RugSale.com - Match not - want not

You remember prom? How cute it was to have his cumberbun match your mauve dress? Or her hair match the bandanna on your leg? You know who you are - Ralph Macchio wasn't the only one.

In the decorating world, matching is a sign of shaky confidence in one's decorating abilities. It sends you back to safe harbors where you know that if everything is pink, it will look okay. Guess what - it won't. It will remind your family and friends of prom - and that bad perm too.

The rugs you own should be the foundation of your home (big or small) and not the afterthought. The best possible scenario is to get the rugs first and then the rest of the room can go from there - trying to shoehorn a rug style into a room that doesn't work is often a source for disaster and misery.

Here are some simple suggestions that will help deal with your desire to match your rugs with everything else.

1.) Treat black like a canvass. Do not purchase a solid color rug  - it's the first thing you will notice that collects all the debris and dirt. But if you are looking for a darker tone, you can use a dark or even black tone that is laced with beige or mauve. Black accents often pull character out of the rug and give it a great dimenion. Most modern rugs are designed in this fashion - such as Momeni's Andy Warhol collection or Shaw's Accents collection.

2.) Traditional rugs are your friend. Just because mom owned one doesn't mean you should avoid them - you're a grown up now, make your own choices. Traditionals are great for dining rooms, hallways and even the kitchen. The right rug can change the entire look of the room. Look for burgundy, ivory, and navy rugs from manufacturers such as 828 International or Kas's Cambridge collection.

3.) Braided Rugs are great for the front door, bathroom or sunroom. Places where there is often a lot of sunlight and/or ambient light. They are often pastels and lighter designs, so you can take heart that the rug is naturally that color. Anji Mountian Bamboo rugs have some good examples of this as well as Colonial Mills Seascape collection.

Use these suggestions as a starting point to build your own look. Stay away from the matchey-match of high school and be more open with colors and styles in your home. It's the best way to enjoy home without having to remember high school for another year - and the perm and bandanna too. :)

You are what you Bing...

Buying on the internet is not a simple as people used to believe it once was. "What?" You say? What does that mean? Why can't you say it simply and easily so I can get back to "Big Brother 12" and my hammock?

Because it's not so simple anymore - is it?

You have a lot of choices on the internet these days - comparison shopping engines, search channels, large brands, small shops, PayPal, Amazon, Barnes and Nobles - everyone is trying to sell you something, and very often it's the same thing.

That's where personality and people still come into play. RugSale.com is a family-owned, family-operated company that has been in business since the mid-1950s. They went onto the internet just before the turn of the 21st Century because they saw opportunity with online sales. So they started working with name brand manufacturers such as Momeni, Nourison and Oriental Weavers and found a great way to service customers easily and simply.

Then the whole playing field changed - again.

Thanks to ultra-large corporations, social media, increased number of competitors and complicated shopping channels that make even the most simple of purchases an afternoon lost in futility. Buying online is supposed to be easy, not overbearing - with RugSale.com it still is.

RugSale.com still has a on-call operator ready to answer your questions. They are direct employees of RugSale.com - not a call center off the coast of Brazil. RugSale.com has actual designers on staff to help you answer question about color, style and care. RugSale.com has people to help you with shipping issues and can even get you the best price with the manufacturers. You notice the overwhelming common denominator - people.

Computers are great - they help will tasks and data, but they still have not replaced people and it's people that help you make choices, bring ideas, answer questions and assist with challenges. RugSale.com still has all those people working for you, very often the same ones from the very beginning of the site. So they know what they are doing, they know how to do it and they offer more than pre-programmed answers.

The internet will get bigger and wilder and more complicated every day. But its the people that at the end of the day that make all the difference in the world when it comes to that next internet purchase and no search engine or comparison shopping channel can beat that. RugSale.com - people come first and still with the best internet prices online today. No ifs, ands or Bings about it. :)

Rug ideas for your studio apartment

You live in a major city, doesn't really matter where, and you have found the coolest studio apartment that your 2010 salary can afford these days. Whether you are in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, points North or areas in the South End, your studio apartment is the coolest place you've found to call home.

Now what? Studio apartments are cool, but they are also cold - a usual by-product of wood flooring used when it used to be a factory or mill. So a rug is the usual solution, but you don't want just any rug, you want rugs that will accent your studio apartment.

Rugs make the room  - and that couldn't be more true than with a open floor plan like a studio apartment. Usually, you get the privelege of walls to help you dictate which room is the bedroom and which one is the living room, but not here - you have to be creative.

But you are creative - aren't you? That's why you own a studio apartment, after all. So let's start.

When you are deciding on a rug for a space (aka - the "Living Room" or "Kitchen") you want the colors to place nice with each other - so don't get a zebra pattern and then try to put a red shag within eyesight. The joke "What's black and white and red all over...." will be your apartment.  Not cool.

No instead, choose on an overall tone for your studio apartment. Earth tones are very much in-style these days, but that's just one example. You can choose lighter tones if the general look of the space is too dark or darker tones if the apartment just gets too much sunlight. The trick here is balance - find the right tone and you can then decide on the right look and finally, your rugs.

Momeni has some great collections complete with the latest tones and styles that would play in nearly any setting. Deco, Elements, New Wave and Innovations are all popular collections you can use. They all have differening styles with colors that coordinate, yet are individual enough to be able to give you the distinct look you want each "room" to have.

The key here is creativity. Use your space wisely with an underlying style tone, complete with a simple budget and your studio apartment will shine.

Rugsale.com is raising the bar on coupons

We don't often like to just write promotions on our blog - it's more for information and ideas for decor, but this time, we felt like it was a good idea.

RugSale.com announced today that they have created a new coupon code for RugSale.com visitors and customers that will give them 26% off their purchase on the popular online retailer’s website.


“This is not up to 26%, or maybe 26% or even if you buy one thing you get another item at 26% off – it’s a straight offer to all our customers and visitors. Come to the site, activate the program and we will send you the special coupon code that will take off 26% from your purchase,” explains Greg Shimer, Marketing Director for RugSale.com.
“It’s July – the time when people are going to the beach and are just outside, not online” explains Charlie Kaoud, CEO of RugSale.com “our manufacturers were looking for new ways to drive people to purchase their rugs now, they are hurting during the summer, so we worked out a great way for our RugSale.com customers to get an even lower price on their rugs.”

RugSale.com offers over 50,000 name brand rugs, area rugs and runners from some of the most respectable factories in the business. Customers can find brands such as Nourison, Momeni New Wave Contemporary Rugs, Oriental Weavers of America, Sphinx, Dalyn Kids Rugs and even Anji Mountain Bamboo rugs. All rugs are first quality and all are shipped with no sales tax – recently, RugSale.com announced a new program where orders can now be shipped anywhere in the world.


Not all manufacturers honor all promotions – see RugSale.com for better details.
RugSale.com is a secure online retailer of area, oriental, traditional and contemporary rugs since 1999. They were founded by New England’s top retailer of rugs, Kaoud Brothers, who have been in operation since 1954. The company has recently launched a sister site, http://www.amcdecor.com/ that now serves the home décor and accent needs of area homeowners.

How Your Floor can Celebrate the Fourth in Style

Nope- not kidding here, you acutally can make your floor as patriotic as your backyard barbeque with just a few quick changes.

I mean, think about it, your rug dictates what the rest of the room looks like doesn't it? If you want a jungle theme, you're not buying a red shag rug. If you wanted a traditional study, pink is out. Patterns on your rugs can make or break the design of the room faster than any yard sale trinket or ebay find.

But back to patriotism and and the fourth - Betsy Ross is credited as the designer of the American flag. She sat down with George Washington and figured out a general pattern for the flag, which had many stages before it was really decided upon in late 1777. Betsy Ross first input to the American Flag was the stars. George Washington wanted six pointed stars, Betsy showed him five pointed stars would work a whole lot better. Here's where you can put a little history into your room's presentation.

Find a rug with stars in it - five pointed ones to be specific. Look for contemporary rugs, that's your best bet. Momeni and Oriental Weavers are great providers of these styles.

If you aren't a fan of star, or stripes, then Anji Bamboo Mountain has a red shag rug that would work perfect as a balancer for all the other smaller decorations that you're going to have around your room. Simple is always better. You've had enough to do and it's time to relax. Have a great, happy and safe Fourth of July and we'll see you on the other side of the fireworks.