lexingtonorientalrugs.com Blog

We live in what I like to call a “throw-away society.” We buy things that we like, use them, and when the items become obsolete or broken, we throw them away. Even our large expenses such as vehicles or high-end electronics are eventually going to make their way to the trash heap. We, as consumers, have grown to expect a certain period of use, and then expect to begin looking for a replacement.

One of the most common questions we get at our business is how we can afford to offer our Lifetime 100% Trade-In Policy. It’s a legitimate question. Can you think of any other items that you can purchase, use and abuse, and then return for your full purchase price in in-store credit? I only wish that you could do that with a car…

Hand-knotted oriental rugs should not fall into the “throw-away” category. If constructed properly a hand-knotted rug should last a lifetime, or roughly 70-80 years. Even with heavy wear and tear, a well-maintained rug can last even into 100 or 150 years. And some of the most valuable rugs are literally hundreds of years old.

The secret is held within the construct of a hand-knotted rug, individual knots, tied by hand on a foundation of interwoven strings. The use of strong, natural materials such as wool, cotton, and silk also help to ensure a long lasting product. When a hand-knotted rug is damaged, the damaged knots are removed, the warp and weft re-attached and new knots are tied.

But here is the real secret as to why we can offer the trade-in policy- hand-knotted rugs actually increase in value with both use and age. As the pile of your rug is worn down to the original knots, the rug develops a softness, a patina, and a sharpness of pattern that can only come from many years of wear. (Antique rugs must be at least 100 years old.) This makes the rug not only more rare, but more appealing to those looking for an old-world look and feel.

So that’s how we can do it. You always have the rug you want, and the rug you trade in is more valuable. Everybody wins, everybody is happy! If you would like to learn more, or would like to see the details of our policy, contact a sales associate or visit our website at www.lexingtonorientalrugs.com/tradeinpolicy.

For those of you that don’t know, our store is in Lexington, Kentucky.  Typically, February brings a mixture of either snow or ice to complicate our daily commutes.  Mother Nature has played tricks on us this year, sprinkling in 50 degree sunny days between rain and snow showers to keep us confused about what jacket to wear in the morning.  Spring can’t get here fast enough.  And our store is starting to show our anticipation.

Check out this great room setting I found while wandering our store this morning.  I didn’t need to go too far to find some inspiration… our on-staff designers make sure of that.

The weathered wood style has really come into its own, and the popularity doesn’t seem to be slowing.  It is a casual, yet sophisticated look that will prove to be timeless.  This particular bed is from Lexington Home Brands, the Henry Link Collection.  The Colton’s Point bed will surprise you with a texture and range of color that needs to be seen in person to truly appreciate.

The art above the headboard is by one of our favorite accessory manufacturers, Uttermost.  The mirrored frames add a transitional/contemporary feel to the setting.  The mirror to the right of the bed is by Bernhardt, as is the nailhead chest below.  The small chair that managed to sneak into the picture is the Joanna chair by Taylor King.

We really love the combination of the weathered woods and mirrored frames with the light blue wall.  The setting feels light, soft, and tranquil.  You can almost imagine sunlight coming through an open window while you sleep late on a Sunday. 

Here is a great rug that could be paired with this setting.  The Vestiges Collection by Jaipur Rugs features some wonderful repeating patterns with very subtle colors.  The rugs in this collection are hand-knotted using high-grade wools to last a lifetime.  Not all rugs need to anchor a room, and this one would fit into the setting nicely, accentuating the feel without stealing the show.

Are you aching for spring to be here?  We are.  Come into out showroom and speak with one of our on-staff interior designers to get an early start on the Spring season.  After all, it’s never too early to feather your nest…

Come in and visit our showroom at any time of the year and you will find us stocked with a huge selection of great hand-knotted rugs by a manufacturer named Kalaty. We’ve been working with Kalaty for a long time. There is a perfectly good reason why we have been partners with them for so long… they’re really, really good at making quality handmade rugs.

We love all of the collections that Kalaty has to offer. Many of our employees have Kalaty rugs in their own homes, and our interior designers go a little crazy when we get in new shipments. But we particularly like the English Manner Collection, and we want to tell you why.

Kalaty is a family-run business that began in the early 1900’s in Iran. This business eventually moved to the U.S. and established ties with India for most of their production. Over the years, the company has become synonymous with color consciousness, design innovation, service, and loyalty. And as it turns out, they are pretty good to their people in India, too.

What we like so much about the English Manner collection is that they are simple, yet very elegant. The inspiration for the collection comes from actual royal residences managed by Paul Burrell. Mr. Burrell is a former footman for Queen Elizabeth II and was later a butler to Diana, Princess of Wales. With his experiences, you can imagine that he had access to some of the greatest rug and furniture designs the planet has to offer. Many of the designs within this collection are simple tone-on-tone patterns utilizing texture and subtle color differences to make a statement. Simple, yet elegant, and we love them.

All of the rugs within this collection are hand-knotted using high-grade New Zealand hand-spun wool and natural dyes. They are easy of the eyes just as well as your feet and need to be walked on to truly be experienced. Come in and visit our showroom today to learn more about Kalaty and the Royal Manner Collection.

Hauling rugs around is no easy task.  It takes strength, it takes determination, it takes… a two wheel hand cart so we don’t need as much strength and determination.  We would like to think that moving all of our rugs around has kept us in shape and healthy.  The Urban Mountain Challenge put this thought to task.

Team Lexington Oriental Rugs participated in the 2011 Urban Mountain Challenge on January 28^th.  Why you ask?  Because we love punishment… and because it was a great community event to support local groups.  638 stairs, 29 floors in the Fifth Third building in downtown Lexington.  It was touted as a race against the clock, but as we found out, it was really just a race to not pass out.

Thanks to all of our team members and all of our awesome clients that we saw at the event participating.  And a very special thanks to all of the Lexington service members, police, and firefighters that completed the challenge.  You never appreciate just how hard these people train to save your life until you see them climb 638 stairs in full fire gear faster than you.  Consider us impressed!

Team Lexington Oriental Rugs is a group of company employees, clients, and friends that are interested in giving back to the community through local charity events and fundraisers.  Events vary from charity road races to Habitat for Humanity builds.  You may be able to recognize a team member by their brightly colored shirts, with a team logo on the front and a quirky nickname on the back.  If you would like to join our team, it’s free, and we are always looking for members.  We usually sponsor our members, and members will also get a free team shirt/jersey.  And, of course, the events are always fun and rewarding.  You can learn more by contacting Chad at 859-254-4412 or by visiting our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/rugslex.

Wool, cotton, silk… If you have been researching handmade rugs at all, you have found that these are the basic materials that are combined using art and industry to create one of the world’s oldest and most famous floor coverings.  The fiber that receives the most recognition for the durability of oriental rugs is wool, and the most famous of all wools is New Zealand wool.

So what’s the big deal about New Zealand wool anyway?  Is one wool really that much better than the other?  Well, it depends on who you ask, and what you plan on doing with the wool.

For oriental rug production, it really depends on what type of production you are working with and where you are.  Finer wools are softer, shinier, and have a thinner gauged thread.  Finer wools are also more expensive and require the ability to import them from other countries.  If you are producing a nubby textured, hand-spun wool piece, finer wool may not be worth the extra expense.  The nubby texture would essentially nullify the finer properties of a higher grade wool.  And if you are working with tribal rugs… importing fine wool from New Zealand or Australia is out of the question.

For your finer knotted “city” style rugs, though, high-grade wool is not only desirable, but can actually make production and maintenance of the rug easier.  Essentially, better wool is stronger, longer, thinner, shinier, softer, and whiter.   This allows you to make a finer, smaller knot.

Here is what earns New Zealand and Australian wool high grades.  The quality of wool is graded by the following main factors: fiber diameter, color (whiteness), strength, crimp, and yield.  The fiber diameter if the most important factor in determining both quality and price. (This is measured in terms of microns.)

Both New Zealand and Australian wools consistently score the highest among major rug producing nations.  And New Zealand wool is touted as the whitest, allowing for a broader range of color after dyeing.  Their finest wools are known as 1PP, which is the industry standard of excellence for Merino wool that is 16.9 microns and finer.  You normally hear more about the New Zealand wools because the have embarked upon a major marketing campaign touting their product as the finest.  Just google it.  You will find a beautiful website devoted to the cause.  They even put the wool emblem on their National Soccer Team’s jerseys!

Another reason that New Zealand’s wool takes the spotlight is because of the private market.  While Australia is the world’s largest producer of wool (roughly 25% of total production), 85% of that production is sold at open auction.  New Zealand only produces 11% of the world yield, but almost 50% of that is sold by the farmer directly to private buyers and the end user.

Still don’t think wool is a big deal?  The finest bale of wool ever to be publicly auctioned sold for a seasonal record of $2700 per kilo in June of 2008.  The wool measured 11.6 microns and was very strong (we’ll spare you the Newton measurements).  The total price of the bale was over $247,000.00.  It was exported to India.  You’ll never guess where we get almost half of our rugs…

Jaipur Rug Co's Provenance Collection

While you were watching NFL Playoffs this weekend (or attempting to avoid them) we were hard at work bringing in the newest and best oriental rugs that the world has to offer.  The International Area Rug Market was held this January and Lexington Oriental Rugs was excited to make the trip (read: like a bunch of kids in a candy store.)

There were, of course, the usual traditional oriental rugs to be found at this market, but that is not why we brave the perils of I-75… we go to see what is going to be the surprising hit for the following year.

This market brought two introductions that we definitely would not have predicted a year ago.  The traditional Ikat design made a huge splash at the market, with nearly every manufacturer showcasing their version of the ancient design.  And a new combination of patchwork rug samples with heavy over-dyed color also made a strong showing.

Ikat is a nearly universal weaving style that is very common to many world cultures.  The distinctive pattern originally was created by a textile dyeing process that is similar to tie-dye.  Bindings, which resist dye penetration, are applied to the threads in the desired patterns and the threads are dyed. Alteration of the bindings and the dyeing of more than one color produce elaborate, multicolored patterns. When all of the dyeing is finished the bindings are removed and the threads are ready to be woven into cloth.  The defining characteristic of ikat is the dyeing of patterns, by means of bindings, into the threads before cloth construction, the weaving of the fabric, takes place. Herein lies the difference between ikat and tie-dye. In tie-dye the fabric is woven first and the resist bindings are then applied to the fabric which is dyed. 

Kalaty Rug Corp's Heritage Ikat

Most of the rugs that were presented at market simply recreated the ikat patterns, but utilized traditional oriental rug weaving technique.  Will this pattern be the smash hit that the manufacturers predict?  Only time will tell.

We must admit that the introduction of the patchwork rugs was a bit of a surprise to us.  You can find original patchwork rugs in the marketplace, but these were created due to a lack of materials or funds, not as a fashionable statement.  Frankly, the construction process for creating patchwork rugs with anything other than remnants is not usually cost effective.

Nonetheless, the patchwork rug has mark a mark on the interior design community and the oriental rug world will follow suit.  These rugs were wither woven with a simple patchwork pattern and then stitched to keep the illusion, or were actual pieces of rugs of samples that were bound and stitched together.  After the construction is complete, the entire rug is heavily over-dyed to retain an older looking, heavy color.

Again, the fate of this style is up to you.  What do you think of these two styles?  We would really love your feedback on this issue.

We often hear that choosing an oriental rug is hard because of the difficulty in mixing existing patterns and colors in the home with traditional oriental rug patterns.  Mixing patterns can also be complicated by intermixing different styles.

Sticking to these general rules in choosing patterns can ease the confusion and make finding the right oriental rug much easier.

1. Pick a starting print or prints.  Before beginning your oriental rug search, you must decide what items in the room are staying, and which items you are willing to part with or change.  Usually, large furniture fixtures will stay, but paint colors, throw pillows, and accessories are usually inexpensive enough to change.

2. Limit your color palette.   If you have significant investments that involve specific colors, do your best to work around them.  But if you can possibly part with any of the items that may limits your color choices… get rid of them.  Ideally, you would want to start your shopping with a blank canvass so as not to limit your choices.  Make sure that you bring any color swatches with you when you begin your rug search.

3. Vary the style.   You may be surprised how well you will like a combination of colors and patterns when you step outside of your comfort zone.  We have a professional design staff that makes an art of out of mixing florals, stripes, geometrics, and textures together.  The idea is not to have too much of any one type of pattern.  Also, don’t be afraid to mix modern and contemporary patterns with traditional rugs.  We see a lot of modern and traditional rooms utilizing traditional and antique rugs to create a look that will never really go out of style.
4. Vary the size of the pattern.  Have you ever walked into a room and felt overwhelmed by the patterns?  Usually it is because the decorator used too much pattern of the same scale.  Avoid this problem by using patterns of various scales and breaking them up with solids or texturals.

Most reputable oriental rug stores will have an interior designer on-staff to help you find the perfect rug to work with your existing décor.  Just make sure that you take them as many tools as you can such as fabric samples, color swatches, or even pictures of the room.  If you follow these rules, finding the perfect rug should not be a difficult challenge.

Are you tired?  We are.  Why, you ask?  We’ve been packing and shipping a lot of rugs around the globe.  Sound crazy, we know, but this little thing called the internet has become pretty popular.

Transporting or storing large rugs is no easy task.  We have been folding, rolling, and packing rugs for almost 20 years now, so we have learned a few tricks along the way.  If they ever make rug rolling an olympic sport, we promise to bring home a gold medal.  So if you need to roll or fold rugs for transport or storage, here are some tips for making your rugs travel sized.

A few caveats before you begin.  Before folding or creasing your rug, make sure that doing so will not damage the rug.  Some tufted rugs or super dense hand-knotted rugs can be damaged if creased.  Some lower-grade machine made rugs can be creased permanently.  And if you ever hear any popping or cracking when you are folding your rugs- STOP.

If you have enough room or manpower, or if your rug refuses to be folded, you can simply roll your rug.  Start by rolling from the short end of the rug so that the length of the roll is as short as possible.  If you need something to keep the roll ridged while you are moving it, try rolling the rug with a cardboard tube inside.

Assuming that your rug can be folded, it is often beneficial to fold your rug before rolling it.  This will save space and will also make the rug easier to move.  

For room size rugs such as 8x10s and 9x12s, the single fold method is easiest.  Start by folding the rug in half down the length of the rug.  Next, fold in one end of the rug.  (This will help to keep the rug straight while you are rolling it.  In some cases, you can fold in both ends of the rug to protect the fringe.)  Now from the folded end, begin rolling the rug, keeping the roll tight, but not so tight as to pop any warp or weft strings.  Once the rug is rolled, secure it with a couple of ropes tied with a slip knot.

For rugs larger that 9×12, it is sometime impractical to use a single fold method.  If you need to make the rug more compact, start by folding down the length of the rug into thirds.  Now fold in one end and then roll using the same method as before.  Again, use a couple of ropes to secure the roll and keep it tight.

As 2011 comes to a close, we reflect on the trends of both color and pattern that the year brought us.  It was a wonderful year and we were pleasantly surprised by the color predictions that came true and the colors that became popular that we would have never expected.

When newly trending colors can be accurately predicted, the oriental rug world springs into action, producing as many wonderful handmade pieces as they can to meet the needs of our clients.  When colors surprise us, though, the slow production time of handmade pieces can create something of a nightmare for businesses like ours.  So if you have some predictions for 2012, let us know!

SURPRISE!  Honeysuckle Pink was Pantone’s color of the year for 2011.  While this color was predicted to be trending in many homes and decors, we did not expect it to be as popular as it was.  Luckily, our market is a little more traditional and while we had requests for the color, we did not need to invest too much inventory space in what may end up being a short-lived hot color.  And what color was most requested to pair along with pink?  Grey.

PREDICTED-  Green.  Green was a color that we saw moving into the spotlight slowly, first in paint colors, and then in furniture design.  Many designers saw green as a way of bringing the outdoors inside, and viewed the color as fresh and clean.  Oriental rugs were a great pair for this color, even with the somewhat difficult time we have creating a stable vegetable green dye.

SURPRISE! Red and Blue made a huge resurgence in 2011.  You would think that oriental rug manufacturers would be well prepared for this considering that for 2500 years, red and blues were the easiest dye colors to produce, but with so many homes utilizing Autumn tones, we were still caught a little off guard.  According to Dulux Paints, blue is the most popular color in the world, and is not expected to step down from it’s throne any time soon.

PREDICTED- Black and White.  In 2011, black came on strong as a lead color choice for walls, and was often used as a contrast to white to great graphic effect. Stripes, checks and patterns featuring these two powerhouses were dominant in home design.  Black is an easy color to find in oriental rugs, but true white can be a smaller challenge with the natural color of wool leaning more towards cream.

PREDICTABLE SURPRISE- Grey.  The furniture industry made strong moves toward a more transitional gray color in 2011.  I personally thought the trend would be short-lived, but Grey tones look to have a long life ahead of them.  Oriental rug manufacturers have had a hard time cornering the correct grey tones.  Again, the natural color of wool tends to make the greys look a little more brown.  You will definitely see more grey tones in our oriental rug showroom in 2012.

Have your own predictions?  Let us know!  We would love to see what our clients both want and expect for the following year. www.lexingtonorientalrugs.com