What size rugs do I choose?

Choosing the right size rugs for your home can be challenging. For instance, how do you know what the right size rugs are for a dining room versus a living room?



There are a few rules to keep in mind that will help choosing the ideal rug easier. For example, if you are considering a rug for your dining room, pull all the dining chairs out as if you were sitting in the chair and preparing to excuse yourself from the table. Then measure an inch out from the rear legs of all the chairs. That distance is the minimum size the rug should be. The reason is that if the rug is any smaller, the rear legs of the chair will fall off the rug and make for an awkward exit from the table.





This is not a sorry attempt at having you spend more money with us, it is an important part of selecting the ideal rug. We would rather see you buy a bit lower quality area rug that is the right size for your room, than a higher end area rug that is too small. The smaller higher end rug will look cheaper and as if you were trying to cut corners more than the larger less costly rug would.

Another part of the home that often faces the issue of rugs too small for the space is the living room. Many of our customers select a 5x8 or 6x9 size rug for beneath their coffee table, when in fact such a rug size is really intended for use in a foyer or entryway.

The ideal size for most living rooms is a 7x10 or 8x11. The rug should fit beneath the sofa, side chairs if applicable and of course the coffee table. Such a rug will result in the living area being clearly defined by the area rug.

If you have any questions while looking through our rugs, be sure to let us know. Until next time, thanks for reading and enjoy this lovely summer day.

Being Cheap Doesn't Always Give You the Best Value

There is a big difference in being cheap and being frugal – many people confuse the two and I’d like to explain how we at Rugs to My Door try to show you the difference from buying a cheap rug and being frugal with your rug purchase. We offer thousands of rugs from the most inexpensive to top of the line hand crafted area rugs. While we think we offer many things cheap rugs aren’t one of them and here is why.

Although you may think you want a cheap rug, most people really want a good quality area rug at a great price. A cheap rug isn’t good quality and although it may be very inexpensive you won’t be getting a good value when you buy a cheap rug instead of great rug at a great price. We strive to offer you both great values and great prices there by giving you a frugal choice… being wise with your hard earned dollars.

Where a cheap rug will quickly cover your floor you will quickly begin to notice that the quality is inferior and the money you spent on it was wasted because it will need to be replaced quickly. A frugal rug purchase will give you a well-made rug, but still keep the price low, effectively giving you a much better value. It doesn’t matter if the rug you are looking at is at the low end of the price point or the highest price out there, if you aren’t getting a great value – you are not shopping with Rugs to My Door.

So, as you look through all of your flooring options and all the options you have for purchasing area rugs out there, remember that a cheap rug isn’t always the best value and for great value you need to shop Rugs to My Door.

Neutral Doesn't Have to Equal Boring

Many times I hear people tell me how boring neutral is – how much somebody must lack in imagination to keep everything in their home neutral – well I am here to tell you that there are both creative and exciting ways to be neutral. With the use of layering and textures, neutrals and a monochromatic décor can be invigorating and challenging. You don’t have to use bright and brilliant to make a statement, you can easily incorporate neutral case goods, soft goods, accessories, lamps and area rugs into your home and be as exciting as those who do it with color. Just remember that being neutral and exciting takes a bit more work.

I’ve picked out some of my favorite tone on tone, neutral and beige rugs to give you some ideas on how area rugs can help you with this decorating choice. Keep in mind that one of the hottest trends right now is the all white room – now this may not work if you are a busy family with small children, but the principals of a monochromatic neutral room can work just as easily with kid friendly shades of grey or beige as they can with white.

Do you want to be eco-friendly AND have a great neutral rug; you should take a look at the Oceans of Time collection of area rugs from Abbyson. The Caspian Deep Ecru area rug has great textures; great tonal values and is made from 100% organic Himalayan sheep’s wool and vegetable dyes. This area rug gives you great geometric design, but keeps the color tones simple and muted – a great addition to any room in which you want to relax.

How about a cheap rug that gives you a traditional look but keeps the color palette neutral? The Embraceable area rug from Fashion Source in Linen gives you both. The kid-friendly area rug is made from 100% polypropylene making it both easy on the eyes and easy to clean. Fashion Source if full of area rugs like this that give you great value and instant style. These rugs are frugal – cheap rugs that also give you great value.

Finally, let me go the complete opposite direction and show you a rug that is vibrant, exciting but is very neutral. This Aadi rug from Chandra gives you a great contemporary rug; great contemporary design but gives you a color range that is neutral and easy to incorporate into your home. You would have a very tough time calling this rug boring! Hand-loomed from 100% New Zealand wool you are getting an area rug that will last a lifetime and with such a striking design you’ll need a lifetime to completely enjoy it.

Hopefully I have given you some ideas of how fun and interesting neutrals can be – we have thousands of rugs on Rugs to My Door that allow you to change up your rooms with exciting neutral rugs – jut take a look.

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technical update

A Different Kind of "Stay-cation"

I don’t know about you, but for me the “stay-cation” is where it is at this year. The budget isn’t allowing me to jet off to the tropics or Europe or even just a simple trip to the coast. So, I’m doing what I can at home and nearby to enjoy my summer. I’m creating the tropics at home. I’ve had a margarita party with friends (by the second margarita we really didn’t care that we weren’t in Cancun) I went to the local beach, put some reggae music on my iPod and “stay-cationed” my way to a virtual Jamaica. Another thing I’ve tried is to decorate an area of my pad in a tropical theme – I didn’t spend too much money on it – took an outdoor chair I have, put it on a new tropical type rug, get myself a cool tropical drink, turn the fan on, grab a trashy novel and “stay-cation” my way to the Caribbean. I’ve picked out some of my favorite tropical type rugs below to see if I can spur your imagination. Let me know what you think about these area rugs.

Let’s start out with something simple like the All Weather Rug from Fashion Source – this rug is inexpensive, can be used either inside or as an outdoor rug and gives you the look of the beach with it’s lovely sand like color and the subtle beach grass motif. This is a perfect way to bring the beach and the tropics into your home with just the simple addition of an area rug.

Another great option comes from 828 and their Accent collection. I find if ever I need a theme rug, this is a great place to start. 828 comes up with some really great designs and colors and they always seem to fit in the spirit of what I’m trying to accomplish. The Day at the Beach area rug comes in 4 great sizes and is made from hand-hooked cotton fibers making it beautiful and eco-friendly. This rug is so nice that you might consider using it season after season to enliven a sunroom or a 3 season porch.

Finally, I have something less beachy but more in the way of nautical, for those of you that think of sailing and boats when it comes to the water instead of lounge chairs and mai-tais. The Nautical Flags area rug from Home Fires definitely makes you think of the wind and sails – it is another great way to bring the feel of the water into your home for your “stay-cation” - you don’t need a sail boat or need to live close to open water to enjoy the feeling of being on the water with this lovely area rug.

So, there are three great ideas of how area rugs along with some imagination can create a fun stay at home vacation for you that you can enjoy through-out the summer season.

Wizard of Oz

Rugs To My Door is located in downtown Detroit. My business partner and I were walking through the business district on our way from the parking structure to our offices this morning when we started up a conversation about how we do business.

After we swapped stories about some frustrating experiences with customer service (mine has been with AT&T asking me to repeat the same absurd test on my DSL line despite the fact that the connection is not working whatsoever) we realized that we, as the owners of the company, should be as accessible as possible.

With that in mind, at Rugs To My Door, we will be adding a "talk with the owners" function to the site. If at anytime you have a question or concern that you would like to share--you will not get tangled up in a web of phone prompts or email auto replies. You simply contact us-and we will address your concern and set you on the path to happiness.

In this time of uncertainty, sometimes getting back to basics is the best thing we can do. At Rugs To My Door, we genuinely do not want you to come to our store for a single order, but for your lifelong need for area rugs.

Until the "talk with the owners" functionality is setup you can reach us easily at:

wes.jenkins@rugstomydoor.com

and

paul.johnson@rugstomydoor.com

Until next time-thank you for your attention and for reading. We have the most popular area rug blog out there--and it is thanks to our dedicated customers.

Happy Summer!

The fly by night

So we at Rugs To My Door try our best to present our site to our customers in an up front and honest manner. Lately, the success of our blog has resulted in some of our competitors attempting to piggy back on it by making comments about our blog with the hopes we will post them-thereby redirecting a google spider from our blog to theirs.

Well, after refusing several of your attempts, I thought it would be more interesting just to call you out. Lets play nice and build our sites the way we should. Our blog is highly ranked because we have thousands of customers reading it and entries that occur on a very regular basis.

In short, don't be a fly by night. It's tacky.

System Enhancement by Wes Jenkins

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Refresh Your Rooms

How about some refreshment to your world? How about a way to refresh your home without spending an arm and a leg? How about a way to make small color changes that gives you big impact? Well here are some suggestions for you.

1. Pick a color that makes you happy and paint a wall that color – bring it together in the room with fabrics and area rugs.
2. Choose a new area rug that brings your favorite colors into a room and let it brighten your day and your home.
3. Add fresh flowers to a room – the colors will enliven your spirits
4. Find accent pieces at a flea market all in the same hue – group them together and let them be the spark that adds some color to your room.
5. Have a rug for different seasons – this lets you change the atmosphere in your home just by swapping out your rugs.
6. Feel free to mix the colors you love best in a room – Mother Nature does it with the flowers, why can’t you.
7. Look through all the rugs that we offer to find color inspiration – and then do something about it.

It doesn’t have to cost too much to brighten up your rooms and your life – at Rugs to My Door we give you thousands of area rugs to choose from that can make your decorating choices easier and your designs more exciting. You can do small things that create a new room – you do not have to sit in your home not enjoying it – you can do something about it! Create a new room, a new you, and refresh your home with an inexpensive area rug (or an expensive rug for that matter) and see how quickly and easily things change around you.

Rug Pad Video

This is our first attempt at video for our area rug site - hope you enjoy and check back as we get better and add more to Rugs to My Door.

Cheap Rugs

A budget is something all of us seem to be more and more aware of these days. We are very aware of the constraints of a budget right now – we live within them also. So, with that in mind let me share with you some budget conscious area rugs (cheap rugs) that can help you enliven your home and life without having to break the bank.

You can start with our Fashion Source line of area rugs, this line was conceived and comes to you in a way that gives you high fashion, great quality and amazing prices that help you keep well within your budget. There are pages upon pages of cheap rugs available within the Fashion Source line – go ahead take a look at these rugs we have collected for you.

Another place to look for cheap rugs is within our Area Rugs on Sale section – these rugs give you more great style and more great prices – there will be more added – more styles – more colors – more rugs for you to find what you need to decorate your home.

Rugs that last are another great way to stretch your hard earned dollars – who needs to spend money on a rug that won’t handle all your family can throw at it? I sure know I don’t – this is the time to be frugal - with that in mind I would like you to take a look at our collection of Family Friendly area rugs from Sphinx by Oriental Weavers. These area rugs not only look great, they are made to hold up to all your family can throw at them – giving you a rug that will last and last – with a 10 year soil and stain warranty you are sure to get your money’s worth from these cheap rugs.

Patio Make-over

A patio make over is just a click away with Rugs to My Door – with our huge collection and selection of outdoor rugs you can quickly make your patio an additional outdoor living space. There are hundreds of patterns and even more colors available to help you create the outdoor space that you’ve always wanted.

Why wait another day when you can easily create an amazing outdoor space – here are some easy suggestions and steps to help you do just that (and not spend a lot of money)

1. Find an outdoor rug that will give you inspiration – there are hundreds to choose from .
2. Check out flea markets for used outdoor furniture – a quick coat of spray paint will liven them up and you can easily choose a color that picks out something amazing from your outdoor rug.
3. Look for amazing fabrics to make cushions from.
4. Add accents such as tables or lighting that will give you a finishing touch.
5. This whole process can take little time and even less money – you can have a complete patio make over in just days.

Your imagination is the only stopper here – with the wide selection of outdoor rugs that we offer you will quickly and easily find just the right look to complete your patio make over. Go ahead and try it and make sure you send us the pictures of your make-over and let me know which outdoor rug you used.

Blue Rugs

If you are looking for a way to cool off this summer, why not look to a blue rug to do it for you. Blue may be a cool color but it is hot when it comes to rugs right now. This isn’t the time for soft calming blues, but blue rugs that quench the fiery heat of July. Let me show you some of those cool blue rugs now. I’m sure you will find just the perfect blue rug.

Take a look at this Boats rug from the Accent collection from 828… not only does it give you the cool feeling of blue – but it also gives you the cool of the water, the feel of the beach breeze. The Accents collection of blue rugs from 828 is a great place to look for rugs that give you a little bit more than just a covering for the floor. These hand-hooked cotton rugs are perfect for a beach house or a fun den – make sure you check out all the blue rugs available from 828.

Next, how about something from Feizy rugs? This company does an amazing job with color and style as seen here in the Qing design. This teal rug is a cool blue that will keep things from heating up too much this summer (not that we don’t like a little heat) this blue rug is hand-knotted in India from 100% wool. A hand knotted area rug is the best you can find and this blue rug not only gives you style but it will last for years to come because of its construction.

Finally a rug from Kas…. I always find that when you combine white and blue together you get a crisp clean and cool look. This hand hooked rug from the Winslow collection is a perfect example of just that. You have the cool blue, the fresh white and a design that will look beautiful on any sun porch or living area – delft is as cool as it is hot – so enjoy this blue rug from Kas

Hopefully these few area rugs give you some suggestions of what is possible with a blue rug this summer – if you have any questions on which blue rug will work best for you – just give us a call, we’ll be glad to help you select the perfect rug for your life.

The Newest Rugs

We are closing in on the July rug markets here at Rugs to My Door; this is the time of the year when our manufacturers begin to show us the newest rug designs and area rug colors – so as we see the new rug designs get ready to be wowed.

We are expecting new designs from Kathy Ireland Home from Shaw Living. The Kathy Ireland area rugs have been very popular and come with amazing designs and colors that seem to fit right into every home. We are expecting great things from this rug line.

Another company that will be launching some great new rug collections is Feizy. We added Feizy earlier this year and can already see how great this line of area rugs is. This is another great rug line that we are expecting to see really cool things come from this July.

Safavieh is launching a new collection of rugs designed by famed interior designer Thomas O’Brien. I have been a fan of his work for years now and I’m excited to see what he brings to the world of area rugs – trust me as soon as we get images I’ll get these rugs up onto the site so you too can see (and purchase) these great rugs.

Finally, Capel, one of our stalwart rug lines that always seem to have rugs that exceed our expectations will be partnering with Jane Seymour Designs to bring us a brand new collection of rugs for today’s home. This promises to be a great new launch and I can’t wait to show you what they have in store for new rugs.

I will keep you posted on all the new products coming out this season, and get them up and onto our site as quickly as possible so you can be the first to see and own the newest area rugs out there.

Spotlight on Sphinx Rugs

One of my favorite rug companies is Oriental Weaver Sphinx. The folks at Sphinx have been making area rugs for decades and they certainly know what they are doing. No matter what style or color you may be looking for Sphinx has it. They are industry leaders when it comes to style and design.

One of my favorite things about Oriental Weaver’s rugs is that they have designs and colors that fit any décor. They know what the hottest colors are and make sure they have area rugs that reflect these trends. They also know where the world of home fashion is headed and make sure their rugs work in a real world setting. Just take a look at their Generation’s line of rugs – these are one of the top selling rug lines in all of the world and you can see why just by looking at the styles, designs and colors these rugs come in.

Another great thing about Sphinx is the amazing depth of their line – not only do their rugs come in the typical rectangular size, they also some in a variety of shapes and sizes that will fit into any home. Need a rugs runner, Sphinx has it – how about a round rug, again Sphinx has it – what about squares, ovals or octagons?? Sphinx has those rugs too… not to mention that they have one of the largest selections of regular sizes so you will be able to find a rug to fit perfectly into any room.

Next, they have taken some of the best names out there and created rugs that fit with their style. Whether it is the avant-garde nature of Andy Warhol or the earthier feel of National Geographic – Oriental Weavers has taken the lead on giving you great designed area rugs from some of the best names in the business. Go ahead, take a look at the fabulous Andy Warhol rugs!

Finally, along with making sure that they have the best area rug designs and colors, Sphinx makes sure that they keep a deep inventory so you can get your rug quickly – in fact most Sphinx rugs ship within 96 hours of you placing your order – need it fast – look for a Sphinx area rug.

Punch Up Your Style with a Rug

Punch up your style (well your house’s style) with a new rug from Rugs to My Door. No matter what style you have from Traditional to Contemporary (even us lucky eclectics) we have just the right area rug for you.

If you are looking for a traditional Oriental rug (some say Persian Rug) just click on the Traditional Rugs link on the left side of our home pages and you will be presented with thousands of Oriental rug options for you to get your fix. If thousands are too many – try narrowing down your search by color, size or manufacturer – any way we can make the search for an area rug easier for you we try.

How about a modern and contemporary rug? We have those too – in fact I love our selection of contemporary rugs – so vibrant and so full of life – go ahead, click on Contemporary Rugs and see all the amazing selections we have – want me to narrow it down a bit? How about a snazzy new rug from Chandra – often imitated by never duplicated. Another great line that has some fun AND inexpensive grouping of contemporary rugs is Nina Upson Home – I just love the colors and the graphic design here!

How about a true Tibetan area rug? We have those too – Abbyson makes some amazing Tibetan’s using organic wool and vegetable dyes – we’ve just introduced their line to our collection so take a look – I have to say they are even more beautiful in person than they are on the screen so be prepared to be wowed when you open up your package and set your eyes upon the wonders of a hand-knotted Tibetan area rug!! By the way, if you want to see these rugs, just click on the center graphic on our home page introducing Abbyson – we’ll whisk you right to these gorgeous rugs.

If your indoors looks good – why not take a look outside and do what many are doing by punching up the style (and adding living space) by creating an outdoor room – this is the time of the year to utilize all that wonderful outdoor space and with one of our amazing outdoor rugs you can quickly and easily make it look more livable. We have a wide variety of outdoor rugs for you to select from and these outdoor rugs come in all price ranges – so go ahead – browse to your heart’s content, just make sure you go to the check out page so your rug can be delivered right to your door – both you AND your room will be happy you did.

Budget Room Design with Area Rugs

I think we all hear the word budget these days – whether we try to travel on a budget, eat on a budget, entertain on a budget or in my case (more often than not) decorate on a budget. There are a lot of ways to stretch your decorating dollars- whether it is a quick fresh paint job, adding some new throw pillows to your sofa, flea market or garage sale finds or my favorite (wait for it…) a new area rug.

Area rugs are one of the most cost effective ways to update a room and its feel. You can add a punch of color and drama with rugs or you can tone things down and add a sense of calm with a rug. It’s all how you use it and it all can be very inexpensive.

Take this example – you have tired, old furniture and a builder beige carpet on the floor – try this… Get simple white slip covers for the chairs and sofa – find a bright and fun area rug to place between them all, then accent the sofa with pillows that pull out the colors, add nick-nack and flowers and presto you have a brand new room.

An area rug is the perfect jumping off place for decorating a room on a budget – it gives you an instant color palette, anchors the room and adds a personal flair. Once you’ve picked out the perfect rug, take your inspiration and go looking for fun fabrics to help tie things together. Discount stores are a great place to find bright fun napkins that can be sewn together to create pillows – or bedding that can create a curtain or a fun accent slip cover – just use your rug as a jumping off place and I’m sure you will see in no time how easily (and inexpensively) you can wake up a tired room.

A couple great places to look for cheap area rugs are from our Fashion Source collection and our Sphinx by Oriental Weavers collections.