Are Rugs Being Replaced?

In an article in the Colorado Springs Gazette there is an article about a thing called a “floor cloth”. Should we in the area rug industry be worried? Will the world be heaving out their rugs in favor of these new floor coverings? Here is a clip from the article.

“An alternative to area rugs, they are made of heavyweight cotton canvas painted with latex or acrylics and sealed with many coats of a clear protectant for substantial durability.” Colorado
Springs Gazette

Nothing like coming home, sitting in your favorite chain, kicking off you shows and running your toes though many hardened coats of durable clear protectant. They come up with a better solution for this product later in the article. “…some people don’t even put them on the floor, but hang them on the wall instead.” Now there you go. Leave the rug where it is and hang the art on the walls. And everything is right with the world again…

Taming Killer Rugs

Here are 5 tips from Forbes.com for “Keeping Seniors on Their Feet”...literally…

When an elderly person falls, it could cause life-threatening injury.

#1Keep the house well lit. Use bright lamps and overhead lighting, and keep night lights throughout the house.
#2 Fasten area rugs and carpeting well to the floor, and use nonskid rug pads.
#3 Keep electrical cords neat and out of areas where people walk.
#4 Install hand rails in bathrooms and stairways.
#5 In the kitchen, keep items within easy reach. Don't store things too high, where a stepladder is needed to reach them.

Link Added for your convenience (In case you don’t already own rugs you can slip on).

How a Rug Can Save Family Unity

In the “Ask Ellie” Column in the Toronto Star a women calling herself “Ungrateful Daughter-in-Law” describes a situation in which her father in law had problems putting in flooring. This has left an ugly section of floor and a possible rift in the family. Ellie’s advice “Put an area rug over it”. That’s the spirit Ellie…Area Rugs…is there anything you can’t do…

An Area Rug with a Color Selector Switch?

Thanks to a gentleman named Gregory A. Sotzing one day we may be able to change the color of our area rugs and other décor with the flip of a switch. In fact it seems it would be possible to have patterns or even pictures appear on cloth furnishings.

Sotzing, an associate professor of chemistry and polymer science at the University of Connecticut in Storrs, has developed a flexible electrochromic polymer that can change colors--and that will probably soon be able to produce images--in any fabric. The Free Lance-Star

Besides the obvious decorating applications of this product I can think of a few practical joke applications for images appearing on your area rug...

The Most Expensive Rug Ever

The Reading Eagle of Reading, PA is reporting that a Chelaberd Kazak rug sold at Freeman's Auction in Philadelphia for a world record price of $341,625. This came as a bit of a surprise in that the rug was estimated to sell for between $15,000 and $25,000. OK Maybe “a bit” of a surprise is an understatement since it sold for almost 14 times its estimated worth. This also garnered the auction house over $40,000 in “buyer's fee(s)”. Once again “a bit” of a surprise in that they should have been expecting less than $5,000. So it looks like everyone is happy. Or we hope everyone is…If the buyer doesn’t really love area rugs they could be suffering from “a bit” of buyers remorse.

Update: 1/24/07 I found a picture of the rug in the Maine Antique Digest.

Witches Need Rugs Too…

In a story from the Concord Monitor Online the description of “a rug with a pentacle” caught my eye. It is a story of the mixed success of a store opened and run by a “Wiccan”…that’s a witch to you and me. The store “cater(s) to a pagan or Wiccan clientele”. I haven’t lived in the NH area for a long time but I don’t remember many of my neighbors practicing pagan ceremonies. Maybe I just wasn’t paying attention. We here at RugSale will have to follow the progress of this store, but for now, you won’t find any rugs with pentacles in our store.

The Political Expense of Cutting a Rug

Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick is not only fighting for his political life, he is fighting for the right to use a 2,000-square-foot apartment in that states Capitol. It is an apartment that he and his wife spent more than $1 million renovating. It is the only living quarters in a state capitol in the nation and will probably stay that way.

From our perspective just what he did to the New Zealand carpet would be enough to run him out of office on a rail. The Austin American-Statesman reported that “the $36,000 New Zealand wool carpets (were) cut up for area rugs after it was decided hardwood floors would look better”.

Any other politician who is planning to spend tax payer money furnishing his personal apartment may want to visit us for his area rugs. As a matter of fact he may want to see what we have in clearance.

Why You Pick The Area Rug First

There is an article about area rugs in the OC Registers life section of their online paper. It is an excellent article about some of the new trends in area rug fashion. It rightly emphasizes the importance of the rug as the basis of your room design. Professional designers pick the rug first to define the palette of colors for the rest of the room.

…designers like to start with the rug when outfitting an interior, pulling out one or more of its colors for upholstery, walls and window treatments, as well as accessories such as pillows, lamp shades and even flowers in a vase. OC Register

The rug, as the basis of the room décor, needs to visually tie the other colors in the room together. Buying furniture and other furnishings and then trying to find a rug that has those colors is much tougher than doing it the other way around.

But most people buy furniture first, considering rugs an accessory. With the more visually provocative rugs, that can be a challenge. OC Register

The best procedure to decorating a room from scratch is to pick an area rug in the color array you like best and build the room around that.

Former Kas Vice President Moves To Surya Rugs

Former East Coast regional vice president of sales for Kas Oriental Rugs, Jeff Gonzalez, has accepted a position with Surya Rugs.

“Gonzalez has a proven track record in sales and sales management and he will be an integral component of our executive team as we continue our fast growth trajectory,” said Satya Tiwari, president of Surya. FurnInfo.com

Joan Catello, previously national vice president of sales and marketing for Kas Oriental Rugs has taken the position of vice president of national accounts at Surya. Apparenty Surya was impressed with Kas Oriental rugs staff. This leaves a bit of backfilling to be done at Kas.