A plush area rug is a signature mark - reflecting the personality and taste of the homeowner.
An area rug puts a personal touch on a room, according to Quaylan Greve of Mansour's Oriental Rug Gallery in Roseville.
"If you walk into an empty room and there's a carpet on the floor, you can visualize just how your furniture will look there," Greve said this week.
"Buy your rug first if remodeling," Greve advises. "It's easier to match the colors - the furniture - of the décor to the rug, rather than the other way around.
"After all, if you buy a polka-dot patterned sofa and match it with an expensive rug, when it comes time to change the sofa, you'll still have that polka-dot rug to deal with. It's much easier to match the furniture and color scheme to the rug," he said.
Area rugs add an immediate elegance to a room, said Cindy Webber, owner of Cindy L. Interior Design of Roseville.
"They're always different and never go out of style," she said.
Area rugs come in a myriad of colors, designs and sizes, and can be used in any room of the house, including the kitchen.
They can also be hung on a wall as a tapestry.
Rugs hung on a wall can provide additional insulation against the cold, Webber said.
Mansour's - with stores in Roseville and Sacramento - is owned by Iranian-born Mansour Yaghoubian and deals only in imported hand-woven woolen and silk rugs from the Middle East, India and China. Prices range from the mid-$100s for a small rug to $40,000-$50,000 or more for a large wool Persian rug or a silk rug handmade in China.
These rugs often take up to a year to make, in a labor-intensive effort. The different patterns are almost never duplicated, although there usually are similarities according to the region where the rug is made, or the artisan doing the work.
"The wool used is native to the area in which the rug is made," Greve said. "(The artisans) don't import wool because that would be too expensive.
"The (handmade) rugs can't be made in the Western world, because the cost would be prohibitive. Just to pay minimum wage to make one rug for a year would cost about $18,000. That doesn't take in the cost of materials and shipping and handling to deliver the rug."
Rugs manufactured in the United States and Western world and available at carpet stores and department stores can be made of wool, nylon or polyester and can be purchased for a considerably lower price than the imported handmade rugs.
Depending on traffic, Greve said area rugs - both the handmade imports or the machine-produced domestic variety - are usually cleaned at two-to-five year intervals and should be "professionally cleaned," noting that some household cleaners sometimes contain bleach that may cause damage.
Care should be taken for all rugs, Greve said.
"I see (the handmade) rugs as an investment, much like a fine piece of art," Greve said. "These are items that reflect the personality of the owner and will last for a lifetime."
