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.

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My wife and I planned on having the family over for Easter. It is a big thing in our family to host the Easter dinner as usually there are at least sixteen or more people present. Our house is large enough to fit everyone without a doubt but lately we have been debating on whether or not we were going to have to replace the within the family and dining rooms. The rug has recently started to ripple or wave. When we describe our rugs in the house, people tend to give us many different looks. For some people, having a red rug in the living room seems to be strange, but definitely not to us. When we moved in, the rugs were the same "plain Jane" beige that everyone has installed. We immediately tore those out and replaced with out decorating tastes. When people come over to our house, they absolutely fall in love with what they see.

So back to the issue at-hand and the large number of guests and the rippling of our red area rug. The rug ripples started a few months ago. We just assumed it was normal wear and tear since we have had the rugs for about five or six years now. We have discussed the amount of money it would take to either replace the rug with something new or possibly even putting down hardwood flooring. The price tags for both were more than we wanted to spend and we clearly still loved the red rug. A friend of mine at work said he had the same issue with his red rugs. Then he also told me to look online for what is called "restretching". I never heard of such a thing but found many companies that specialize in restretching online. There were even a few "How To's" and I thought about giving it a go, but with the time crunch we were working under I just chose to have someone come in and do it. After phoning a few of the companies to compare prices and availability, we booked an appointment to fix our beloved red floor rug.

I will be happy to tell you that the restretching worked wonders. The red rug looks great again – no rippling or waves present at all. The company came in out and it literally didn’t even take as much time as he quoted us. They were in and out in just a couple of hours. Easter dinner was a huge success and our wallet is still in good condition. It just goes to show that you never know what you will find until you ask or search on the web.

Have you ever had one of those days where something from the past that you distinctly remember but may have forgotten about comes back and punches you right in the face when you least expect it? I recently had one of those experiences when my wife and I were out as home buyers. There was this house with – what do you know – a red rug very similar to what my mother had in our living room when we were growing up. I used to hate that thing. I mean I would literally avoid it like the plague. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but you see one too many Rambo’s and you avoid something that looks like a target.

There we were, just entering the house that we liked so much when the realtor showed us into the family den or family room. The dark hard wood floors that flowed from the kitchen straight into the family room were beautiful. The furniture was a nice size and color – nothing too large and the thoughts seemed to rush back to me as soon as I saw it – the red rug. Thoughts of me and my sister wrestling like a couple of sumo wrestlers, trying to throw each other out of the ring. How we would play tag through out the house – when my parents weren’t around – and the red rug would be our safety zone. We would actually set the Christmas tree on top of the rug as well and the presents would literally cover the rug from one side to the next. After all the paper was gathered up and the tree was taken down, we would just move it back to the center of the room. I remember one year the Huffy was sitting with its kick-stand down on the edge of the rug – man what a feeling that brought back.

So as we were leaving the house – which we subsequently purchased – the emotions were getting my juices flowing. I turned to our realtor and asked one of the strangest questions I think I have ever asked – we will take the house but can we seriously ask the sellers for the red rug? I don’t know if we paid too much for the house or not but one thing is for certain. We got the house and the rug. My sister to this day thinks I am weird because of the memories that the rug brought back but I know it was a sign. She or my wife just doesn’t get it. No worries.

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.