Decorating With Rugs - Part I

Decorating your home or office with handmade or machine-loomed area rugs, whether new, antique or semi-antique can be quite a rewarding experience. Even an interior decorating novice can do a lot to enhance the look of any room with a correctly selected and placed an area rug.

One of the first things one should decide in selecting an area rug for a room is determining the price range of the rug you want to buy. That decision is not only determined by your financial budget, but also by your purpose in decorating your floors with rugs. If you are interested in having the rug you purchase not only be a beautiful decorative piece to add to your floor, but also be a good financial investment, that could add considerable valve to your home, you may want to consider one of a variety of handmade rugs or antique rugs on the market today. If you are interested in adding a beautiful area rug to your room that is more affordable and durable, it is a good idea to consider one of the many different types of machine-loomed new area rugs.

With handmade rugs, one needs to understand several things. Besides the fact that one is going to pay more money for any one rug piece, you should expect that the handmade or antique rug will retain it's asset value considerably longer more than any machine-made rug product. It then follows, that one will want to protect a handmade or antique rug from excessive abuse or wear and tear. In other words, if you expect children and pets to be putting a rug through an excessive wear and tear situation, one generally stays away from handmade rugs and antique rugs. This said, a handmade or antique rug can be an excellent investment in your home or office, with the rug not only adding decorative beauty to the room, but also uniqueness and distinction that only a fine work of art would add to your life.

On the other hand, where one expects a rug to be put "through it's paces" with children playing on it, for example, one of the better choices would be a durable, machine-loomed area rug, that is affordable enough to possibly be replaced in a few years and that is easy to clean and wash in the meantime. A machine-loomed, synthetic area rug may not hold on to it's asset value over the years, but it's ease of cleaning and care may be perfect for a particular home owner.

So it really depends on your purpose in owning the rug and how you expect to use it.