick out the area rugs earlier rather than later.

This is to avoid issues with size, color, and pattern down the line.

Even if you aren’t sure what you want, knowing what type of rug and the colors you’d like is super helpful. Oriental rugs, especially the more traditional ones, most frequently have a certain order of colors.

However, as we discussed recently, you DON’T want your area rug to match too well with your other design elements!

 

Does that mean the colors in your rug(s) should be different from the colors in your fabric and other room elements?

 

No, it’s not completely different. However, back in the 18th and 19th centuries, a good Persian rug was a neutral that went with everything, even if it didn’t. It really depends. Some rooms don’t have a lot of color, so then it doesn’t matter.

Below is an excellent example of what I’m talking about. The rug has some teal, but it doesn’t figure heavily. I didn’t choose this rug because I wanted something a little brighter.

 

But if your room is a vivid color like my den, for example, it might be better if some colors are a shade or two off. Of course, don’t worry if one or more colors are the same. It depends on the rug and what’s going on in the room. This is why I love doing my mood boards on Picmonkey.

 

You can also do mood boards on other programs such as:

 

• Canva
• Keynote
• Microsoft Word

You can even create a collection of items on Pinterest. The point is to see how your elements work together. I’ve been creating mood boards since about 2010, and they have been a total game-changer in terms of visualizing how everything will work together in real life. I did create a quick tutorial on Picmonkey in 2019. They’ve changed the program a bit, but it should at least help you if you’re feeling intimidated.

 

So, Laurel, I gather you’re talking about a patterned rug like an Oriental. What if I do a plain rug like a seagrass or jute rug?

 

If that’s the case, then choosing the rug upfront isn’t all that necessary except for the size rug.

You might enjoy this post, which I updated in 2022, which looks at putting together numerous rugs in a residential plan where they are all fairly visible from each other.

 

Okay, as I’ve been saying for a couple of weeks, I’m rug-obsessed! However, I have finally made my decisions and discovered three fantastic sources in the process.

 

One of them is on Etsy.

My favorite is House of Seance. Their rugs are beautifully photographed and with a color chart for reference, which is amazingly helpful.

There are many others on Etsy, which are linked to in the widget below.

Some are great, and some are not what they’re trying to be. And that is a good-quality wool hand-knotted rug.

 

Story Time (and I probably shared this years ago.)

 

This is when I got a “Turkish” runner for my Bronxville kitchen. I learned this lesson the hard way.

First of all, the second I took the rug out of its wrapping, it stunk to high holy heaven. But, aside from that, the design was painted on the rug, probably with a stencil. This explains why it was so cheap. I’m embarrassed to say I fell for it, but it was about eight years ago. The smell was so bad that I tried washing the runner in the big front loader in our building.

That’s when the hard, cold, olfactory assault hit me like a thousand Turkish kebab skewers. This thing was a total sham. Now, most people would’ve tried to get their money back. However, I had washed it and it still smelled like a dead rat family in the attic.

 

So, I did the only sensible thing: I folded it up and threw that piece of garbage in the building’s trash room.

It was gone the next day. lololol

So, how do you know if the rug is printed or the design is truly a hand-knotted design? Well, they’re supposed to TELL you that it’s painted on. And look here, some of them look quite nice!  (please click on the image to go to the source). But, yeah, they are clear that this is a printed-on design. Plus, the price is dirt cheap. Unless it’s infested with lice and bed bugs, no hand-knotted rug would ever sell for that small amount. (please click on the image below for more information.)

 

 

If they don’t show the back of the rug, that’s another clue– sometimes.

In addition, many of the rugs are so thin it’s difficult to tell the front from the back.

Most of these vintage rugs are late 20th-century and have been acid-washed, distressed, and sometimes dyed. That’s okay. Some companies do a better job of this than others.

 

Hand-knotted rugs are not cheap. But unless they’re trying to get rid of it, you should expect to pay a minimum of $25/foot for a quality rug and most likely a lot more than that for a better quality, a rare design, or an antique.

 

My favorite Oriental rugs are Turkish, Oushak, Khotan, or tribal and some other names.

Oushak has been bastardized and butchered. Some are very well done, and some are dreadful. However, if you like the design and colors, that’s all that matters.

 

Okay, as I’ve been saying, I’ve looked at a lot of rugs.

 

One of the places I looked at is actually right around the corner from me, Landry and Arcari, but I didn’t realize that immediately.

 

Why don’t you go over and look at their rugs, Laurel?

 

I certainly could, and when I opened my account, they kindly invited me to do so. The problem is that I hate shopping.

Sorry. Eventually, the truth had to come out. This is one reason why having an Internet business suits me so well!

But another place I liked the most, with thousands of rugs, is Esmaili in Dallas, TX. I bet some of you shop there.

 

 

Their website has a brilliant feature where you can see your rug in your room. (See the teal den above for an example.) Here’s the thing: Sometimes, they get it pretty close to being the right scale, and sometimes, it’s waaay off. Therefore, you might have to try different images or crop them.

 

Ultimately, I knew this design element, my living room rug, had to have a quiet presence and not many wild patterns or colors.

 

I also figured out the size when I did my floor plan. Ideally, my rug should be between 11 and 13 feet long, no more than 8 feet wide, and at least six feet wide.

Before I found my rug, I found this one on Etsy (It’s in the widget below), but it’s a little small, lengthwise.

 

I also liked the one below.

This rug was a fantastic size, but the design is a bit too busy for my room.

Esmaili has several of these antique-type rugs. However, I kept coming back to the one below.

I know. It would’ve been better if I had an empty room. However, when I put those shots in, the rug was about 1/3 this size.

The rug from above. Notice the meander-stylized Greek Key pattern?

 

Laurel, isn’t it risky to purchase a rug online?

 

Yes, but I’ve seen a lot of rugs and know pretty much what the deal is. I also pay close attention to all of the photos. This one is consistent in tonality from all angles. However, like most quality hand-knotted rugs, there’s a light side and a dark side. If the colors look more vivid from above and then the warm, golden beige but all of the other images look more pink, the pink is the color you will get.

 

As soon as I saw this rug with the sofa, I knew it was the one—no contest. By the way, this makes it look about 10% bigger than it is, but that’s better than 60% smaller.

 

Okay, I’ve been working on a mood board for my living room with the rug from Esmaili.

The placement isn’t accurate. Plus, I’ve done more than you see below, but this is a good start.

 

The deep teal sofa is on order from George Smith. It will face the fireplace, and the table won’t be on the rug. My Gracie panels won’t look exactly like these as they are not mirror images like you see above. Yes, that is Brunschwig’s Le Lac. I must use some of this fabric in the living room or den; maybe both, I love it so much, and the repeat is huge!

 

My point is that it’s tempting to “pick out the colors” in the Gracie panels for the colors in the rug. As it is, the color of the grass is more yellow than it looks in the living room image. These analogous colors look so beautiful together.

I imagine you have some questions as this is a broad topic.

 

I will most likely continue with this subject for the next post.

 

I also ordered a smaller rug for the den from House of Seance on Etsy. In addition to these renderings, I also created floor plans to double-check sizes and the flow of colors.

A beautiful rug is a favorite design element, and I look forward to the new one in the living room. Right now, it sounds terribly hollow, and the rug and plush sofa will make a huge difference.

 

In the meantime, it’s been AGES since I’ve added one of my beautiful widgets filled with products I love.

 

I thought you might enjoy looking at some of the rugs I collected in my private Etsy folder.

 

 

xo,

 

***Please check out the recently updated HOT SALES!

There is now an Amazon link on my home page and below. Thank you for the suggestion!

Please note that I have decided not to create a membership site. However, this website is very expensive to run. To provide this content, I rely on you, the kind readers of my blog, to use my affiliate links whenever possible for items you need and want. There is no extra charge to you. The vendor you’re purchasing from pays me a small commission.

To facilitate this, some readers have asked me to put

A link to Amazon.com is on my home page.

Please click the link before items go into your shopping cart. Some people save their purchases in their “save for later folder.” Then, if you remember, please come back and click my Amazon link, and then you’re free to place your orders. While most vendor links have a cookie that lasts a while, Amazon’s cookies only last up to 24 hours.

Thank you so much!

I very much appreciate your help and support!