Buying Wholesale Area Rug

Buying wholesale area rugs is one way to purchase a beautiful floor covering at a price that is more affordable. First, let’s talk about what “wholesale” means. As you may already know, manufacturers sell their goods to retail outlets at reduced prices from what you pay. The retail outlet then buys the product, raises the price enough to get a profit from it, and sells it to you. The price retailers originally paid for those rugs is known as the wholesale price.

If you’re buying wholesale area rugs that means you are either buying directly from the manufacturer or you are going through a bulk store which purchases rugs in such huge quantities that they can charge you only the wholesale price and still make a profit.

A decade or two ago, you could buy wholesale area rugs at select locations. The manufacturers would sometimes set up retail outlets of their own either near their factory or in outlet malls around the country. By selling the rugs directly to consumers at more affordable prices, they were increasing the number of rugs that ended up in homes so it was a great strategy that has worked well.

Today, the Internet has made it easier than ever for you to buy wholesale area rugs. You can find a number of sites where such rugs are sold. Not all of these sites are directly connected to the manufacturer, however. Because the overhead costs associated with selling on the Internet are considerably lower than for selling at a brick and mortar business, these sites can afford to sell you wholesale area rugs.

In most cases, the wholesale area rugs won’t be any different from what you’d buy in a retail store. However, keep in mind that if you come across a deal that’s too good to be true, it probably is.

Rug Cleaning Equipment Tips

Rug cleaning equipment is definitely important to have on hand when you buy a well-crafted rug runner or area rug, but you may be surprised by what that rug cleaning equipment includes. In most cases, you want to avoid buying any harsh rug cleaning equipment for your rugs. While you can do some basic weekly maintenance to your rug, you’re better off hiring a professional to bring his or her rug cleaning equipment in to care for your rug.

Unfortunately, we all can’t afford to bring in a professional every few months to care for our rugs. The price for that type of service could add up quickly. Instead, you may want to use a professional twice a year and use do-it-yourself rug cleaning equipment the rest of the time. While this set up isn’t the best choice, it’s better than not caring for your rugs at all.

If you do try cleaning your own rugs, then avoid making some of the most common and most damaging mistakes people usually make. Getting the rug too wet is one such mistake. You only need the rug to be damp enough for the shampoo to be able to work with it. If you drench the rug with water, as can happen with rug cleaning equipment, then it will take much longer to dry and can even start to mold.

Another common mistake is not keeping your furniture off your rugs when they are still wet. Wet rugs can be easily damaged, particularly by heavy furniture. If you can’t afford to move all of your furniture off your rug for several hours, then invest in some protective pads that will fit under your furniture and keep it from having direct contact with your wet rug.

Also, it’s important to keep in mind that one of the most important pieces of rug cleaning equipment you need is a quality vacuum that can keep the dirt and dust from accumulating in the rug’s fibers.

Penny Rugs Then & Now

Penny rugs are a type of rug style that was popular back in the 19th century. Back then, most people could not afford to buy the expensive hand-crafted rugs available to the wealthy, so they had to become creative in order to develop their own beautiful rug styles.

The penny rugs were usually made from wool. Before the rug could be made, the wool would be washed so it would shrink to an appropriate size. If you’ve ever seen a penny rug, you realize that the main features are the circular elements. It’s these elements that give the rug its name because coins were used as templates to create those elements. The circles were embroidered into wool then layered onto the rug. Most of the designs were flowers, animals, or other simple images. The rug creators were generally made out of contrasting colors so the design elements stand out.

What may surprise you about penny rugs is that despite their name, they were rarely used as actual floor coverings. Instead, penny rugs were most frequently made as table covers or as wall hangings. Because wool was valuable to them, they didn’t want to waste it on the floors where it would be easily destroyed.

Today, the art of creating penny rugs is still alive and well in many craft communities. Most are still made from wool and embrace the same simple designs that made the originals so unique and loved by rug aficionados. The modern penny rugs are usually not made for practical reasons but for the love of the design and for the enjoyment of creating rugs. However, some penny rugs can still be purchased and can be used as floor coverings in bedrooms – they make adorable choices for children’s rooms – or can be used for decorating your walls or tables.

Regardless of how you choose to use them, you’ll quickly discover that penny rugs can make a charming addition to almost any part of your home.

Designer Area Rugs

Designer area rugs have become a popular choice for floor coverings that are not only beautiful but are perfect for making a stunning first impression on visitors. You might be surprised by just how many designer area rug collections are currently available. Let’s look at a few.

Kathy Ireland, the former swimsuit model, has an extensive line of area rugs made with natural materials. Her styles are all family-friendly and work well in almost any home or office setting. Some are even pre-treated with stain resistant chemicals so kids and pets won’t destroy these gorgeous designer area rugs.

Calvin Klein may be best known for creating eye-catching clothing and risqué commercials, but the name is now also associated with a line of designer area rugs. The Calvin Klein rugs are all made from New Zealand wool, as well as other high-quality fabrics, including silk. Many of his designer area rugs include understated designs and bold, dark colors.

Not all designer area rugs have to be created by big names in fashion. Marc Davidson area rugs are a good example. Davidson’s name does not have much recognition now because he is an emerging designer. However, his elegant rug styles in shades of tan, red, black, and brown with lots of lines and geometric designs would fit into any modern room.

For more colorful and contemporary designer area rugs, you might be interested in the pieces from Angela Adams’ collection. Her rugs come in bold colors, such as bright pink and rainbow patterns. Many of her designs are meant to be reminiscent of leaves and plants which bring a natural feel into the home without detracting from the area rug’s unique look.

Of course, these are only a handful of people behind designer area rugs. Many more collections are available, particularly over the Internet. Just keep in mind that you shouldn’t buy designer area rugs just for the name associated with them. Choose designer area rugs or any type of floor covering because it meets your needs and fits your décor.

Reasons to Buy a Bathroom Rug

Bathroom rugs are probably not the first item you think of when you’re planning to buy floor coverings, but they can be important for both aesthetic and practical reasons. Just as you’d be willing to shop around for the perfect rug for your kitchen or foyer, you should do the same when trying to buy bathroom rugs.

In most homes, the bathroom receives the least decorative attention, but it’s also the one room in our home that everyone is going to use and that even our guests are likely visit. We owe it to ourselves to make our bathroom look as nice as the rest of the house and to do that we should create an appealing visual look.

Bathrooms can also be places where we pamper ourselves and feel luxurious thanks to bubble baths, at-home spa treatments, massaging shower heads, etc. You can carry on this feeling by choosing a bathroom rug that makes you feel pampered, perhaps something warm and cozy as it wraps around your bare feet.

Of course, bathroom rugs are also a necessity in this room of your home. Tiles or linoleum, which are commonly the flooring of choice in bathrooms, can become very slick when wet, and bathrooms in use always seem to get a little damp. Remember that most accidents which happen at home happen in bathrooms, usually because a person slipped and fell. The rugs can provide you with better traction and can prevent your wet feet from sliding on the slick flooring.

While there are several excellent reasons to purchase a bathroom rug, you’ll want to choose carefully. The best bathroom rugs won’t be damaged by the water or humidity that is so common in that area of your house. You also want a bathroom rug that is easy to clean and durable since it will inevitable see a lot of wear and tear coming its way.

3 Good Reasons to Buy Area Rugs Online

3 Good Reasons to Buy Area Rugs Online

There are several excellent reasons to buy area rugs online. We’re going to look at just three of them, but if you’ve ever tried to decide whether or not to buy area rugs online, hopefully, these reasons will help you make that decision.

Reason #1: Huge selection

If you’ve been to stores specializing in area rugs, then you already know the selection is seriously limited. To really showcase everything available, the shop owner would need a gigantic space and that’s just not feasible. As a result, any time you visit a brick and mortar store you’re actually only seeing a small percentage of the options available to you. Now you may be able to expand those options by visiting multiple stores, but that takes time.

In comparison, you’ll be able to access a much greater selection at any single Internet vendor than you’ll find in any store. That’s one reason many people choose to buy area rugs online.

Reason #2: Convenience

A second reason to buy area rugs online is it’s simply more convenient. You don’t have to drive anywhere. You can explore the selection at your leisure from your office or your home. That’s an amazing advantage. Not to mention that buying online – contrary to what most people believe – is actually safer than doing transactions in person because the physical credit or debit card never leaves your hand.

Reason #3: Lower Prices

Running an online store is a major cost reducer. There’s not as many rent, utility bills, or employee expenses required to keep the business running. You don’t need huge showrooms, dozens of salespeople, costly climate control systems working to keep all of the customers comfortable at all times. Instead, you just need a web site and a customer service staff. Why should you care if you save your vendor money?

Well, the third good reason to buy area rugs online is that you end up saving lots of money in the process. And what’s better than buying a beautiful rug at a fraction of the price you’d pay in a store?

In the end, there are many reasons to buy area rugs online. However, these three reasons seem to be the ones urging more and more shoppers to use the Internet to buy their rugs.

Hook Rugs & History

Hook rugs are not a new phenomenon. In fact, they have been around for quite some time. The earliest examples of hook rugs came from England. In Yorkshire during the early 1800’s, floor mats found in the homes of weaving mill workers seem to exemplify the craft that led to hook rugs. What happened was that the employees were allowed to take leftover, useless pieces of yarn home with them. Being industrious and creative, the workers figured out how to use those small strips of yarn to create functional floor coverings for their homes.

As was clearly the case in England, early hook rugs were born from a lack of money. The weaving mill workers couldn’t afford the high priced rugs they were making so they resorted to a less expensive, more creative option. The same was true when the art came to the United States a few decades later. Even though hook rugs were popular among poor women, upscale families and magazines ignored the art and viewed it as basically a poor person’s way of decorating their home.

For a long time this continued to be the case and hook rugs were not prized by the wealthy. As America became a more wealthy country and more people could afford to buy rugs, hook rugs became a thing of the past and nearly became nothing more but an outdated craft no longer practiced. Then a woman named Pearl McGowan decided to rescue hook rugs from obscurity. She ended up standardizing the craft and helped make it popular among people of all classes, not just the lower ones.

Today, antique hook rugs can fetch a good price, particularly from collectors. You can also find ways of making your own hook rugs and many beautiful hook rugs can be purchased from retailers. Hook rugs are no longer just a method for poor people to cover their floors. Hook rugs are now a beautiful floor covering option everyone can enjoy.

Ralph Lauren Sisal Area Rugs

People who love elegant style and fashion were excited for good reason with the release of Ralph Lauren sisal area rugs. This line of high-quality rugs were designed to reflect the same sophistication as all of Ralph Lauren’s other furnishings and apparel collections. In fact, he chose to develop Ralph Lauren sisal area rugs in conjunction with one of the leading manufacturers of floor coverings in the world: Karastan.

Of course, Ralph Lauren sisal area rugs are only part of a sizable empire built for people who love decorating their bodies and homes in beautiful, well-made items. Today, Lauren’s name is synonymous with extravagance and success but things didn’t begin that way.

Long before Ralph Lauren sisal area rugs were launched to an eager public, he was growing up as Ralph Lifschitz in the Bronx. His parents were Jewish immigrants, and his father held the unglamorous job of painter, but not the artistic type. Although his origins did not seem to be the start of a man who would create a billion dollar fashion empire, Ralph Lauren did just that.

His interest in making money started as a young child so it was no surprise that he attended college to study business. What was more surprising was that he dropped out after only two years and took a job as a salesman at a Brooks Brothers store. Who would have thought that the man behind the luxurious Ralph Lauren sisal area rugs would have spent many days helping other men pick ties?

While he was working as a salesman, he developed a line of ties which he created with the help of financial support from a backer. Those ties were sold under the Polo name and were the first step on his incredible ladder of success.

He clearly came a long way from those humble roots in the Bronx. Today, Ralph Lauren sisal area rugs speak loudly about of his commitment to providing others many of the things he probably never had growing up: luxury, elegance, and style.

The Advantages of Rugs and Carpets

Rugs and carpets are sometimes overlooked by homeowners and others. People love the idea of having hardwood floors and will even pay more just to purchase a home without rugs and carpets. Unfortunately, many of these individuals don’t understand the many benefits of having rugs and carpets in their homes.

One benefit is warmth. If you’ve ever tried to walk barefoot on a hardwood or tile floor in the middle of winter, your feet know all too well why rugs and carpets are better. The floors are cold, and cold floors end up making your rooms feel colder. As a result, you’ll have to push your furnace harder to keep your house warm and that means higher heating costs. See, those gorgeous floors end up costing you in more ways than one.

Another benefit is safety. If you have young children who have a tendency to run in the house no matter how many times you tell them not to, then the advantage of rugs and carpets should be pretty clear. Hardwood and tile floors are slippery so falls are much more likely, plus the surface your little ones hit is not going to provide any cushioning at all. And it’s not just children who are risk from falls on these uncovered floor surfaces, so are pets, older people, and almost anyone else who comes into your home.

Additionally, rugs and carpets provide another benefit. They can be easily changed to modify the look and feel of your room. Hardwood floors may be beautiful with some styles of decorations in your home, but they don’t really help you convey a feeling of warmth nor do they work well with a modern décor or many other styles. Hardwood floors don’t work well for children’s rooms either. The bottom line is that rugs and carpets give you more control over setting the tone and feeling of your living space.

When you combine all of these advantages, it’s hard to imagine why more people don’t seek out rugs and carpets in their homes.

Southwest Rugs: Beautiful and Durable

Southwest rugs have become increasingly popular over the last several years with resurgence in the number of people looking to decorate their home in the style. Although the name of the rugs suggest they exemplify the culture of that entire region, Southwest rugs are mainly based on Native American designs and authentic ones are created in much the same way they were nearly two hundred years ago.

When you look closely at Southwest rugs you begin to recognize that the patterns reflect parts of the Native American culture. Imagery related to farming, such as crops and rain, are very important in these designs because those were prominent aspects of the weavers’ lives. Moat Southwest rugs are full of colors, but the colors are muted and earthy. That’s why they are so popular for living and family rooms which frequently are decorated in similar hues.

One of the benefits of Southwest rugs, however, is their strength. The yarn used to create these floor coverings gets its strength from the lanolin in the wool. Lanolin is a waxy substance that actually provides water proofing for the animals. It also protects the animal’s skins. Thanks to lanolin Southwest rugs are very durable and easy to maintain.

For many years, some feared that Southwest rugs would no longer be produced because the Native American artisans responsible for them could simply not afford to support themselves and their familiar on the income they made from producing the rugs. Although many weavers have abandoned the art, it has remained an important part of the Native American culture, particularly among the Navajo who produce some of the most highly sought after Southwest rugs. The tradition of weaving continues to past down, and the combination of these skills and the high-quality of the wool used to create them is continuing to make Southwest rugs a popular floor covering choice in modern homes.