Braided Rugs - You Can't Beat Oriental Rugs For Elegance

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Oriental rugs will add timeless beauty to your home, will coordinate with any décor, and enhance any room, hallway, or entrance. They are also a favorite option when decorating home offices, and are a particularly good choice for high traffic areas because of the intricacies of their designs, which hide wear and tear. The term "oriental" refers to rugs produced on the continent of Asia, such as Persian (from Iran), Indian, Chinese, and Turkish rugs. Imitations of the popular oriental patterns are also available and produced by manufacturers such as Nourison in the USA, and Sphinx, also in the USA but with its parent company in Egypt.

Making rugs by hand is an ancient art and the old designs reflect the religious and ethnic structures of the times in the countries or areas of origin. Many of these ancient designs are still produced today, sometimes hand-woven and hand-knotted, other times woven by machine. The most traditional patterns are those with a floral or garden motif, or geometric or curvilinear designs around a central medallion or a central painting-like scene. Oriental rugs used to be constructed only with such natural fibers as wool, cotton, silk, or goat and camel hair, or blends of these materials, but now you can find them made with less expensive synthetic materials such as olefin (polypropylene), nylon, polyester, and acrylic. Wool rugs remain the first choice in durable, soft, dirt-and-fire resistant, warm rugs, but synthetic reproductions make oriental area rugs more affordable. They come in a variety of colors, sizes, and shapes – round, oval, rectangular, and, of course, the popular runner.

How to Choose Oriental Rugs for Your Home
Decide on how you are going to use each area rug. Is it going to define furniture groupings or unify all the elements in the room? Is its primary use to protect a floor or a carpet? Is its prime function to add warmth and comfort? The use of the rug will dictate its size and shape. As well, you should keep these points in mind:
· The colors should be harmonious with other colors in the room.
· If the center of the carpet will be visible, medallions or central scenes are good choices, but if the center will be fully or partially hidden under a table or other furniture, it is better to go with a repetitive design or an elaborate and interesting border.
· A family with health problems will appreciate rugs with natural fibers since they have the advantage of not releasing chemicals into the air as synthetics do.
· Very colorful and busy designs can make an oriental rug the focal point in a room, but if the room is already colorful with intricate drapery and upholstery fabric designs, choose simple designs and subtle colors.
· If you are going to use two different rugs in one room, make sure the colors and patterns blend and complement each other.

Important Cost Considerations
It is not as difficult as you may think to find good quality, cheap area rugs with oriental designs. When you shop online, you deal directly with online retailers who can offer discount and warehouse prices because there are no storefront costs and no middlemen to pay. As well as shopping online, here are other considerations that can make the oriental rug of your dreams affordable:
· An antique rug is the most expensive and should have documentation attesting to its authenticity; imitations are much less costly.
· Natural fibers are more expensive than synthetic.
· Hand-made, hand-woven, and hand-knotted rugs made by weavers are more durable and much more expensive than machine woven and knotted.
· The number of knots per square inch indicates its quality, and a higher number means a higher cost.
· Very intricate and rare designs are the most expensive.
· The country or area of origin affects the price.

Whether you spring for a genuine antique oriental wool rug that has been hand woven and hand knotted in Iran, or you choose a polypropylene machine woven rug with an oriental design manufactured in North America, you will be adding beauty, warmth and comfort to your home. Enjoy!

About the Author: Laura Gray is currently a freelance writer and enjoys providing tips to consumers who are in the market for all types of cheap rugs and contemporary rugs.

Additional Resources

Check out the closing Ebay bids, or see what Amazon has to offer. You could also try these sites for information on childrens area rugs, sisal area rugs or area rugs. Finally wikipedia is always a good resource

Tags: area rugs, wool rugs, contemporary area rugs, braided rugs, afghan rugs, persian rugs, oriental rugs, handmade rugs, round rugs, custom rugs, tribal rugs, persian carpets, runners, turkish rugs

Posted on November 4th, 2007 .. More articles on Area Rugs and Articles.

Laminate Flooring - Laminate Flooring , A Floor For All Seasons?

Today’s Feature Article. "Laminate Flooring , A Floor For All Seasons?" has been reviewed by our editorial staff to ensure that it is appropriate for this blog. We hope you find its contents enjoyable.

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Real wooden floors can bring warmth and comfort to a room, turning ordinary dwellings into cozy cottages, gray office quarters into lounge-like spaces, and a house into a home. But with the current shortage of trees, and with forests disappearing all over the world, hardwoods will be harder and harder to come by.

There is a substitute, however, for hardwood floors. Laminates are sold as planks or panels, and are fashioned to look like wood, stone, or tile. These planks are made of thick, water-resistant material, and are shaped so that they fit together like snug, interlocking pieces. They are fitted through the floating installation method, where they rest on top of a subfloor, which may be made of plywood, concrete, or existing flooring.

Laminates can be made to look exactly like your hardwood of choice, be it mahogany, oak, or cherry. Because they aren’t made of real wood, they can withstand extreme impact, scratching, cigarette burns, and exposure to sunlight, all without fading or being heavily damaged. Not much is needed to maintain a laminate floor: all that laminates need are regular vacuuming, or a wipe-down with a damp mop or rag, and with no wax or polish at that.

Because laminates are stress resistant, they can be engineered for use most anywhere in the home, including wet areas such as the kitchen. They can also be built over heated concrete slabs – an advantage when laminates have to be fitted in countries with very cold climates. Laminates can be easily installed, and as they don’t need much cleaning or protection, need not be covered with carpets or rugs, which can carry dust mites or allergens. Thus, laminates are not only beautiful and cheap, they can contribute to healthy living as well.

Laminates, however, also carry their disadvantages. They can be scratched if heavy objects are dragged across them, or if large domestic animals – such as big dogs or cats – trudge or paw their way through them. They may be largely resistant to sun and scratches, but laminates might not be able to stand moisture. The laminate inner core is made up of a special strong material which is not especially resistant to excessive moisture. If moisture does seep into a laminate floor, the planks may be deformed, and may no longer be as scratch-proof and burn-ready as before.

Since laminates are installed above a subfloor, they can be noisy if walked on. As such, laminate manufacturers also provide special paddings to be installed in between the subfloor and laminate – not quite an advantage if you don’t want to spend more for a cheap, but nature-friendly hardwood finish.

Despite the fact that laminates are considerably cheaper than hardwood floors, and can be installed by most anybody who wants to fix their home up, any damage done to them is not easily fixed. Laminates are maintained through touch-up kits, or chip repair kits, but these kits are difficult to find, and are only designed to maintain the floor, not repair major damage.

Laminates have their goods and not-so-goods, but in the end, the decision all comes down to you. If you think you can install a floor on your own with minimal cost, and if you don’t have large animals for pets, then a laminate floor may be the best for your needs. However, if you aren’t quite sure what animals might come in the future, and if you are concerned about floorboards creaking, or getting misshapen from heat and moisture, then maybe cutting down a few trees won’t hurt.

Whatever the case, wherever you may be, laminates or not, hardwoods or floorboards, a house won’t be a home if the ground you walk on doesn’t appeal to your tastes.

Joyce Dietzel writes articles for-flooring.info a website providing information on the decision to use wood or laminate

Additional Resources

Check out the closing Ebay bids, or see what Amazon has to offer. You could also try these sites for information on glueless laminate flooring, laminate flooring or installing laminate flooring. Finally wikipedia is always a good resource

Tags: laminate flooring, laminate floor, laminate floors, laminated flooring, laminate wood floors, laminate wood flooring, laminated floor, laminated flooring board

Posted on November 4th, 2007 .. More articles on Laminate Flooring and Articles.

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Oriental Rugs - Oriental Carpets - Persian Rugs - Persian Carpets - Oriental Runners

Posted on November 4th, 2007 .. More articles on Oriental Rugs.