Keep muddy paw prints off your best carpets with a hall runner

And that doesn’t just mean dog prints either. Everyone has had the experience of opening the door to someone and realising to their horror that the visitor intends to tramp through the house will all manner of yuck adhering to their feet. It’s very rude of course, but many of us don’t feel comfortable asking guests to take their shoes off, especially if the visit is just a short one, for example reading the meter. However, no one likes to spend good money on lovely rugs through the house to have them trampled on by grubby feet, especially if they have splashed out on some expensive silk traditional rugs or some lovely shaggy wool rugs which really can trap the crap. So, what’s to be done?

Buy a natural fibre hall runner

If you have a farmhouse style interior there is nothing better in the hall than a natural coir or raffia hall runner. They look the part and they really trap the dirt. Not only that, the dirt, when dry, falls through and so you don’t pick it up on the return trip and traipse it all through the rest of the house. There is also a chance that the visitor, realising that you have taken steps to protect the floor, will at least wipe their feet – but that may be just a dream! Natural rugs are easy to keep clean as well; you should vacuum all floor coverings regularly anyway but coir really responds to daily cleaning and a damp mop (not sopping, just damp) will take away the surface dirt very well. They also like a good shake outside but be careful – a long hall runner made of coir or any natural material can be quite heavy, so it isn’t a job for one.

Dogs are the worst, though!

Although thoughtless people do tend to drag dirt in on their feet at least as a rule they have watched where the step. It goes without saying that by and large dogs don’t give a hoot where they put their feet; in fact, they can pretty much be relied upon to find anything smelly, sticky and gruesome that is around when they are out for a walk. If you have dogs or have friends with them, a hall runner that can be washed easily at regular intervals might be more the kind of thing that would help you keep the rest of the house dog-yuck free. Whether you use a smaller one which will pop in the washing machine daily or a larger one that you can hose down outside, a washable hall runner will help you keep the house cleaner and fresher and without the pervading air of not just dog but everywhere the dog has been. Hall runners don’t have to look as if they are there just to keep dirt at bay, either. Whether washable or natural fibre, they can also look very handsome while they work!

THE DEVELOPMENT OF MODERN RUGS

Whist the development of rugs dates back two thousand five hundred years, buying a new rug for Europeans has only remained a daunting experience since the Middle Ages. In today’s bustling market there is an endless choice of textures, styles and fibres to choose from and not forgetting the options handmade or machine made rugs. Needless to say choosing a rug can get more than a little confusing, whether to go for cheap rugs produced on machines, expensive rugs that are hand oven or something in the middle. To really appreciate what goes into a rug lets take a brief look at its origins. 

While Ancient Britons were developing bronze tools and building stone circles, Persian craftsmen were hand-weaving rugs. Many of these original rugs depicted stories of battles, wealth and religious events. As the understanding of weaving techniques expanded into Turkey and Asia regional design styles developed, these styles still dominate many of the traditional rugs today. Whilst we don’t really know when the first rugs reached Europe, we do know that the Vikings brought weaving techniques to Scandinavia and the oldest rug discovered in Europe dates back to 300BC, this was discovered by Russian archaeologists in Siberia.

Read the full article at rugszone.co.uk

WOOL RUGS THE BENEFIT OF BEAUTY

Wool rugs are a great way to bring real luxury to a room, having a dense pile and keeping their good looks for many years. Although there are a few rules for caring for your new wool rug, don’t be put off because by taking just a little more care when cleaning your rug, it will last for ages and will always bounce back, with no flattened pile as sometimes happens with cheaper fibres.

Simple maintenance for wool rugs

The best way to keep your wool rug looking like new is to clean them regularly. Letting the dirt get ingrained can result in the fibres getting cut by sharp grit or accretions so the best plan is to vacuum at least several times a week, more often if they are in high traffic areas. Wool rugs can sometimes lose their bounce if vacuumed with the beater bars on, so if you can disable them on your vacuum cleaner, so much the better. If you can’t, then use the hose and a separate head – it may seem a bit of a kerfuffle, but it is worth it to keep your wool rug looking top notch. If you have a spill, mop it up at once; scrape up any solids if it isn’t all liquid. Never soak your wool rug and be gentle if using steam. Everything in moderation should be your watchword when dealing with your rugs day to day.

Read the full article at the Rug Zone Blog

The tempting colours of Rug Zone

Reds

If you want to make a room really zingy, choose a red rug! Not only do they make a great focal point in a neutral room, they also immediately draw the eyes, so if you have a feature you want to make more of, such as a fireplace or a picture window, placing a red rug in front of it will bring it into even more prominence. The range of reds on offer makes it easy to find one to suit, but it is important to make sure they are all of the same ‘family’. Reds in particular can be hard to match, so keeping to cherries, roses, crimsons in one room and not trying to mix them together is probably a good plan.

Not just a primary

Red (with blue and yellow) is a primary colour on the colour wheel, but of course when it comes to décor it isn’t as simple as that. A pure, clear red is a very vibrant shade and will wake up any room. For this reason, it is not advised for use in a bedroom as it is too stimulating. Having said that, just adding a little of other shades to tweak the pure colour can give a very different mood; softening it to a rose can make it perfect for more restful spaces, whereas sharpening it to flame by the addition of a yellow element can make it very bright but much less challenging. There are reds for every room – find yours here.

Burgundies

The burgundy family of colours are very rich and look fabulous in any room, but perhaps they are most at home in studies and formal lounges. They give a depth of colour to any décor and whether they are set in a pale room to supply a single accent note or are part of a leather and firelight ambience, they will do their job wonderfully. Burgundy shades blend very well with other colours, most notably browns and greens; think the deep red of an old fashioned rose, twining with its leaves and stems against an old terracotta wall and you have just the look; stylish and traditional, warm and welcoming.

Not just wine!

Of course, burgundy shades are named for the wine and there are many different colours in the spectrum. From the lightest nouveau vintages to the oak-aged wines in dusty bottles, all of these are reflected in the rugs on offer here. Burgundy as an accent in a traditional rug is a very common addition and it brings depth and style to any design. Easier to match than a simple red, burgundy rugs will be at home in the bedroom too, as they are not challenging shades, but something that will warm a room without making it too stimulating. Because some burgundies can shade into purple, they can also be used in relatively ‘young’ settings – they are certainly not just for the ‘gentleman’s club’ look!

Blacks

Strictly speaking, black is not a colour but an absence of it and along those lines it is not really possible to have different shades. Of course, anyone who is interested in interior décor knows that this is not really the case, with many shades of black being available. In nature it is easy to list a large number of different blacks – the blue-black of a raven’s wing; the bloomed black of a sloe, with hints of purple; the rolling black clouds of a thunderstorm on its way. And so it is when choosing a rug to make a real statement. Black rugs are a very simple way to make a room look dramatic and if your decorating style is on the minimalist side, it is an ideal choice.

Accent in a design

If a pure black rug is not for you, a patterned rug with black as the main component is probably the next best thing. A black pattern on a pale ground looks very dramatic and can be either traditional or modern. Thick black swirls look very effective and are easy to team with any other patterned element in a room – black can’t clash with anything because it isn’t a colour. It therefore makes a perfect partner for any other shades you are using and is in fact the only colour you can always team happily with red with no fears of visitors flinching in horror! About the only place black wouldn’t be welcome is the bathroom – think of all that talcum powder!

Blues

Blues are possibly the best shades for mixing as it is generally true that no blue will clash with any other. Taking that further, blue will mix happily with most other colours as well, having a particular affinity for green; a glance over the average herbaceous border will bear that out! Blues do come in many shades, from a clear sky-blue to a moody teal, but they all look fabulous in any room. Blue is a classic shade for boys’ rooms but it is interesting to know that in Russia, the classic blue and pink are the other way round, so using blue in a girl’s room would be fine. Blues are sometimes thought to be ‘cold’ but using navy or Mediterranean blue in conjunction with terracotta can give a very warm feel even to a north facing room.

Learn from nature

Blue is one of the most predominant colours in nature, from the iridescence of a kingfisher to the clear blue of a forget-me-not. Using any of these shades, from the palest blue of a spring sky to the deep almost purple of a hollyhock will ensure that you don’t forget the great outdoors and a blue rug in a conservatory is a sure winner, reflecting as it does the sky outside. Blue patterns on a neutral ground have become very on trend in recent years and on a flatweave rug makes a practical statement in a kitchen.

Greens

Green is considered by some to be an unlucky colour, but when it comes to interior design it is everyone’s friend. Green, like blue, goes with almost anything and from the yellowy greens of spring leaves to deepest olive, it will make any room more restful and friendly. Greens come in an almost bewildering range of shades and using a cloudy sage in large swathes on the floor gives any room a very stylish feel. A sharp bright green accent in a small rug teamed with cushions in the same palette will brighten up a room immediately and if you want to give a lift to a room which is looking a little tired, using a leaf green teamed with a leaf-patterned fabric will make it zing.

Perfect for the conservatory

Conservatories these days are not just somewhere to sit on cooler days but are often used all year round as permanent rooms in the house, whether it is as a study, a dining room or a quiet retreat. They often come with terracotta floors and green rugs look wonderful teamed with this shade and reflect the garden just the other side of the glass. Green rugs look perfect when surrounded by plants too and because all shades from acid green to almost black blend with each other, you don’t have to worry about clashes. Green carpet runners in the hall also are a good choice – for some reason that is not fully understood, green is a very welcoming colour.

Creams

Nothing says ‘luxury’ quite like a cream rug. Although they come in a variety of styles and textures, the traditional shaggy or deep pile cream rug is a staple of many bedrooms and there is little nicer than sinking your toes into a lovely warm rug in a thick, clotted cream colour in the morning. Cream can be almost yellow or as pale as a warm white, but no matter what its shade, it is welcome anywhere. Because it is so neutral, you don’t have to worry where you place it, but on a dark carpet or wooden floor it will make a real statement. Used in low traffic areas, cream rugs will keep their good looks for years as long as you are careful to clean regularly and give it a shake when you can.

Cream rugs cry out for texture

Although all rugs look great when presented in a textured finish, cream seems to go with shaggy textures or long piles particularly well. The classic long strands of the natural wool rugs which are such a design classic look marvellous wherever they are placed, but in a study with dark furniture or a family room where everyone goes to relax, it is particularly at home. Cream rugs may not be a natural choice for the hall and stairs as being a little prone to picking up dirt but when you get upstairs, using cream rugs on the landing and in bedrooms signals that here is where you start to relax and enjoy some proper pampering.

Beiges

Beige once had a bad press, considered a boring colour, but that has all changed. There are probably more shades of beige than any other colour, from the warm hug of a cappuccino to the deep tones of a greenish khaki. Beige can stand as a background colour in a busy room or can be used to tone down a bright carpet or floor – sometimes less really is more. Beige goes well with almost any colour, but has a particular affinity for blue (especially the peacocks and teals) and green. With so many of the darker beiges having a greenish tinge, greens can segue nicely from a beige background, giving a very coordinated look. It is also a good way of ‘growing up’ a boy’s room, as beige is considered very on trend, especially from the camouflage end of the spectrum.

Calming tones for a chill out room

Surrounding yourself with beige is a really excellent way to chill out at the end of a busy day. Sticking to the coffee colours with accents of darker brown such as chocolate and caramel will not only calm the eye but will also appeal to the ‘eat with your eyes’ part of the brain and chocolate (the food) has calming chemical properties which are linked with most people to the appearance so without eating a single calorie, you can get all the benefits. Whether as a background or main décor choice, beige is so much more than you thought!

Browns

There is something very primeval about our relationship with the colour brown. Being the colour of the soil which provided us with food in our earliest times, we are very attached to it and most homes have more brown in than any other single colour, but there are more shades than most people think to consider. Glossy chestnut is often people’s favourite, with hints of auburn and a sunny autumn day. Different wood has different shades, from the smoky grey tinge of native oak through to the rich red of mahogany. Being a ‘nature’ colour, brown goes with almost every other colour but the chocolate end of the spectrum teams particularly well with cream.

Bright brown is not impossible

It is natural to think of brown as being quite a sombre colour, but nothing could be further from the truth. The bright browns – those with a lot of red in them – can make a very arresting centrepiece and also team particularly well with wooden floors, so if you need a rug to warm up laminate or stripped boards, one of this colour would be a good choice. Add an open fire and some leather furniture and you have a very classy room indeed, with little outlay. Brown goes well with green of almost any shade, so if it is a touch of pattern you are after, natural designs work particularly well. Brown is also a staple shade in many of the traditional designs, again across the spectrum from dust to ginger.

Terracottas

Anyone who has enjoyed a holiday in Italy cannot help but smile when they see the colour terracotta. In Italy and parts of southern France and Spain it is impossible to look at any landscape or cityscape for that matter and not have a view of terracotta roofs soaking up the sun. It is almost a given, then, that terracotta in all shades from deep burnt umber to almost pink, goes well with practically every other colour. To get the best out of your terracotta rug and make sure it brings the heat and warmth of Tuscany or the Balearics to your home, team it with the magenta and green of bougainvillea or the lime washed cream of the walls of the regions.

Warm up any room with terracotta

Terracotta seems to carry the sunshine with it and many people when asked to describe it with one word will say ‘orange’ but this is far from the case. Terracotta comes in a multitude of shades from washed out pink to almost brown and has every colour in-between – yes, including orange! Terracotta is one of those fortunate colours that keeps its identity even when cut with white to make it paler and so you can choose ascending vibrancy and depth of colour within the palette and know that they will all blend happily together. Rather like those tumbled tiled roofs and walls you have seen on holiday, one terracotta will never clash with its neighbour.

Golds and sands

The palette that includes gold and sand also includes yellow and, at its furthest stretch, orange. All of these colours go together happily and although yellow can be a little stimulating, it goes with everything else and is one of the rare colours that blends happily with red, almost across the spectrum. Gold can be literally that, by using materials that throw back the light, a rug can look just like Jason’s Golden Fleece – a great fun accessory for any fan of Greek mythology. Sands can be very pale indeed, almost verging on cream and if you are fresh from an exotic holiday, you can recreate at least some of that great relaxed feeling by having a pale sand rug and some sky-blue cushions as an accent.

Textures bring out the best

Using textures, either as cut pile or shaggy finishes, bring out the best in golds and sands. They also work very well as the basis of traditional designs, being very popular with their designers through the generations. Traditional rug designs tell a story or have special significance and the colours of the earth and sky are very important therefore. Gold can signify wealth or the sunshine, sand quite literally the desert in which many of the designs came to life. Using deep yellow gold or pale cream sand in a study or workroom is a good way of keeping productivity up without making the environment too jarring.

Greys

Grey is often considered a ‘cold’ colour, mainly because the word reminds most people of nasty weather. If you call grey ‘silver’ though, all that changes. This conjures up a picture of the precious metal of course, but also of crisp winter mornings with spiders’ webs powdered with frost, sparkling air and bright blue skies. So, in that respect yes, grey is a ‘cold’ colour, but not in a bad way! If you have a room which is otherwise bright with warm flames, oranges and chocolates, a splash of silvery grey will bring it down a touch and add a great backdrop to all that drama.

Greys across the shade range

Making a list of grey things brings up a whole spectrum of shades. Elephants, for example, whilst predominantly grey are very much at the brown end of the colour. Theirs is a warm and complex shade and after all, who doesn’t love elephants! Battleship grey sounds rather forbidding but the shade does go very well with all blues and most greens, perhaps because it was actually created in the first place to go with the sea and the sky. And at the lighter end, silver grey, blending to almost white, will bring a fresh, crisp sparkle to any room. Patterned rugs using grey as the design element are very subtle and lend themselves well to sgraffito-type designs.

Purples and pinks

Purples and pinks go together so well that they are almost always found together, although they can also stand alone. Add some hot orange and you are immediately back in the sixties and seventies, when the crazy patterns of Sergeant Pepper ruled. Purple goes across the board from dark plum right through to the garish, chemical magenta. Also in the palette are the paler shades cut with white such as mauve, lilac and lavender. When it comes to pink, there is also a wide choice, from pastel rose blush right through to bright fuchsia. At either end of the spectrum and indeed right through, both colours blend and contrast with each other perfectly, with no clash.

Femininity personified

If you ask anyone what will give a room girl appeal the answer will be ‘pink’! It doesn’t have to be the sugar pink of Hello Kitty, though; the dusky pinks look great in any setting and mixed with some shell elements and perhaps a touch of lavender, it looks very sophisticated. Because it is hard to clash pinks it also gives a lot of leeway when it comes to following up with more furniture and accessories. If you have pink rugs and other elements in a room, you don’t need to carry a shade card with you when you go shopping for more, because any other shades of pink or purple will fit right in. This makes it a perfect choice if your taste tends to the eclectic because old or new, it won’t matter a bit.

Light and day

Light and day by philip-cotton featuring a pink light

Cleaning tips around the home

There are more cleaning tips than there are people, or so it sometimes seems. From the eco-warriors who swear by bicarbonate of soda to the chemical freaks who use nothing but Cillit Bang with all the trimmings, there are more solutions that most people have hot dinners. The key to keeping your home clean, though, is simple. If you dirty it, clean it. If you drop it, wipe it up. And that means straight away – even the most innocuous spill becomes a problem if it is left to dry on and soak in. The other watchword perhaps should be – test. If you haven’t had to clean the particular area or item before, the best plan is to carefully remove by scraping or blotting whatever it is that has gone everywhere, then test an inconspicuous area first.

Bicarbonate of soda
Yes – you can use it to clean with, but don’t be fooled by commercial products that claim it as the active ingredient. Bicarb works when mixed freshly with anything acidic (lemon juice or vinegar both work well) then the combination gives off oxygen, which is the mildest bleach you could imagine. It also lifts grime with the bubbles. But don’t forget it is a bleach, however mild, so still do the test and wait thing. A better way to use it is to sprinkle it dry on grubby carpets or upholstery. It works particularly well on shaggy rugs that have got a bit smelly. Leave overnight if possible and then vacuum out – the smell and most of the grime should be gone. On dark colours don’t forget – test first!

Vinegar
Use this sparingly and always diluted – and don’t forget, this is white spirit vinegar, not malt. For windows it works a treat, but unless you like flies in summer, rinse off with water afterwards because (despite the old saying about catching more flies with honey than vinegar) they will be drawn to the residual smell and then you will be worse off than before. Never use vinegar on wool rugs, because the acid will strip the natural lanolin from the fibres and ruin the texture as well as very possibly leaving a bleached mark.

Salt
Odd as it sounds, the most useful cleaning agent in your home is salt. It can be used to mop up spills but it also comes in handy if you need to clean something delicate because, dampened, it has a mild abrasive action. If you have a semi-solid spill on your lovely traditional rug, upending some cooking salt on it will make it easier to remove and won't damage the fibres as long as you clean it up straight away. If your spill is something that will stain, such as ketchup, tipping salt onto it will mean you can remove it faster before it soaks into the pile of your wool rug and ruins it for good. If you can, let the residue dry and vacuum out later – don’t get any rugs too wet or you can damage them.

Mixing and matching shapes and sizes of rugs for a co-ordinated look

When you move into somewhere new or just fancy a change, using rugs to stamp your personality is a really easy thing to do. Are you a bit of an old-fashioned person who likes to hang on to family pieces and memorabilia? Traditional rugs will probably suit you best. Do you like to chop and change and move the furniture around? Looking for rugs for sale at bargain prices will probably be your best choice, because you can make a difference without spending a fortune. If you like minimalist designs and not too much clutter, you can make a statement with a shaggy rug in an accent colour. But to stop it all looking a bit like a ‘bulk buy’ you can use different shapes and sizes in the same overall style.

Large rugs

Most rugs come in a variety of sizes and you can use this to your advantage whatever style you choose. Traditional rugs, even totally modern ones, use certain design features which are repeated in a specific way. This means whether you choose a  small, medium  or large size rug, you will always have a common element which ties them together, even if you choose different colourways. Using one large rug in the main room and then continuing the theme round the house using smaller rugs or even carpet runners in the hall and up the stairs will make your home seem very calm, even if you choose bright shades. It is the repetition which makes a cohesive décor look and this is subliminally calming.

Keep all the features except the shape

This is another way of making your rugs all ‘hang together’. Whether you go for shaggy rugs, designer rugs or traditional ones, choosing round rugs in some rooms where you have had square or rectangular in others still has the all-through effect. Shaggy rugs in particular look great in the round option and if you have an open plan lounge/diner you can use different shapes in the different areas, sticking to the same colour (or colour family) and texture. Many coloured rugs come in a palette – keep to just one such as autumnal, blues and greens; red is best kept alone as it clashes with almost everything, even itself!

Designer rugs with carved pile

A very popular choice for an accent in a room is a cut pile designer rug. These often have very bold colours and are best left as a statement, but by taking one of the background colours and buying a neutral rug, you can tie the look together very stylishly. In this particular instance, you can also keep to the same size or proportions – changing too much at once can lose the all-in-one design element in your décor. Whatever you decide, with rugs which share a design feature, you can change rooms as and when you wish without spending any more money.

When the house just seems too small!

It isn’t always easy to move to somewhere larger with house prices rising and mortgages still hard to get. The rental market is very strong as well and many people are finding themselves stuck somewhere that is just too cramped for their use. This is especially true for families where the children are getting older and are sharing a room unwillingly. The secret is to make little corners of the house the special place for just one person, so that boundaries are kept up and no one feels that they have no privacy.

Living rooms

Living rooms often suffer from the fact that the television is in there and so anyone trying to do something that takes concentration is having to compete with the noise. There are several ways to look at this and both involve headphones! It is possible to buy sets of headphones and a sender which plugs into the TV so that only people watching will hear. This also works if one person is deaf and needs the volume up. This can give a rather surreal effect, though, because the people watching will react and it can be just as disturbing. The person not watching TV could wear the earphones instead – there are various apps for white noise that block out extraneous sound without breaking concentration.

Use physical dividers

Using furniture is one way to divide up a bedroom or lounge diner. Putting different floor coverings down – for example take a look at these  large traditional rug in the sitting area, or maybe a less formal shaggy rug in the family room – will also demarcate what each bit of a room is to be used for. In children’s bedrooms, round rugs in the ‘communal’ area will clarify who had which bit as their private space. You can also use colour to show that you are in another’s territory – neutral rugs giving way to jazzy colours will soon show who owns what.

Courtesy will win the day

The problem with families is that they often forget that they have to be as polite to each other as to other people. ‘Please’ and ‘thank you’ are words you sadly don't hear very much inside the average home and that is a shame. Showing that you are grateful for things done for you by others is a way of making them feel valued, as is showing proper respect for another’s belongings and space.

Traditional Rugs and Runners

Traditional Rugs and Runners by philip-cotton on polyvore.com

Noisy neighbours and what to do (and what not to do!)

An Englishman’s home is his castle, or so the saying goes and most people find that they are much happier when they can be in their own home and shut the door for some privacy. But lots of people find that the noise made by neighbours ruins their enjoyment of their own space and increasing numbers are contacting their councils or even the police to make peace. In some extreme cases people have actually resorted to physical violence when a neighbourly dispute gets out of hand.

Simple measures first

Unfortunately, arguments between neighbours are given coverage on the media when they result in horrendous situations involving court cases and even bodily harm. Most are dealt with much more simply and perhaps the easiest thing is just to tap on the door and mention that the noise is not acceptable. Make a joke of it if you can and certainly don't go in all guns blazing. If you live below someone in a flat and they seem to have a herd of elephant up there, why not treat them to a thick modern rug for the lounge or a hall runner if that is the problem area. Choose a neutral rug so it will go with any decor and they should be suitably grateful. Don't make trouble in the first instance should be your watchword.

Don't try tit for tat

If friendly approaches haven’t worked or if you feel it has got worse after your first attempt, don't try and drown the noise with some of your own. This can be used against you if things escalate so it is best to just behave as normal and don't start DIY projects at three in the morning just to get even. Without making an undue fuss about it, visit other neighbours to see if they are affected. If a group of you makes an approach, it might have more impact. If you did try buying your heavy footed neighbour a shaggy rug to try and minimise the noise, don't ask for it back if it doesn’t work – that will only make things worse.

There may be a reason

Find out first whether there is a reason for the noise. There may be problems on the domestic front or perhaps a child who is going through a phase. Although this won't stop the noise, a little understanding makes it all a little easier to bear.