Rugs, Area Rug Introduction

Rugs and area rugs are a great way for you to color coordinate your furniture and room colors for that decorative look. When you buy home rugs you are giving yourself one of the easiest and best ways to revitalize, update, improve and beautify any room in your home! Use home rugs to turn your average looking room into one full of color! Home rugs can be used to create a focal point in the room it is in or define an area of interest. Home rugs can be used to add warmth to cold tiles, stone or concrete floors. Home rugs are also great for protecting hardwood floors and carpeting. Buying the right home rugs you can tie together all of your room's decor elements.

Home rugs are extremely versatile and can serve many purposes in your home. They can be used for decorating your living room, family room, bedroom, kitchen, hallway or patio. Unlike wall-to-wall carpet, which is normally best kept in a rather neutral color, you can use home rugs to bring colorful patterns and designs! If you have wooden floors in your home, home rugs are a perfect compliment. With a little care your wooden floors will last forever. They are easy to clean and provide a perfect background for a beautiful home area rug. If you have wall-to-wall carpeting, home rugs are great for protecting the carpet! Home rugs are even great on the walls to create an interesting display!

The History of Rugs

The history of rugs covers about the same time span as human history because people have been using rugs since the earliest days of mankind. Animal hides were used for clothing and rugs on the floor of a family's deluxe hut or modern shelter. The hides were also used for sitting and sleeping surfaces and to provide warmth on a cold night. Other types of rugs and mats that were made used materials like woven reeds. Back in those days, a good rug or hide was a family's most valuable possession. Researchers have found several references to the art of rug weaving in ancient scriptures and classical writing, which helps establish a timeline in the history of rugs for the use of certain rug-making methods or materials.

Around 1,000 AD is when the art of rug weaving started in Europe. It started in Spain because of its location in relation to Egypt, Mesopotamia and Persia/Iran which were good sources for information about rugs for them. Most of Europe, Great Britain and the Scandinavian countries were producing rugs of their own by the mid 18th to 19th century.

Useful Information about Home Rugs

When using an area rug, you are going to need to determine how you are going to use them. You may want to ask yourself questions like, are you using the home rug to protect a hardwood floor? Are you trying to define spaces within a room? Is you goal to warm up the tile flooring? For instance, if the area rug is going to be your focal point then you may want to consider one with a central image, logo, or design. If the fireplace is the focal point then its is probably best to buy an area rug that has a repetitive pattern on it. Let's say you have wallpaper that has pattern to it, then you might want to get a rug that has a more subtle and low key pattern to it. Your home rug should have colors that coordinate with your home's decor. It's not necessary really that necessary that all of the colors match, but at least one color should be in the same color family. Extra tips for you are to buy a light toned rug if you want to make the room seem more spacious and buy a rug with dark tones if you want to create an atmosphere of warmth. Mixing different area rugs in a room is also a great way to focus and highlight different parts of the same room. Really, there are so many choices when adding great decor to your room!

Choosing a home area rug can seem confusing for some people but here are some simple steps that you can follow. If you are going to place an area rug under a coffee table then you will want to get sizes that are either 4' x 6' or 6' x 9' for your area rug. The table legs should stand within the rug. If you are going to accent your furnishings then its best to leave home space between the rug and furniture in your room. If you are going to place a rug under a dining room table then it is best to get a home rug that's at least eight feet wide. Another rule is that chair legs shouldn't fall off the rug when people are seated at the table or when the chair is pulled out. A trick of the trade in being sure of the rug size is to measure the length and width of your table and add at least four feet to each dimension. If you're going to use the rug to focus as an entire room type covering then you will want to get an 8' x 11' area rug. When you put the rug down, try to leave an equal amount of flooring exposed on all sides as border. Remember, there is no room in your home that will not benefit from the addition of a beautiful, new home rug!

The Importance of Using a Quality Rug Pad

Experts in the home decor industry all agree that every home rug you buy requires a good-quality rug pad underneath it. This is because a rug pad will promote safety in your home by preventing the rug from slipping, and it also will increase the life of your area rug! Lastly having a pad underneath makes it much easier to vacuum. One caution though, you should never use tape or adhesive to anchor an area rug you buy to your floor or carpeting. This is because the tape can easily damage both the floor and your home rug.

The Benefits of Rugs

Using area rugs to highlight your rooms can add so many great qualities to your room like the addition of beauty, comfort, versatility, safety, and sound reductions!

A rug can beauty and personalize your home or office environment. The addition of an area rug can add color and artistic expression too! They also help to define the mood or character of a room. In talking about comfort, just think about how good a rug can feel of a good rug underneath bare or stocking-covered feet. Hardwood floor or floor tiles are nice but they but by placing an area rug on top adds so much comfort! Your rugs will give your room a warm, cozy and inviting feeling for you and your guests. With versatility, the great thing about your rugs is that they can do so many things like create a theme, divide a room into different areas, or bring different elements of the room together! Most rugs can be moved easily as well. Your rug will add safety with rug pad, your rug will be stable and non-slick and that helps to protect against injury from impact if someone falls. Lastly the rug is great for sound reduction. When there are lots of hard surfaces in a room, and if you have electronic devices like radios, stereos, televisions, etc, added to the mix, well it can make a room really noisy. Area rugs help to absorb and reduce the noise, whether in the home or office. Also, noise between floors in a house or apartment building may be reduced with area rugs. All a great thing!

Many Styles of Rugs to Pick From

Some styles of rugs refer to the part of the word from which that style originated, such as Persian, Oriental, or Southwestern. Other types of rugs are named for a certain characteristic or for their specific use, including contemporary rugs, shag rugs, novelty rugs, accent rugs, hall runners, children's rugs, custom rugs and indoor-outdoor rugs. Knowledge about the different styles of rugs can help you make a well-informed decision when it's time to pick your area rugs for your home or your office.

Ok, here's the breakdown. Persian Rugs are known for bright colors and elaborate designs that usually fall into one of three general design categories which are geometric, floral or pictorial. Oriental rugs have warmth and beauty and add an interesting touch and a sense of luxury to any room. They have an excellent quality of being durable and are able to hold up in highly used areas of your home. Oriental rugs woven from silk are the most expensive, while those made from wool are more affordable. Contemporary style rugs are often described as art for your floor. They have bright colors and unusual shapes are common characteristics of contemporary style rugs. A contemporary rug can be designed to match or to enhance the upholstery, drapes or wallpaper in a room. Transitional Rugs cover a broad range of designs that fall in between the traditional Oriental and Persian rug styles. They're fun, yet stylish and they fit right in with almost any type of decorating plan. Rugs with floral and botanical patterns both subdued and otherwise, are good examples of transitional rugs. Flokati area rugs are soft and very durable. These hand-woven rugs have been made in Greece for centuries. Flokati rugs provide a Mediterranean look. They are cozy and have a great texture with a pile that is 3 or 4 inches long. Tibetan Rugs that follow the traditional designs have a square 'tiger' patterns. Contemporary Tibetan rugs mainly feature energetic geometric designs. Shag area rugs are often considered a must-have item for a making your place look really cool. They offer great insulation from cold floors and help to absorb noise when there are too many hard surfaces in your room. Braided area rugs fit in well in homes decorated in an arts and Crafts style and also in a home that has a country look. They are distinct in that they are made by yarn or fabric braided into strips or shapes which are usually round or oval.

Besides theses area rugs, there are so many others to choose from. These rug styles include accent rugs, animal print rugs, animal rugs, antique rugs, bear rugs, children's area rugs, custom made area rugs, hooked rugs, Navajo rugs, sheepskin rugs, and throw rugs!

Conclusion

Rugs and area rugs are great way for color coordinating your furniture and room colors for a great decorative look in your room. When you buy home rugs you are giving yourself one of the easiest and best ways to revitalize, update, improve and beautify any room in your home! Use home rugs to turn your average looking room into one full of color! With so many different styles, colors, and options, we're sure that you will find the best rugs to fit and add to all of the great decor in every room in your home!