Area Rugs

Area rug is larger than a rug and neither, unlike carpet, covers the entire floor. Since carpets need to fit variable floor shapes, their pattern/theme content is much more limited. Good side of it is that it saves carpets from fairly confusing design-related terminology of area rugs. That leaves only construction method and materials to focus on.

Rug/carpet construction is a complex technique of putting it together, from securing the yarn, to dyeing and chemical treatments. Usually, it is a particular technic of structuring/securing the yarn that determines construction type. According to it, most rugs and carpets come as tufted or woven. Within each of these two basic construction types, there are more or less numerous variations in particular techniques used.

Things get more complicated when it comes to area rug design, which is based on its color/pattern attributes. Multiple interpretations possible are potentially confusing in trying to figure out what some of the basic rug properties are. For instance, rug attributes like “Oriental“, “Persian" or “European" most often have nothing to do with where the rug comes from, or how it’s been made. Rather, it is an attempt to classify it according to its dominant pattern characteristic. Or, plainly, according to what it looks like.