In need of some wisdom, fellow DAers. We've just finished piling into a new house over the holidays. We had carpet at our previous residence(which I abhor for the most part). But the new place is predominantly hardwood throughout. We had the main wing floors refinished as there was carpet down over them in the bedrooms and the main living/dining along with the hallway and entryway were pretty dull. The floors came out great and we're quite pleased with them. But now I'm torn over what type of rug to use in what will be a very active living room. I'll post pictures later once I have a few free minutes. But our living dining is an open layout with some sort of strange built-in distinguishing the two. I have a 9x12 persian down in the dining room which is roughly 14x14. But the living space is roughly 14x20 requiring at least a 10x14 rug it seems. My wife and I had originally talked about putting an earthy toned shag rug down. From a comfort standpoint, I think this would be a great option. And shag tends to mask the dirt and grime rugs tend to pick up in high traffic areas very well(I have two little boys, mind you). But I have two issues with it. First, 10 foot by 14 foot is alot of shag. I'm not sure I won't tire of it rather quickly once it's down. And two(the actual functional issue), shag seems much tougher to clean. Sure, quality commercial grade shag can be vacuumed. But I can't imagine it cleaning up as well as a tightly knotted Persian or Soumak would. I had a flokati at one point and it was an absolute nightmare. We ended up throwing it out. I know quality woven shag isn't as difficult. But what do you all think? Would a Persian, Tibetan or Soumak be more functional in such an active space? And if I were content with a simple earthy color to begin with, would Flor be the better option?
Quite a lot of beautiful rugs
can be found at Retromodern...check out the link and good luck
http://www.retromodern.com/browse.asp?category=678
Sounds like
you already know what you like.
Flor is pretty great. I have it in my studio. It is easy to clean but the higher
traffic areas do get grimier. And it is reminiscent of 70's wall-to-wall.
(despite the pretty pictures on the website)
Great for kids though. Spill a juice or a glass of wine and that tile goes right in
the tub for a hose-down. I have three tiles out in the yard now covered in
snow. (a few were out all last winter, testament to durability)
I have a few dozen extras so i just brought a dozen up to do a test running
through the kitchen. I recently re-waxed and elder dog is having trouble so they
do make a fine runway for her.
Flokatis are great but not for wood floors. They slip around. I cut mine into 4x4
squares. Go in the wash and dryer. Great dog beds. They just get better and
fluffier. (I didn't stitch the seams. They held fine and got a bit tighter in the dryer.)
I'm going through the same. I just ordered shag samples. The wool one in the
foreground is the most similar to the vintage one that had to go recently.
It had come with the house but at 40+ years old the backing was deteriorating.
We like to sit on the floor so thick 3inches is important.
(yes, that is bunched up flokatis in the background. Temporary until we solve
this)
This shag has an extremely firm backing, so no shifting.
I need a 10x10 but it is not in a traffic area. If you have to walk across it to reach
another part of the house, it is like walking on a mattress. Not so good.
My nephews slept on the old one in front of the fire watching tv. I want to
repeat that comfort. I'm still looking, but this is the best so far.
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