Style
Rugged Style
What you should know before buying a rug for your home
BY
Hilary Masell Oswald


Inspired by an 18th-century rug in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, this garden carpet with its clear delineation of water channels and central pond with fish was finely woven in the Persian style.


Also from India, the red ground rug shows a flowing scroll pattern with curving leaves, an inspiration from 16th-century Iran, which was a Golden Age of carpet-making and other arts. Both rugs available at Shaver-Ramsey.

If you consider a rug to be an afterthought, a bit of icing on an already delicious room, think again. Rugs are as much a part of a well-designed room as beautiful furnishings or carefully chosen wall coverings. “Use a rug as the foundation,” says Judy Rejebian, director of design services at Shaver-Ramsey in Denver. “It’s just like designing a room around a piece of art you love. Your upholstery will change, your home accessories will change over time, but a good carpet, you’ll have your entire life.”

But how do you know if you’re buying a “good carpet”? Turn to the October issue of Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, where you’ll find advice on how to determine if a dealer is reliable (below, some of our trusted sources), how to sort through your options for materials and how to care for your rug.

Ready to shop? Consider one of these fine showrooms:

Boyd & Dreith, Denver Design District, (303) 777-4600

David Chase Rugs & Furniture, Steamboat Springs, (970) 879-5667, DavidChaseRugsandFurniture.com

Floor Coverings by CPA, Denver Design District, (303) 722-7700

Ruggs Benedict, Avon, (970) 949-5390, RuggsBenedict.com

Sarkisian's, Denver, (303) 733-2623, Sarkisian.com

Shaver-Ramsey, Denver, (303) 320-6363, Shaver-Ramsey.com

The Carpet Studio, Denver Design District, (303) 777-1716

The Scarab, Eagle-Vail, (970) 949-1730, TheScarab.com
 


This contemporary rug from Iran was woven by women of the Q'ashqa'i tribe. It reflects the same traditional craft as older gabbeh rugs, with their wool foundation, knotting technique and natural plant dyes. Here, the rug lies comfortably in a contemporary home. Nearly half of today¹s hand-made rugs are contemporary. Available at Shaver-Ramsey in Denver, (303) 320-6577.