lexingtonorientalrugs.com Blog

Hand-knotted Kazaks overlapping on stairs. Zouroffy

Stairways are often overlooked as an area that will add beauty and warmth to our home.  More often than not, our clients don’t realize that there are options for a stairway beyond bare wood.  If you have children… well, you are probably well aware that bare wood may not be the best option for heavy traffic.  Just ask my parents… I am sure that the sound of my little brothers running down the stair made plenty of noise even if you didn’t include the crying when one of them slipped down the last steps.

Bare wood stairs are beautiful.  And noisy.  And slippery.  And that’s why we have stair runners.

Stair runners are a great solution to provide peace and quiet and added safety to your stairs. They can be understated or a real design element in their own right. Many of my clients have questions about stair runners, such as: how wide should they be, what to do at the landing, and where should the runner end?

1)  The first thing you need to figure out is if you need an installer or not.  If you have a simple stairway (a straight shot with no curves) and are good with tools and measurements, you can probably install the runner yourself.  Otherwise, just trust us and hire an installer.  The problems are too numerous to list, so leave it up to a professional.

Machine-made rug with stair rods. Zouroffy

2)  The second thing you need to figure out is where you want the stair runner to begin and end.  You have a few choices.    The runner should either begin at the base of the first stair or just under the lip of the bottom tread on the first stair.  The runner should end either at the end of the tread of the last stair or at the top of the final riser.

3)  How should I handle landing or turn in the stairway?  That actually depends on the individual stairway.  There are a few options.  You can leave the landing open.  You can connect the runners at the angle (requires an installer).  You can place a coordinating area rug on the landing.

4)  How wide should the runner be?  Again, this actually depends upon your stairs.  As a general rule, we like for at least 4” of wood to show on either side of the runner.  This is enough that you will have plenty of area to walk on while keeping the area looking nice.

Machine-made roll runner connected on a landing. Zouroffy

5)  How should the runner be attached to the stairway?  There are options that we find to be the most popular for aesthetics, safety, and durability.  Stair rods can add an accent to the stairway, and allow you to remove the runner easily.  If you don’t like the look or added expense of stair rods, an installer can nail or tack the runner down to the stairs treads.

6)  What type of runner should I use?  You can use any of the three types of rugs (hand-knotted, machine-made, hand-tufted), but usually machine-made or hand-tufted rug work the best.  Many manufacturers of these types of rugs make what we call roll-runners.  These are long runners (sometimes over 100’ long) that are designed to be cut and bound at the exact length needed for your stairs.  Hand-knotted rugs, while beautiful and durable, are very difficult to alter and are much more rare in the typical lengths needed to cover longer stairways.

When you get ready to place a runner on your stairs, you will definitely want to talk to your local professional oriental rug dealer.  They will not only give you tips on selecting the right rug and measuring, but should also be able to reference you to a professional installer.

Hauling rugs around is no easy task. It takes strength, it takes determination, it takes… a bigger group of employees so we don’t need as much strength and determination. We would like to think that moving all of our rugs around has kept us in shape and healthy. The 2012 Run for the Hill 5k put this thought to task.

Team Lexington Oriental Rugs participated in the 2012 Run for the Hill 5k supporting Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital. Why you ask? Because we love punishment… and because it was a great community event to support an amazing hospital. You never know how important the work that Cardinal Hill does is until you see a group of wheel-chair racers burning up the course.

Seriously, those athletes will send a chill through you… and the employees and facilities of Cardinal Hill are what makes it possible.

Thanks to all of our team members and all of our awesome clients that we saw at the event participating.

Team Lexington Oriental Rugs is a group of company employees, clients, and friends that are interested in giving back to the community through local charity events and fundraisers. Events vary from charity road races to Habitat for Humanity builds. You may be able to recognize a team member by their brightly colored shirts, with a team logo on the front and a quirky nickname on the back. If you would like to join our team, it’s free, and we are always looking for members. We usually sponsor our members, and members will also get a free team shirt/jersey. And, of course, the events are always fun and rewarding. You can learn more by contacting Chad at 859-254-4412 or by visiting our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/rugslex.

Living in Kentucky means dealing with unpredictable weather.  It means tornados, then 60 degrees, then 6 inches of snow.  Seriously, that is exactly what has happened over the last three days.  As crazy as it sounds… it is still beautiful here.  And we are grateful for it. 

When you are surrounded by beauty and awesome customers every day, it can be easy to goof off and take things a little less seriously.  So here is our photoshopped snow creation.  We hope you enjoy.

Here is what the store actually looks like:

We live in what I like to call a “throw-away society.” We buy things that we like, use them, and when the items become obsolete or broken, we throw them away. Even our large expenses such as vehicles or high-end electronics are eventually going to make their way to the trash heap. We, as consumers, have grown to expect a certain period of use, and then expect to begin looking for a replacement.

One of the most common questions we get at our business is how we can afford to offer our Lifetime 100% Trade-In Policy. It’s a legitimate question. Can you think of any other items that you can purchase, use and abuse, and then return for your full purchase price in in-store credit? I only wish that you could do that with a car…

Hand-knotted oriental rugs should not fall into the “throw-away” category. If constructed properly a hand-knotted rug should last a lifetime, or roughly 70-80 years. Even with heavy wear and tear, a well-maintained rug can last even into 100 or 150 years. And some of the most valuable rugs are literally hundreds of years old.

The secret is held within the construct of a hand-knotted rug, individual knots, tied by hand on a foundation of interwoven strings. The use of strong, natural materials such as wool, cotton, and silk also help to ensure a long lasting product. When a hand-knotted rug is damaged, the damaged knots are removed, the warp and weft re-attached and new knots are tied.

But here is the real secret as to why we can offer the trade-in policy- hand-knotted rugs actually increase in value with both use and age. As the pile of your rug is worn down to the original knots, the rug develops a softness, a patina, and a sharpness of pattern that can only come from many years of wear. (Antique rugs must be at least 100 years old.) This makes the rug not only more rare, but more appealing to those looking for an old-world look and feel.

So that’s how we can do it. You always have the rug you want, and the rug you trade in is more valuable. Everybody wins, everybody is happy! If you would like to learn more, or would like to see the details of our policy, contact a sales associate or visit our website at www.lexingtonorientalrugs.com/tradeinpolicy.

For those of you that don’t know, our store is in Lexington, Kentucky.  Typically, February brings a mixture of either snow or ice to complicate our daily commutes.  Mother Nature has played tricks on us this year, sprinkling in 50 degree sunny days between rain and snow showers to keep us confused about what jacket to wear in the morning.  Spring can’t get here fast enough.  And our store is starting to show our anticipation.

Check out this great room setting I found while wandering our store this morning.  I didn’t need to go too far to find some inspiration… our on-staff designers make sure of that.

The weathered wood style has really come into its own, and the popularity doesn’t seem to be slowing.  It is a casual, yet sophisticated look that will prove to be timeless.  This particular bed is from Lexington Home Brands, the Henry Link Collection.  The Colton’s Point bed will surprise you with a texture and range of color that needs to be seen in person to truly appreciate.

The art above the headboard is by one of our favorite accessory manufacturers, Uttermost.  The mirrored frames add a transitional/contemporary feel to the setting.  The mirror to the right of the bed is by Bernhardt, as is the nailhead chest below.  The small chair that managed to sneak into the picture is the Joanna chair by Taylor King.

We really love the combination of the weathered woods and mirrored frames with the light blue wall.  The setting feels light, soft, and tranquil.  You can almost imagine sunlight coming through an open window while you sleep late on a Sunday. 

Here is a great rug that could be paired with this setting.  The Vestiges Collection by Jaipur Rugs features some wonderful repeating patterns with very subtle colors.  The rugs in this collection are hand-knotted using high-grade wools to last a lifetime.  Not all rugs need to anchor a room, and this one would fit into the setting nicely, accentuating the feel without stealing the show.

Are you aching for spring to be here?  We are.  Come into out showroom and speak with one of our on-staff interior designers to get an early start on the Spring season.  After all, it’s never too early to feather your nest…

Come in and visit our showroom at any time of the year and you will find us stocked with a huge selection of great hand-knotted rugs by a manufacturer named Kalaty. We’ve been working with Kalaty for a long time. There is a perfectly good reason why we have been partners with them for so long… they’re really, really good at making quality handmade rugs.

We love all of the collections that Kalaty has to offer. Many of our employees have Kalaty rugs in their own homes, and our interior designers go a little crazy when we get in new shipments. But we particularly like the English Manner Collection, and we want to tell you why.

Kalaty is a family-run business that began in the early 1900’s in Iran. This business eventually moved to the U.S. and established ties with India for most of their production. Over the years, the company has become synonymous with color consciousness, design innovation, service, and loyalty. And as it turns out, they are pretty good to their people in India, too.

What we like so much about the English Manner collection is that they are simple, yet very elegant. The inspiration for the collection comes from actual royal residences managed by Paul Burrell. Mr. Burrell is a former footman for Queen Elizabeth II and was later a butler to Diana, Princess of Wales. With his experiences, you can imagine that he had access to some of the greatest rug and furniture designs the planet has to offer. Many of the designs within this collection are simple tone-on-tone patterns utilizing texture and subtle color differences to make a statement. Simple, yet elegant, and we love them.

All of the rugs within this collection are hand-knotted using high-grade New Zealand hand-spun wool and natural dyes. They are easy of the eyes just as well as your feet and need to be walked on to truly be experienced. Come in and visit our showroom today to learn more about Kalaty and the Royal Manner Collection.

Hauling rugs around is no easy task.  It takes strength, it takes determination, it takes… a two wheel hand cart so we don’t need as much strength and determination.  We would like to think that moving all of our rugs around has kept us in shape and healthy.  The Urban Mountain Challenge put this thought to task.

Team Lexington Oriental Rugs participated in the 2011 Urban Mountain Challenge on January 28^th.  Why you ask?  Because we love punishment… and because it was a great community event to support local groups.  638 stairs, 29 floors in the Fifth Third building in downtown Lexington.  It was touted as a race against the clock, but as we found out, it was really just a race to not pass out.

Thanks to all of our team members and all of our awesome clients that we saw at the event participating.  And a very special thanks to all of the Lexington service members, police, and firefighters that completed the challenge.  You never appreciate just how hard these people train to save your life until you see them climb 638 stairs in full fire gear faster than you.  Consider us impressed!

Team Lexington Oriental Rugs is a group of company employees, clients, and friends that are interested in giving back to the community through local charity events and fundraisers.  Events vary from charity road races to Habitat for Humanity builds.  You may be able to recognize a team member by their brightly colored shirts, with a team logo on the front and a quirky nickname on the back.  If you would like to join our team, it’s free, and we are always looking for members.  We usually sponsor our members, and members will also get a free team shirt/jersey.  And, of course, the events are always fun and rewarding.  You can learn more by contacting Chad at 859-254-4412 or by visiting our Facebook page, www.facebook.com/rugslex.

Wool, cotton, silk… If you have been researching handmade rugs at all, you have found that these are the basic materials that are combined using art and industry to create one of the world’s oldest and most famous floor coverings.  The fiber that receives the most recognition for the durability of oriental rugs is wool, and the most famous of all wools is New Zealand wool.

So what’s the big deal about New Zealand wool anyway?  Is one wool really that much better than the other?  Well, it depends on who you ask, and what you plan on doing with the wool.

For oriental rug production, it really depends on what type of production you are working with and where you are.  Finer wools are softer, shinier, and have a thinner gauged thread.  Finer wools are also more expensive and require the ability to import them from other countries.  If you are producing a nubby textured, hand-spun wool piece, finer wool may not be worth the extra expense.  The nubby texture would essentially nullify the finer properties of a higher grade wool.  And if you are working with tribal rugs… importing fine wool from New Zealand or Australia is out of the question.

For your finer knotted “city” style rugs, though, high-grade wool is not only desirable, but can actually make production and maintenance of the rug easier.  Essentially, better wool is stronger, longer, thinner, shinier, softer, and whiter.   This allows you to make a finer, smaller knot.

Here is what earns New Zealand and Australian wool high grades.  The quality of wool is graded by the following main factors: fiber diameter, color (whiteness), strength, crimp, and yield.  The fiber diameter if the most important factor in determining both quality and price. (This is measured in terms of microns.)

Both New Zealand and Australian wools consistently score the highest among major rug producing nations.  And New Zealand wool is touted as the whitest, allowing for a broader range of color after dyeing.  Their finest wools are known as 1PP, which is the industry standard of excellence for Merino wool that is 16.9 microns and finer.  You normally hear more about the New Zealand wools because the have embarked upon a major marketing campaign touting their product as the finest.  Just google it.  You will find a beautiful website devoted to the cause.  They even put the wool emblem on their National Soccer Team’s jerseys!

Another reason that New Zealand’s wool takes the spotlight is because of the private market.  While Australia is the world’s largest producer of wool (roughly 25% of total production), 85% of that production is sold at open auction.  New Zealand only produces 11% of the world yield, but almost 50% of that is sold by the farmer directly to private buyers and the end user.

Still don’t think wool is a big deal?  The finest bale of wool ever to be publicly auctioned sold for a seasonal record of $2700 per kilo in June of 2008.  The wool measured 11.6 microns and was very strong (we’ll spare you the Newton measurements).  The total price of the bale was over $247,000.00.  It was exported to India.  You’ll never guess where we get almost half of our rugs…