Not all Rugs are Made Equal

Traditionally, rug making was and still is an artistic outlet in many countries with the rug actually telling a story.

Choosing a nice rug will depend on many factors, you should take in to account the fiber with which the rug was knitted, and the rug color which should better compliment your home design, also the rug shape and size should fit well in the place where you plan to put it.

Budget will play a big factor, since a 5 X 7 rug can start out as low as under $100.00 and go well into the thousands of dollars depending on the type rug it is and so many other variables. Whatever your budget a rug is a great way to add color and pattern to a room.

Types of area rugs:

HAND KNOTTED RUGS:



Hand knotted rugs are by far the best area rug you can buy, depending on the knot count per inch. It is also the hardest category to acquire. It takes many years to learn the different origins and meaning of the symbols used when making a hand knotted area rug. Once you get interested in rugs, it is like getting interested in art. They are true pieces of artwork and they wear like iron! These rugs are meant for wear and tear. They will literally last your lifetime and then be passed down.

If you invest in a hand knotted rug for the first time, you will completely understand the reason why these beautiful rugs cost more than the other alternatives. Because they are handmade, each rug is unique in its own way. It is nice to know that no one else will have the exact same rug as you.



The manufacturing process is made up of woven threads going up and down called the warp and while the threads going side to side are called the weft. They are intertwined together to create a base structure to weave the rug. After one row of knots is finished a mallet is used to condense the pile. This will be repeated time and time again to ensure the pile is as dense as it can be. The tightness of the pile affects the wear ability of the rug. The more knots per inch, the longer it will last and give you years and years of enjoyment.



HAND TUFTED AREA RUGS:



You’ll always know how to distinguish a Hand Tufted area rug because it will have a cloth like muslin backing. A Hand Tufted rug is kind of made like a latch hook. It is punched in with a gun or by hand one tuft at a time. The cost of hand-tufted area rugs is impacted by the type of wool they are using, and how many tufts per inch. The more tufts per inch and the denser the pile the higher the cost. This also impacts the memory the rug will have, meaning it won’t crush the pile, so it will wear longer.



With a Hand Tufted rug, glue is used on the back of the rug to hold the wool pile in place. So you will get some shedding, but how much depends on how dense (tufts per inch) the rug is, and what type of wool has been used. Because the tufting process does not produce the fringe that is more common with hand-woven rugs (where the fringe is the end of the warp strings that run from one end of the rug to the other), separate fringe (usually woven as a tape) is often glued or sewn to the ends of a tufted rug.



The hand tufted area rug will rarely wear as well as the Hand Knotted rug because the wool is almost always a cheaper grade and the glue used tends to be the inexpensive latex glue which becomes brittle and deteriorates over time.

A Hand Tufted rug has resale value equivalent to a machine-made wool rug of the same size. But there are really nice hand-tufted wool rugs out there. You just need to know what questions to ask and what to look for when selecting a hand tufted rug. One way to tell the quality is to run your hand across the pile to test shedding, and remember the softer and the denser the pile is, the better the area rug.



MACHINE MADE AREA RUGS:



When looking at a machine made rug you usually can see the white stitching on the back, and the lines are always perfectly straight, because they are mass produced by a machine.

The fluctuation in pricing for a machine made rug is impacted by the type of wool that is used and its density. The New Zealand wool has long been considered the best wools and will cost a bit more because of their softness and resistance to shedding. A carpet made of New Zealand wool will always have a fen mark on the label. Only carpets that pass more than 20 demanding tests related to fiber content, appearance, retention, color-fastness and appropriate environmental performance carry their name. New Zealand wool creates the most colorful machine-made rugs in the world. New Zealand wool is the whitest, cleanest, purest wool in the world. This in turn will make the colors appear more rich and vibrant in color. Wool carpets and rugs are fire safe, providing beautiful peace of mind.