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Archive for June, 2010

Large Area Rugs: A Great Alternative to Carpet

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

The use of large area rugs as an alternative to fully carpeting a room is a popular choice for many homeowners, especially as many of us now prefer a tiled or wooden floor over carpeting. A large area rug undoubtedly brings a sense of comfort and warmth to a room with just a bare wooden or tiled floor, which can often have the disadvantage of looking a little sterile.  A well placed and appropriately designed large rug, to cover an expanse of bare flooring, can transform a room into a style statement with ease. Large rugs are not only for those with wooden or tiled floors. Once a carpet starts to look a bit tired or has been indelibly stained, a large area rug can offer an instant solution without the need for expensive re-carpeting.

Whether a home has large rooms that would benefit from a well dimensioned rug to create a central feature or to cover a large space of exposed floor, or else has smaller rooms that call for more of the floor to be covered, such as a bedroom or study, a large area rug can deliver the advantages of carpet without the hassle and cost of hiring specialist carpet fitters.  With a large sized rug, it’s simply a case of unrolling the rug and placing it where you want it – simple.

Choosing a large rug over carpet has many advantages. Rugs can be repositioned easily so that it’s possible to change your mind about where you would like your rug placed in your home. When moving house you can take your cherished rug with you, so rather than being abandoned and counted as a loss, it’s actually an investment that you can transport from home to home. Additionally, a large area rug can be cleaned without the difficulty of having to move all of the furniture out of a room.

There are a huge variety of design choices for large area rugs, so whatever a persons personal taste, or whatever reason a large rug is required you can determine the rug that’s the best complement for your home.

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Hand Made Rugs: Quality, Craftsmanship and Beauty

Sunday, June 20th, 2010

When something is hand made it immediately speaks of quality, individuality, craftsmanship and attention to detail and this is particularly true of hand made rugs. A hand made rug is not simply a floor covering, it’s a unique piece of art that meets our needs for aesthetic beauty alongside any practical requirements we might have. There is something inherently assuring and enduring in the fact that someone has carefully woven each strand of wool or silk, using time honoured methods passed down through generations of weavers, to create a rug that is going to adorn a home for years to come.

It’s a testament to the traditional rug makers around the world that their skill and expertise in creating quality hand made rugs has not been wholly supplanted by factory made rugs. While rugs made in the factory are in general slightly cheaper rugs and undoubtedly of good quality, consumers will still often prefer, when offered a choice, rugs that have been lovingly created by hand to the highest standards, using traditional methods. It gives us a feeling of confidence and trust that the rugs we buy have been made by a real person. Moreover, we know that our hand made rug will be distinctive from the many other rugs of the same design in existence simply because absolute standardisation is impossible when something has been made by hand. A hand made rug delivers character to a room in a way that a factory made rug might struggle to convey.

Some are under the false impression that hand made rugs are only available in traditional designs, but many modern designs of rug are also hand made and retain the charm, finesse, individuality and refinement that one would expect from hand made goods despite the contemporary colours and patterns they afford. A hand made rug, whether traditional or contemporary in design can infuse any room with style and comfort, plus a sense of character and personality that you’d be hard pressed to find in widely manufactured rugs.

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Indian Rugs

Friday, June 18th, 2010

The subcontinent of India has been renowned for its production of quality carpets and rugs for centuries, with the first evidence of Indian rugs being made as far back as the eleventh century. Initially inspired by Persian designs and techniques, Indian rugs are predominantly hand knotted in wool or silk using time honoured methods passed down from Father to Son. Nowadays, Indian rug producers, usually based within small cottage industries, create rugs using the traditional system, but fortunately the designs are no longer limited to the traditional.

Although traditional Indian rugs are still extremely popular because of their timeless and sublime designs and high quality, exceptionally modern, contemporary rug designs are also very widely available. Hand made or hand knotted by Indian rug makers, modern Indian rugs offer the advantage of ensuring that one is able to purchase a beautiful, authentic, hand made rug for the home, no matter what ones particular style preferences.

The modern Indian rug styles include boldly patterned designs, in up-to-the-minute colours, as well as ultra contemporary carved designs that use one or two complimentary colours to create relief and texture, and angular or swirling designs inspired by modern art. The traditional designs that we are more familiar with, tend to be in more naturally inspired and muted colours, with symmetrical patterns of flowers, leaves and abstract shapes framed by rectangular borders and fringes. Whatever type or style of home needs complimenting with a rug there is an Indian rug to suit.

Indian rugs are typically made to extremely high standards, with densely knotted, thick pile, that feels utterly luxurious to the touch. One can tell a hand knotted Indian rug instantly because they exude a sense of refinement and elegance in parallel with an impression of sensuousness and softness. Authentic Indian rugs are a floor covering to savour, value and enjoy for a lifetime, and they will probably last longer.

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Floral Rugs: Add Vitality & Style to Any Room

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

One of the best ways to make an instant design statement to a room or home is to use floral rugs. A floral rug enhances and elevates a plain or neutral room into a stunningly beautiful space with ease and manages to bring an element of the outside in. Whether subtle and understated or bold and daring, floral rugs have the ability to lift any room elegantly and provide a touch of vitality and liveliness to an otherwise standard or dull interior design.

The range of colours available in floral rug designs is almost infinite, so whether the preferred floral motifs are complex or simple, symmetrical or asymmetrical in style, the right colours can be found to compliment the palette of any room or style of home. Minimalist or modern homes decorated in neutral colours can benefit hugely from the splash of colour that floral rugs provide. Whether for the living room, bedroom, hallway or kitchen, bold purples, scarlets, greens, pinks, golds and teals, add interest, appeal and personality. Monochrome or two colour floral rug designs deliver a sense of intensity and enliven white or cream colour schemes in a flash.

For more traditionally styled homes, subdued colours such as rose pinks, creams, browns, moss greens and pale blues offer a more feminine, delicate and refined look.  These more muted floral rug designs can work equally well in a traditional cottage or a more contemporary home, it all comes down to personal taste and whether you like your blooms richly coloured like a Summers day or delicately pretty like cool Spring mornings.

Floral rugs have the added impression of offering a more sensory and tactile experience than their plain rug cousins. Whichever textile the floral rug is made of, whether it be wool, acrylic or polypropylene, there’s the feeling of yearning to touch a floral rug; to feel it’s texture under foot; to smooth a hand over the soft, thick pile; because ultimately we  want to see if our floral rug feels as good as it looks.

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Hall Runners to create a Lasting Impression

Wednesday, June 9th, 2010

Hall runners 

Let’s face it, a visitor’s first impression of the interior of your home is going to be based on what they see when you open the door and a well-chosen hall runner can enhance this perspective. It is important to ensure that the rug you choose augments the impression you want to project, so colour and design are major considerations.

 If you want to create impact in contemporary surroundings, bold, bright colours and large patterns, such as our Infinite and Woodstock collections, can instantly enliven a hall with pale walls and ceiling. Geometric designs, as found in our Ultra and Retro ranges also complement both contemporary and art deco settings. Traditional and classic hallways are best served by timeless patterns such as those in our Viscount and Noble Art ranges or Gabbeh runners for a dash of exotic opulence.

Whilst a light or brightly-coloured carpet runner can relieve a dark floor, it’s worth considering the amount of wear it’s likely to receive. In high traffic locations, darker and more muted colours, will show less marks and require less frequent cleaning. Synthetic fibre rugs are ideal for hallways as they are easy to clean, very durable and resistant to staining. We offer runners in several man-made fibres such as acrylic and polypropylene many of which have heatset fibres with high resistance to pile-shedding. The Galleria hall runner collection provides deep pile luxury with heatset fibres, a real bonus in high traffic areas. For those who prefer natural fibres our Plantation Pacific wool/silk range offers contemporary elegance at an affordable price. 

Size matters. Measure your hall carefully or use overlapping strips and widths of lining paper to find the nearest size of hall runner to give the balance you want between carpet and floor. Will your entrance door clear the pile? If not, you may have to consider a shorter length of runner or shorter pile. Most room doors open inwards but under stairs doors may have to be adjusted to clear your hall runner.    

Our available sizes are shown for each of our rug styles but we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have. 

We offer highly competitive prices across our whole range from budget to premium quality and don’t forget, carpet runners and hall runners are highly versatile and can also enhance the appearance of a landing or bedroom.

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Jeff Banks Rugs

Tuesday, June 8th, 2010

Jeff Banks Rugs: The Port of Call Collection Offers Inspirational Design at Affordable Prices

Welsh designer Jeff Banks, has been a leader in the UK Fashion and Interior design business since 1969. The Port of Call collection of Jeff Banks rugs showcases his unique brand of inspirational design, based on the themes of nature, modern art, retro styles and minimalist chic, each rug is a design classic in its own characteristic way. Looking through the Port of Call collection it’s evident that every Jeff Banks rug design is a witness to his past as a mover and shaker of the sixties and seventies and as someone who can guide design through the decades of fashion effortlessly to deliver design that is relevant now.

The retro style elements evident in the Kaleidoscope Geo, Stripe Moderna Gold and Sorrento Rainbow Jeff Banks rugs, offer the opportunity to transport design classics into the modern age with a flourish. Funky, bold patterns alongside a perfect mélange of colour palettes, bring together the past, present and future to create something distinctive and modern, yet familiar and comforting.

Some of the most beautiful and emotive designs within the Port of Call collection are those inspired by nature. The Kaleidoscope Spring, Autumn and Garden Jeff Banks rugs and the Antibes Flora, Florence and Amalfi rug designs, each deliver lush, opulent floral motifs that are as intense as they are breath taking. Here Jeff manages to bring together intricate, highly coloured patterns that have a real sense of timelessness in conjunction with innovative design.

Part of the Jeff Banks philosophy is to deliver high end designer elegance at affordable prices and so it may be surprising to find that anyone can have a Jeff Banks designer rug for their living space at a much lower price than one might expect. Starting with an inexpensive price tag of under £80, these are designer rugs that fit easily within everyone’s budget. Made to the highest of standards in sumptuous pure new wool or acrylic, Jeff Banks rugs transform rooms instantaneously via a blend of subtle, bold, contemporary and traditional designs that can at once connect and unify even the most eclectic of spaces.

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