Filed under: Decorating,Finding,Rug Love

My wife and I have almost completed the decoration of the rental home we have in the city. It is a very contemporary condo on the south side of town which is where the chic and young crowd is starting to become more popular. The condo was built in one of the old factories that has been renovated into the typical loft/condo that you see in most major cities these days. A modest price and a modest look go hand in hand. My wife is an exquisite interior designer always keeping her eyes open for the piece that pulls everything together. What we were looking for – as I am told – was a red rug that would “pull everything together.” The colors on the walls to the color of the furniture would totally pop when we find the right red area rug.

Shopping for the right pieces is something that I can’t stand to be quite honest. But she never ceases to amaze me. Going from store to store on the weekends is time well spent with my wife but the technical eye aspect is not my thing. We can literally walk into one of the many chic furniture stores these days and my wife will see what she is looking for from across the store. So this day is like not unlike any of the others. We travel to NYC, pop into her favorite store, and there it is – the red rug that we have apparently been looking for to finish off the condo. I am telling you it is quite amazing as there were a few people in what I would call her line of sight and there was furniture almost completely surrounding this fantastic, contemporary, red floor rug. Hawk eyes would be a great nickname for her. The rug was perfect size and color red was what I was told.

So here I am at the register trying to explain to the cashier that we wanted to purchase the red rug that was underneath antique Chinese bedroom set two rows over. After we figured out everything, we took the rug back to the condo immediately –as if I had a choice. The furniture was moved, the red rug was unrolled and to be quite honest, it did make all the difference in the world. We had a showing the very next day and wouldn’t you know it, a young couple looking to move into the big city, loved the decorations. The young lady and my wife talked for what seemed like hours – it was as if they knew each other from high school or something. A small comment – to me anyways – was made about the decorations and of course the rug. My wife was grinning from ear to ear with that “I told you so” look on her face. Needless to say, I will trust my wife’s instincts on the decorating part from now on.  Thank god she was there to help a helpless guy like me in finding one of our favorite red area rugs to date.

Tags: contemporary red rug, red area rug, red area rugs, red floor rug, red oriental rugs, red rugs, red throw rug

Filed under: Brands,Decorating,Finding,Styles

I am a northerner – born and raised – now living in the South. My wife and I recently bought a modest size house – as everything is much cheaper here in the Carolina’s than in New Jersey, including my favorite contemporary red rug, which I’ll get to later. We have yet to decorate the house completely. We are going through the house room by pain-staking room. We didn’t move much down here with us as we wanted to start as fresh as possible. One of the many things missing down here was one of our favorite stores – Ikea. Finally one has opened up relatively close by. We were excited – I know this may sound strange to some people – about the new store but let me explain why. We were accustomed to buying products from Ikea for a while. When you go without and then purchase a house with not much in it, you tend to forget what you had. We started to buy online but it is just not the same as you are not able to touch and feel the items you are looking at. One example is that of a particular round red rug we were looking to purchase. The Ikea PS to be exact.

The reason we were looking particularly for a red rug was this – we have the contemporary taste that some either love or hate. In our case, we love it. Some of the furniture in our family room is a nice, deep rich black leather with brushed metal feet. The coffee table was a frosted glass top and brushed metallic feet. The color of the rug would set the entire room off – at least those are the words that my wife said. When we went to Ikea and browsed for a bit – funny how they design the store so that it takes you a long time to get through no matter how pressed for time that you may be. One of the display areas had furniture very similar to our and had the exact rug we were looking to purchase. This only confirmed to my wife how great the ensemble looked.

After meandering our way through the rest of the displays, we finally found the area the red rug was stored – one of the many self-serve bins – and proceeded to the check-out along with a few other necessities such as a hot dog and extra set of glasses for the kitchen. When we got home, it was just as if Ikea had come to our house looking for design options. It looked great.

Tags: contemporary red rug, Ikea PS, red floor rug, red oriental rugs, red rug, red rugs, red throw rug

Filed under: Coordinating,Decorating,Finding,Styles

We all have the ideal rug pictured in our minds. It might be very ornate, lavish with brilliant colors and contrasts, or it might be simple, sleek, elegant and made with the finest of materials. From zebra rugs, to Balinese rugs, to an burnt orange or crimson red rug there’s so many choices for your hungry eye. But there are some very practical things to consider when sizing up your room for your new rug.

The Surrounding Room

You’ve most likely already put a lot of hard work into designing and decorating the rooms in your home. So always make sure to consider how everything will coordinate together even down to the smallest details, like and photos, paintings on the wall, lamps, curtains, carpeting and wall painting schemes or wall paper.

Designs & Styles

There are lots to choose from, and often the rug might be the centerpiece of a room. From more ornate designs to simpler ones, you will have to determine what’s right for you. There are several overall types such as oriental, braided, modern/contemporary, and Persian to name a few. Or you might have indoor outdoor rugs that you’d like to use.  Of course within these styles you can have endless variations of solids or patterns and color schemes. From earth tones, to basic black or white, to vivid colors – there’s almost every kind of pattern imaginable to choose from.

Coordination & Contrast

An important concept in interior decorating is that of contrast. It is often overlooked as something important for making your decorating stand out and awe your friends and neighbors. You’ll want to carefully choose a nicely contrasting rug for your room. Let’s say you’ve gone with a predominately black and white theme for your living room, perhaps with a metal and glass table. A great way to contrast would be with a bright red rug, or perhaps a lime green one. If you’re room is already colorfully decorating with lots of design, perhaps just a simple off-white or beige rug would do the trick.

Sizing It Up

A great place to start is to take a comforter or sheet and place it down on the area where you’d like your rug. Adjust the sides to get the sizing you want, then measure it exactly. Now you know exactly what dimensions you’ll need when shopping for your new rug. Remember the rug may actually be the centerpiece of the room, so it’s important to get the sizing just right.

Though this site is focused on different types of the red rug, this article should help you in picking a rug of any color or design.

Tags: red area rug, red area rugs, red bath rug, red rug, red rugs, red shag rug, round red rug