The Ultimate Guide to Decorating with Textured Rugs

What Are Textured Rugs?

As the name suggests, these rugs are designed to add texture, depth and visual interest to your living room. Whether you want to make it more welcoming, add warmth or to jazz up the room a bit more, a textured rug can help you achieve all of this. Rugs of this kind are made from a large selection of materials, patterns and weaving techniques in order to create a textured and appealing surface. 

This makes their appearance unique and visually appealing. The most commonly used materials for these textured woven rugs are wool, silk, jute, sisal and a range of synthetic and recycled materials. Each of these materials has a different appearance which gives you the freedom to pick the one that will best meet your living room style.

Benefits

Aesthetic Appeal

It goes without saying that a textured rug can add visual interest to the room thanks to its weaving technique, look and feel. So, it’s safe to say that such rugs can become the focal point in a room. Thanks to it’s appearance, a rug of this kind can easily jazz up the room without having to add/change anything else in it.

Improved Comfort

Even the shortest cut pile of this rug has the ability to add warmth to your home. Being a bit fluffy and warm also contributes to adding comfort to the room.

Magical Disappearance of Stains

Thanks to their fluffiness, it seems that the stains magically disappear on these rugs. When compared to the flat-weave rugs, these ones seem to be extremely forgiving and perfect for hiding dirt. They are also perfect in reducing the appearance of wear, which is just another reason why so many people love them.

Types

The following are some of the most commonly used textures for these rugs.

Cut Pile

Rugs of this kind have straight strands that are cut at the ends. These rugs give a soft, plushy and luxurious feel, and are available in dense, light and fluffy version.

Loop Pile

The looped fibres on these rugs create a sculptured look because they aren’t sheared like any other typical rug. The great thing about them is that they can come in different heights and can be of uniform.

Shag Rugs

These rugs characterise by their long and loose fibre that makes them extremely soft on touch.

Combination Pile

As the name suggests, these rugs are a combination of lopped pile and cut fibre in order to create unique texture and pattern.

Interesting Facts about Rugs

• It’s said that people wove their own rugs since back in the Neolithic age around 7000 BC.
• The first known rug was the Pazyryk carpet from the 5th century BC, and it was found in the 1949 in a Siberian burial mound.
• The Nomadic people used rugs for sleeping on the ground, counting on them to soften and insulate the floors.
• Nomadic people also used them to decorate their places, so yeah, this purpose of the use of rugs is present since ancient times.
• In some cultures, rugs were used as saddles, and when horses died, people covered them with rugs as a medal of honour.
• Ancient rugs were hand-knotted and the most common materials for the purpose were wool, cotton, silk and jute.
• Some rugs made in the Renaissance period are present until this day and they are considered valuable antiques.
• Some of the fanciest and priceless rugs ever produced were in the 1500 AD, known as Persian rugs. They are known for their central medallion and 3D visual design.
• With the appearance of castles and large homes, people started using rugs for covering walls and floors.
• The first carpet mill in the USA was opened by William Sprague in Philadelphia, PA, in 1791, and it was designed to make woven wool carpets only.
• The carpet production and industry increased a lot in 1839 when Erastus Bigelow invented a power loom for weaving carpets.
• In 1849 the Jacquard mechanism was created for pulling off individual threads in more complicated patterns.
• In 1905 the Shutterworth brothers were responsible for creating the Karnak Wilton carpet.
• During the World Word I, Alexander Smith & Sons, the largest rug and carpet manufacturers, used their looms for making tents and navy blankets for the U.S army and navy.
• It was in the 1900s when Marshall Field modified an Axminster weaving loom to create the Karastan rugs which were woven by machines but looked like they were woven by hand.
• Before the 1950s, cotton and wool were the main used materials for creating rugs, and it was in the mid-1950s that manufacturers started using synthetic materials like nylon, polyester, polypropylene and viscose.
• It was in 1963 when the phrase ‘to sweep something under the rug” became popular.
• Hand-woven rugs usually have meticulous pattern and they are usually flat with no pile.