Rug Renew

Area rugs find a good source of cleaning power with the exclusively distributed Rug Renew area rug cleaner. Offered only through Rugs To My Door, this incredible blend of advanced solvents does just the trick on area rug stains.

So next time you are on your way to the checkout, be sure to add the fabulous Rug Renew product to your cart. It is both very well priced and very useful. I should know, I tested it and now use it myself.

Wes.

Revise Search-revised

Just like a "brick and mortar" or what you might recognize as a regular store such as Macy's or Target frequently updates it's layout or product assortment, so does Rugs To My Door. Recently the new function of search was launched which allows the customer to look for rugs more organically. So if the results you see do not match what you had in mind or you would like to refine them a bit...just choose from the range of drop downs. Take a look:

This is just one of several site upgrades that you will see from Rugs To My Door. It is really cool though and much more intuitive. Check out the next update to the site (hopefully tomorrow) which will be to our Hottest Trends department.

Until next time, be safe and enjoy life!

Traditional Rugs and your home

Traditional Rugs have a long and storied history. Their stylings have stood the test of time and in many cases are updated only to reflect the latest fashion colors while the traditional rug patterns remain unchanged.


There is a wide range of different traditional rugs available and in many instances the technical names of the patterns do not matter to the consumer as much as the styling that they represent. So, rather than focus on the original origin of patterns or what the names of traditional rug types are, I will pay more attention to the modern interpretations of area rugs and how they can be applied to today's interiors.


medallion traditional rugs


The ornate styling that is typical of medallion traditional rugs is a great way to make a home look more upscale than it may actually be. This pattern for instance from our Allure Collection is made of 100% Nylon-so it is great for busy homes with kids and pets-retails at only $249 for the 5.3x7.9 size. It is common for the 5x3x7.9 size to be used in front of a sofa. Medallion traditional rugs are known by their symmetrical styling which is reflected in this piece.


The Allure Collection is crafted using wilton weaving, so the pile height on the rug is relatively low making door clearances low on the list of concerns. Another great thinga bout woven rugs is their face pile is locked in by the warp and weft yarns, ensuring a longer lasting rug. Finally, woven rugs can be more heavily cleaned, since they have no latex secondary backing which could prove problematic if the rug was oversaturated. The Allure Collection offered at Rugs To My Door is a sure bet with it's updated colors of burnt reds and golds. Really, the collection is considered real proof that even traditional rugs can be used in more fashion forward settings if they are infused with modern colors.


transitional or casual traditional rugs
A really cool and hip direction in traditional rugs is the transitional traditional. This might seem like a mouthful at first, but upon more careful consideration it really does make a lot of sense. Essentially, a transitional traditional rug is a pattern that takes very traditional elements such as medallions or floral sprays and it blows them up and then uses them in a panel effect which makes the rug look more transitional or casual.



This pattern from the Rugs To My Door Amherst Collection is crafted of all wool, so it would be ideal for a bedroom or master study. Incredibly, the 5x8 size rug in this series retails for only $599 and features hand surged edges, so you need not fear about a pesky fringe getting caught up in your vacuum cleaner. Traditional rugs take on a whole new look and feel depending on the coloring or styling that goes into them. With this piece, the subdued colors and balance of pattern really makes it feel a lot more casual than it otherwise would.





sarouk traditional rugs
Traditional rugs also come in more delicate patterns such as this piece from the Rugs To My Door Patina Collection. Crafted on a Wilton loom of 100% New Zealand Wool, this premium Collection is both durable and elegant. While the word Sarouk may sound technical, it really boils down to meaning it is a traditional pattern with floral sprays. The pattern shown here is styled to look antiqued or to have a patina, further adding to it's charm.

So the world of traditional rugs really is more diverse and interesting than may have once been perceived. Be sure to browse the huge selection that Rugs To My Door offers. They have rugs in a lot of different price points and styling from traditional rugs to contemporary rugs.

Until next time, thank you for reading. Wes Jenkins.

Family Friendly Rugs defined

When considering new area rugs, a few questions come to mind right away:

What colors would work best in my room?

What style am I looking for?

But once you choose a rug and get it into your home, you might be asking yourself other questions:

Why did I choose this rug?

I have only had this rug a few months, why does it look so bad?

Well Rugs To My Door does not want their customers to be in such a situation which is why the Family Friendly category of area rugs was established. It takes the guesswork out of selecting an area rug that is ideal for your home environment.

All of our Family Friendly Rugs come with a 10 Year Stain and Soil Guarantee. Combine this with the stain fighting power of our Rug Renew rug cleaner, and you will have a rug that looks really good not only now but for years to come.

By definition, our Family Friendly Rugs are going to hold up to the spills and traffic that are a routine part of a busy family home. They are made of fibers that were made to resist all sorts of spills. Plus they will not pill or fuzz like other fibers can, so you don't have to worry about your child's toys being tangled up with rug fibers.

Pause for Station Identification

The Rugs To My Door site has a blog written every day. Day in and day out you will find fresh and interesting information about the area rug industry right here. Not just technical mumbo jumbo but things that really apply to your life like-which rug should I choose for a home with a lot of kids?

The other part of this company is entirely unrelated to area rugs, however. It is a company that we like to think is quite rare, but would thrive regardless of whether we were offering customers area rugs or boomerangs. The part of the company I speak of is the people. While many organizations sell rugs, we pride ourselves on having a tight knit community that is cared for by the ownera unlike any other place in the area rug industry.

Why do we do it? Because we have a social responsibility to provide a better life for those that choose to work for us. We genuinely feel that a satisfied employee will be a better employee and provide you with a better experience. Sure you can buy an area rug anywhere. But what you cannot buy is the incredible service that you obtain at Rugs To My Door. What's more, we are a small business that gives back both to the local community of Detroit, MI as well as to the staff that calls Rugs To My Door their place of employ.

Thanks for reading. Check back tomorrow for our continuation of the series on what defines the wide range of different rug styles. I think tomorrow's will be Family Friendly Rugs. But you will have to wait until then to be sure ;)

Good evening to you and yours.

Eco Friendly Rugs defined

Eco friendly rugs are a relatively new category in the area rug industry. While other categories such as contemporary or traditional rugs are fairly straight forward to spot, eco friendly rugs come in all sorts of different genres from braided all the way to contemporary, so determining which rugs are eco friendly versus not can be a bit of a challenge.

When trying to put the puzzles together to make your home more green and have a softer impact on the environment there are several different factors that come into play. At first thought, simply buying an area rug made of wool would seem to be the most environmentally sound route to take. Upon more careful consideration however, the options begin to blur a bit. For instance:

What if the wool area rug you are considering is made with a synthetic back on it?
Can a nylon rug be eco friendly?

My point is that just like in politics, the world of eco friendly rugs can be a bit more complex than would initially seem to be the case. So when Rugs To My Door chose it's assortment of eco friendly rugs, it did so with several factors in mind so that the end offering would be a balance of products based on how far they had to travel to get to our warehouse (since shipment fuel has it's own impact on the environment) along with other factors.

If you prefer to browse the Rugs To My Door site for rugs that may fit into an eco friendly category beyond those that are already offered in our own selection, then a great tip is to do a detailed search and choose only the following attributes: Wool (or New Zealand Wool) and Hand Knotted. While hand knotted rugs are a bit more costly than their machine made counterparts, they have a much lower impact on the environment.

So how do we define eco friendly rugs? Rugs that are less environmentally impactful than others within the same genre. In most cases you can find rugs that are both eco friendly and highly fashionable. Plus wool as a fiber lasts a really long time so replacing your area rugs would be done more for the sake of style than necessity.

Keep the questions and comments coming, we appreciate them read them and review all of them.

Contemporary Rugs defined

Contemporary rugs, also known as modern rugs can bring a space to life with their bold colors and cutting edge designs. This pattern, named Setting Suns from our Andy Warhol Home Collection is crafted on a wilton machine and made of 100% heatset polypropylene. The intensely bold styling of the Andy Warhol Home Collection is a prime example of what makes up a great contemporary rug with it's bold bright colors and eye catching styling.

Another popular collection of contemporary rugs is our New Wave line. Made of 100% wool, this hand tufted collection of area rugs is the most popular series of contemporary wool rugs in the world.

By looking at the Andy Warhol Home Collection and the New Wave Collection, we can see some commonality that will help us better define contemporary rugs as a genre. This is in my mind the easiest rug type to determine since the colors and patterning is so bold and unique they stand out among other rug types such as casual or traditional rugs.

When looking for contemporary rugs, be sure to consider the fibers you are choosing which are an important part of the area rug selection process. For tips on the right fibers to use in your area rugs, consider some of the previous blog entries at Rugs To My Door.

Casual Rugs defined

This segment of area rugs is one that is quite interesting to me. The reason it interests me is that until approximately fifteen years ago it just did not exist. Rugs fell into much more defined categories such as traditional or contemporary.

Then a little known company by the name of Oriental Weavers changed the playbook by introducing their Gabbeh Collection in approximately 1994. At the time this collection was incredibly innovative since it took some of the best attributes of traditional rugs and blended them with characteristics of more modern or contemporary rugs. The result was a sales boom that the area rug industry had truly never seen before. The Gabbeh Collection put Oriental Weavers on the map and made the category of "Casual Rugs" one that endures and thrives today.

Now that we have briefly covered the history of casual rugs, I will briefly share how casual rugs can work with your home interior. A rug from this genre can make a very traditional space look a bit more modern. It can also a sharply contemporary space look a bit softer. Finally, and quite possibly most importantly, a casual rug can help take a room that has several design elements such as a contemporary sofa and a more traditional coffee table and bring them all together by sharing elements of all of them.

At Rugs To My Door, one of the most popular transitional or casual patterns is offered by Sphinx by Oriental Weavers. Our Generations Collection Pattern Chanler Sage Green is a great example of a casual pattern at it's finest. With coloring that is actually a bit more traditional including soft greens and beiges it's casual elements are shown by the addition of vines that delicately grace both sides of the pattern.

The great thing about casual rugs is that you really can use them in a much greater range of spaces that would be applicable for area rugs in set genres such as traditional or contemporary rugs. These sort of casual patterns are really fresh and exciting and can add visual interest to the floor and create a conversation piece.

Another great thought is to use a casual pattern to enhance a room where you might be a bit leery of adding too much color (that may be found in a contemporary rug). A casual pattern would work to add a stylish new look to a room without overpowering it with a whole lot of new colors that may sometimes fight with what you already have going on. Take a look at this great room scene which is an ideal example of how subtle earthtones can be added to a room with such a casual pattern to bring a much more updated and clear appearance to the decor.

So whether you are looking to start with a whole new look for your room, or to add an area rug to a room that has already been completely set up, casual rugs really are a great place to get started. They are versatile, and oftentimes very reasonably priced thanks to manufacturing advancements that allow for much more efficient production of high quality area rugs.

Keep checking back for additional education tid bits on our blog. I love sharing information about this incredible industry. It is a lot of fun and continues to grow and change.

Have a great weekend, and enjoy the beginning of our fall season.

A free education opportunity

Rugs To My Door offers thousands of area rugs that are sourced from all over the world. The good news about this is there is a large assortment to shop through. The unfortunate part is that it can sometimes seem like a bit too much to look at.

Fortunately, the area rugs have all been given style designations such as "Traditional Rugs" or "Casual Rugs".

Since Rugs To My Door believes that an educated consumer will invariably make a better customer, the next several blog entries will be related to area rug styles in an effort to provide a better understanding of each them.

In the coming entries, the basic definition of rug styles will be discussed, as well as examples of how such a style might work best for a given space.

For instance, can a traditional rug be placed in a room with more casual furniture? Would a shag rug look out of place in a room that looks like it came out of the pages of Pottery Barn? By answering questions about area rugs and how they can be incorporated into the design scheme of a room, it is our goal to ease any concern you may have over selections and make it more comfortable for you to transform your space into a dwelling that you can be proud of.

So be on the lookout for each new entry. Tomorrow's edition will discuss traditional rugs. Until next time, be well and happy browsing.

Area rugs for damp spaces

In an ideal world, home interiors would be consistently free of any dampness and would be sealed off from the outside elements. In reality however this is sometimes a very difficult goal to accomplish. Structural imperfections can lead to a leaky home and lower levels can, over time, become more likely to allow water to come in.

So how do area rugs fit into this picture? Rather than installing carpet wall to wall in a room that may be prone to leaks, consider using rugs that are outdoor friendly.

As an example, let's proceed as if a room in your home has just been subjected to water damage. These are the steps that may be taken to ensure the next water problem does not become an overwhelming disaster.

1)Remove all the furniture from the room.

2)Remove the installed floor covering and dispose of it.

3)Determine the state of the floor (IE is it concrete? what sort of shape is it in? etc).

4)Smooth out the surface if necessary by using concrete filler as needed.

5)Select a paint that is suitable for use on concrete floors, and paint only the perimeter of the room with this color.

6)Choose area rugs that coordinate with the room decor from the Rugs To My Door indoor/outdoor category.

7)Lay the rug over the floor so that the only portion of the hard floor that is showing is painted, with the non painted portion of the floor being covered by area rugs.

8)Allow the area rugs to acclimate to this new room for at least 48 hours before replacing the furniture (if you do not allow the rug to acclimate and immediately replace all the furniture, the rugs could bunch)

9)Replace all the furniture.

This way if the room takes on water again, you simply need to remove the indoor/outdoor area rug and place it somewhere that it can dry out quickly. Once it is entirely dry, just put it back into place and no permanent harm has been done.

At Rugs To My Door, our business is as much about solutions to life challenges as it is about area rugs themselves.

A historical look at area rugs

Area rugs have been warming the floors of America's home since it's inception. But prior to that, how did the area rug industry evolve, and from what roots do we now see a full grown assortment of patterns, colors, styles, and fibers from which to choose?

Much of the craft that goes into today's area rug creation is thanks to the skilled tradesmen of the far east, and their ability to pass on their knowledge to future generations. Originally, rugs were either knotted with a cut pile on top (rugs as we know them are mostly similar to this construction), or woven where the face of the rug is flat-very dialed down, and looped pile.

The oldest known surviving area rug dates all the way back to the 5th century BC. One of the most remarkable things about this is the pattern of the area rug is something that you may very easily find in a person's home decor today. The timeless elegance and grace of a new area rug defies the ever changing fashion trends that seem to sometimes swirl around us.

As the demand for area rugs increased over the last several hundred years, new ways of crafting rugs came on the horizon. Now there are five prominent methods of production which include:

Hand Hooked — The weaver pushes a hooking tool through the foundation cloth to the front of the rug, then pulls the yarn to the back, leaving a loop on the surface.

Hand Knotted — Each knot is individually tied by hand. These knots are single strands of yarn that have been looped around two adjacent warp threads.

Hand Tufted — An inked-on foundation cloth is stretched over a loom. Then a manually operated hand-tufting gun pushes the yarn through the back of the cloth. When the rug is taken off the loom, a scrim and layer of latex is placed on the back. A back-cloth is then sewed on to the latex and scrim to protect your floors.

Jacquard — A mechanized loom that has an endless belt of punched cards. The holes in the card are arranged to produce the weave of the rug.

Wilton Loom — These rugs bear a close resemblance to hand-knotted rugs, but are machine made. The pile is woven between two backings and then split down the middle — so you get two separate rugs.

The richness and long storied history of area rugs is something that is fascinating and rich in heritage. From the point of concept to your home, new area rugs go through a time honored tradition of creation that has literally been passed on from generation to generation.