Carpets and Rugs for the Period Home
Wednesday, July 28th, 2010The carpets you choose for a room will define and showcase it in more ways than you can imagine. Choose wisely, and a large area rug, period wall-to-wall carpet, or series of rugs will successfully anchor the room, allowing all the other furnishings to fall neatly into place.
Interior designers often direct their clients to start with the floor, and for good reason. Any decoration you choose for a room will be affected by the floor covering remember, the floor has more square footage than any given wall. While the period of your house and or the style of your furniture can suggest a few logical starting points, the extraordinary variety of patterns and colors available in reproduction (not to mention new, period-friendly designs) makes for an overwhelming quantity of choice.
The rug styles you select for an older home can vary and be eclectic as long as they have an aged quality that unifies them. If you do not have the budget for an antique rug, the antique quality can be implied by the color or texture of the rug. Select a rug with muted colors, or one with a fringe that is tea-stained rather than pure white.
In addition to looking for rugs with an aged quality, choose a common color or pattern element for all the carpets used throughout the house. The balance of color or pattern in each rug can differ, but still works to draw them together. Layering styles and patterns works to give an accumulated over time look, a sense of history that is more appropriate for a period home.
