A Short Guide to Buying Your Oriental Rug
Whether you consider Oriental rugs to be exotic, timeless, or both, you can’t be indifferent to them. A quality Oriental rug adds value and luxurious touch to a property, not to mention the warmth and comfort it brings. If you are new to buying such rugs, however, you may need a little help with your first purchase. Here is a short guide to selecting the right one for your property.
Colors and Style
Experts say that a well-chosen Oriental rug will outlast almost everything else in the room. Therefore, we should start decorating that room with the Oriental rug. Still, more often than not, a rug is being chosen for a space with established color and style. For cases like these, it is essential to carry color samples with you and take a photo of the rooms.
Size
Draw a rough sketch of the room where the carpet will go and mark the dimensions and the furniture. If it is a dining room, find out the size of the table because it is not desirable that your chairs fall off the edge of the rug when you back up from the table. Most new rugs are sized from 2 feet by 3 feet to 10 feet by 14 feet. If you need a stair runner, you should count the number of risers. Runners are usually 30 inches wide.
Once you are ready with the color and size preparations, you have to answer three big questions:
- How much will the rug cost?
- How to know a quality rug?
- What’s next?
Things to Look For
The price of an Oriental rug depends on:
- Quality
- Country of origin
- Age
- Condition
- Decorative demand
The way to assess quality is to establish if the weave is fine enough to express the design motifs clearly. For a bold geometric pattern, this may mean less than 100 knots per square inch, whereas a detailed floral pattern may require more than 300 knots. The tightness and regularity of weave are essential. However, the quality of the wool determines the resilience and lasting patina of the Oriental rug. Quality and fast dyes also matter.
When it comes to rugs woven in the past few decades, look at the rug’s “personality” instead of “nationality.” Traditionally, Iran (Persia) had the most beautiful rugs—the benchmark against which all others were compared. Over the past years, however, the quality of rugs from India, Pakistan, China, Turkey, Tibet, and Nepal has dramatically improved.
The price and demand for Oriental rugs are highly dependent on the trends in design and colors. Both the age and condition of the rug affect the value of used rugs. When all other factors are equal, the value increases with the increase of the rug’s age, and its poor condition (such as staining or wear) will cause the value to fall.
If you want to buy an Oriental rug in Lakeland, FL, keep in mind that besides cleaning and repairing Oriental rugs, Idin Oriental Rug Gallery Inc also sells them. For more information, call (863) 221-1062!