Add Beauty and Elegance to Your
Home with Oriental Rugs
Oriental rugs can be purchased from us in a great
variety of colors and patterns, and will add beauty
and elegance to your home decor. When you decide
to decorate a room, consider choosing one or more
of these exciting and durable area rugs as a
cornerstone for your color and design choices.
If you are adding a rug to an existing decorating
plan, you will have no trouble finding one that
complements the choices already made. Although
oriental rugs are found most often in living rooms
and dining rooms, they are also a popular choice
as runners for high traffic areas, for foyers, and
even for bedrooms. Your home decorating scheme
can include them throughout the interior of your
house if you really love them.
What is an Oriental Rug?
When the term oriental is used in reference to rugs, it
means those rugs produced anywhere on the continent
of Asia, and includes:
Persian rugs - made in Iran (formerly Persia), the
country that produces more handmade rugs than all
other rug-making countries combined, and are
considered by many to be the finest
Afghanistan rugs - still woven mainly by nomadic tribes
Indian rugs - mostly imitation of Persian designs, but of
coarser wool
Pakistan rugs - from the country that is the fourth largest rug producer in the world
Caucasian rugs - from the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, and characterized by bright red, rust, or burgundy colors, bold geometric designs, and narrow borders
Rugs from Egypt, Morocco, Turkey, Tibet, and a host of other Asian countries
Each country produces its own distinct style and quality of rug, although many are imitations of Persian designs, as well as modern Tibetan and Indo-Persian designs. Making rugs by hand is an ancient art, and the designs reflect the religious and ethnic structures found in the history of the countries of origin. These designs are still produced today, sometimes by hand and sometimes within a modern rug-weaving industry. The common patterns are traditional floral or garden motifs, often with a central medallion, or a geometric or curvilinear design, or central scenes that look like paintings.
How to Choose Oriental Rugs for Your Home
To decorate with oriental rugs, it is important to take both color and design into consideration. The color should be harmonious with the other colors in the room in which the rug is to be placed and should repeat the dominant or accent colors, or include shades of one or more of them. If the colors are compatible with other colors in the room, even a modern home can be enhanced by the popular traditional designs in oriental rugs.
When choosing an appropriate design, consider how you are going to use the rug. If the center of the rug is going to be very visible, a medallion or central motif or scene is a happy choice. If, however, the center of the rug is going to be under a dining room table or under a bed, it would be better to chose one with a repetitive design or one where the most detail and interest is in the borders.
As well, very colorful rugs with very busy designs can bring a subdued room to life; simple designs and a limited color palette are better in a room that is already colorful and busy. Geometric designs work best in new or modern homes, and curvilinear designs are more appropriate for old and traditional homes. It is most important that the rug does not clash, in either color or pattern, with any other fabric in the room in which it is to be used.
How to Find a Good Buy
Bucci's and The Rugman will give you the good buy oriental rug for which you are shopping. Before you go to the online store, give some serious thought to the color, design and size of rug you need, and how much you are willing to pay. If you have clear ideas of what you want and have made some decisions beforehand, it will reduce the dizzying number of choices facing you when you have to make your selection.
These are:
Natural or synthetic fibers
Method of production - handmade or machine woven
Intricacy and rarity of design
Region of origin
Wool is the most expensive fabric, but it is warm, durable, dirt-resistant, fire-resistant, and easy to clean, and has become the standard by which all rugs are judged. Other natural materials used in oriental rugs are cotton and silk, and blends of wool and silk. These materials are more durable than synthetics and never release chemical gases into the air, which is significant to people with health concerns. If you are looking for a less expensive rug, synthetic fibers rather than natural are the answer.
The knots per square inch (kpsi) in an oriental rug is a good indication of its quality, and a high number of knots is usually an indication of durability as well as higher cost.
Expect slight inconsistencies and at least one imperfection in a hand-woven rug originating from a country in the Middle East. The philosophy, from an Islamic point of view, is that only God is perfect, and, therefore, nothing man makes should be perfect. A flaw will be carefully woven into each rug.
Handmade means that the rug has been constructed by hand, but it does not necessarily mean that it has been hand-knotted. Hand-hooked means the yarn has been inserted into a backing with a hand-held tool. Handmade, hand-knotted rugs are superior in quality to those made by machine made because a rug is more durable when each knot has been individually tightened. Expect to pay more for them.
You can beautify your home with oriental rugs if you give some careful thought to the colors and designs that will work best with your style preferences, and by doing so, you will be able to enjoy your beautiful rugs for many happy years
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