Let the floor set a design tone

Ikat Design Area Rug - Siam By Nourison

The area rug can be a room’s focal point, organize furnishings, add warmth and baffle sound.

Botanical rug adds color, becomes a focal pint and adds warmth to your room

BY ELAINE MARKOUTSAS
UNIVERSAL UCLICK


Carpet diem! Area rugs are seizing the day when it comes to dialing up personality in a room. And that goes for indoors and outdoors.


From flat weaves to bas relief, which adds sculptural dimension, it’s modern design that especially stands out, in an impressive range of prismatic colors, stylish patterns and tantalizing textures, many of which are obviously informed by fashion. And while some motifs like circles or squares or chevrons may be familiar, even vintage references are re-framed in an unexpected bold palette, scale or placement so that they look fresh.


The area rug long has played a pivotal role in interior design. It can be a focal point, much like a piece of art on the wall. It serves to ground a space, organize furnishings, add warmth and baffle sound.


For some designers, a rug sets the tone for a room, launching its color scheme — even one that’s monochromatic, which is best expressed by nuances with shades and textures.


But placing a rug in a room requires visualization. This is why retailer websites often show how color and pattern look underfoot and totally change the dynamic in a space. New York artist Madeline Weinrib told San Francisco writer Diane Dorrans Saeks that she had to rethink technique when she began to design rugs 12 years ago.


“I trained myself to see from the floor as opposed to the wall and realized that (a rug) had to exist in dialogue with the decor in the room, that it would have furniture placed on it,” says Weinrib, whose textiles and rugs are sold at ABC Carpet and Home and through her new showroom in Manhattan. “In painting, it’s a world of its own. That’s not true for rugs, which are part of the decor and must be functional.”




TIBETAN PIECES

 Transitional style rug made in Tibet

It’s the distinctive appearance of Tibetan rugs that really jelled in the 1990s and sparked renewed interest in an ancient tradition, especially among those who favor clean design like mid-century modern. The luster of rich wools and dense pile sparked attention, as well as a simplification of patterns that often emphasize geometric elements, such as squares, sometimes punctuated in silk for glossy sheen.


But in recent years, rug design really has exploded. Fashion, interior and lifestyle designers have added cache with collections that have an instant fandom for those who embrace their particular aesthetic. Technology has boosted methodology, allowing the equivalent of performance fabrics as well as digital printing.


Still, as in the past, it’s the materials and weave that enable so much variation. Sheep or goat wool from Iran, Turkey or New Zealand or cotton from India will vary in thickness and pile depending on how the weft threads are woven across the warp or foundation, whether the pile is sheered, tufted or looped. Some wools are more coarse, so the result is more rustic. Wool or cotton flat weaves without pile such


Besides weaves, it’s application of color that lends character. The most coveted antiques are appreciated for their natural dyes, from plants like madder (red), indigo (blue), walnut (brown and gray) and rhubarb (yellow). Today’s fashion-forward hues include deep pinks and raspberries, magenta, tangerine and greens, from kiwi to emerald.


Intentional shading also has added another level of sophistication, with striations that look like worn or wrinkled areas becoming part of the pattern, for example. Another effect called “ombre,” from the French word for “shaded,” features gradations from light to dark, often expressed in a single hue, but the fading effect also can apply to multiple colors. Paint techniques also can be replicated, such as sponged or watercolor prints seen in couture.


Another appealing genre is one that features vintage pieces of traditional Oriental rugs stitched together in a patchwork design, then “overdyed,” usually in rich jewel tones. What’s cool is that the original patterns peek through.


One Turkish-based rug wholesaler, Knotisse, celebrates green by rescuing old kelims from the 1920s to the 1980s, unraveling them piece by piece, then reweaving the yarn in very modern designs and colors. Owner Burak Aydogan calls it “upcycling.”




REPURPOSED RUGS

Over-dyed Patchwork Kilim Area Rug - Re-purposing perfected!

Santa Fe, N.M.-based manufacturer Foreign Accents recycles denim from blue jeans, silk saris and men’s ties, bits of sweaters and even bicycle inner tubes for its Deja New collection.


“The very idea of repurposing is compelling,” says Brian Rojanasumaphong, sales manager and buyer at Chicago retailer Oscar Isberian Rugs. “We live in a time where we’re cognizant of the impact we have on the environment. Anything we can do to reuse and repurpose resonates. When you reference the past there’s an almost spiritual connection.”


And romance. Some manufacturers are recreating vintage with new pieces washed and treated to look worn. The idea is analogous to roughed-up or stonewashed jeans, to instantly age them for a desirable patina.


No surprise then that there’s plenty of inspiration from women’s fashions, from hot colors to patterns.


“We love fashion,” says Chris Chapin, co-founder of the Concord, N.H.-based Company C. “So we often keep an eye on the latest in couture. We don’t recommend designing one’s entire home based on the latest fashion trends, but it is fun to sprinkle into our seasonal colors and designs fabulous influences from the runway.”


Large-scale florals and leafy designs echo the popularity of motifs from nature. Animal prints are especially fetching in fun combos such as azalea and green cheetah (from Company C), or a blue green jaguar from Suzanne Kasler for Safavieh. There are plenty of global and ethnic influences: supersized scrolls and paisleys, fretwork and Greek keys, lattice and Moroccan tile motifs.


But there’s also a practical plus for rugs.


“Rugs add so much to a room’s design,” says Chapin. “One of my favorite (things to do) is to stretch out on our rug after a run. Bare floors would not be as comfortable!”




Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/07/21/v-fullstory/2904059/let-the-floor-set-a-design-tone.html

Mark Gonsenhauser's Rug and Carpet Superstore 

4153 Virginia Beach Blvd.

Virginia Beach, VA 23452

757-486-6600 

Website: http://www.igotyourrug.com/ 

Pull the rug out ... and repair it

By Krys Stefansky
The Virginian-Pilot
July 31, 2011

Sometimes magic carpet rides fall to earth. Beautiful, patterned Oriental rugs, even expensive, high-quality ones from the far reaches of the globe, have accidents.

Bound edges come undone from wear or mishap. Furniture and foot traffic wear down their pile.

Fringe gets caught in doors, tangled in vacuum cleaners, gnawed by four-legged friends.

No matter how painstakingly they are made – by villages or nomads, on looms of wood or metal, knotted in the Persian style or Turkish, hand tufted or machine-made – eventually, they are dirtied by shoes, spilled on by partygoers, spit up on by crawling babies, tinkled on … and worse … by naughty pets.

Rugs with spots and rips or entire missing chunks make their way to rug repair rooms, if they’re lucky.

There, attention and mending makes them presentable again. Their once-dilapidated state stops being an embarrassment to their owners. Lovingly restored, they return to full glory.
But a good transformation doesn’t always happen without some homework.


Choose a rug restorer with care; No. 1 is the shop’s reputation. No.  2 is to ask and decide whether they really sound knowledgeable. No.  3 is to ask to see other repairs they have done. There are a lot of companies that do the wrong things.


The workrooms at Mark Gonsenhauser’s Rug & Carpet Superstore in Virginia Beach stay busy.
“When a rug comes in for cleaning and is damaged as well,” Gonsenhauser said, turning to a computer in his showroom, “we begin here.”


A menu of services offers spruce-ups like deodorizing, moth-proofing, mildew treatments, urine removal, color touch-ups, hand-serging, patching, turning fringe under. The list goes on and on.
“This is America,” Gonsenhauser said, joking. “You can have what you want.”

Most often, Oriental rugs are re-fringed, rebound, straightened, rewoven or cleaned, he said. Customers looking to protect their original investment often say, “Do whatever it is that you need to do.”
Back in the 1970s, Gonsenhauser, who learned the rug business from his father, studied the art of rug repair in Iran.


Owning a rug that looks a bit disheveled doesn’t necessarily mean it’s been abused.
The finest and best rugs will eventually show wear, he said. The sides of an Oriental rug – the bound edges, or selvages, that act like bumpers on cars – come undone or wear thin with time. If the selvage damage gets bad and eats into warp and weft (the threads that form the rug’s canvas backing), the patterned edges of the rug itself might need reweaving and re-piling. At the ends of the rug, fringe wears off and, if left unattended, so do the warp threads of the rug itself.
“In our business, it’s a stitch in time saves nine,” Gonsenhauser said. “You have to catch the damage before it gets worse.”


Taking action sooner rather than later is advice common to the business.

To make repairs to a rug’s pile, Gonsenhauser’s rug restorers use wool imported from India, Nepal or England and wools that are semi-worsted, hand-spun and machine-spun. The options allow restorers to capture subtleties in color and thickness.


“This is the heart of our repairing,” he said, touching hanks of different kinds of wool hanging from racks. “You’ve got to have the wool.”


Gonsenhauser also keeps a stack of salvaged pieces of old rugs so that, rather than reweaving, which can become expensive, patches can be fashioned.


Upstairs in his repair shop, an antique, 150-year-old Persian Hamadan colored with vegetable dyes was recently restored down to the warp and weft threads, which were rewoven before carefully selected strands of wool in varying shades were knotted, two strands at a time, into the canvas to re-pile the rug.


Typically, repair work is hardly more modern than the tools and techniques originally used to make the rug.


In this case, the area being worked on lay over a section of pipe. Beeswax lubricated the curved needles or hooks going through the tight canvas. Knots were tied by hand. Simple pairs of scissors snipped the wool to the right height.


Success or failure lies in the hands of the person doing the repair.

“To do it right, you’ve got to have a sense of mix and match and of how to monkey around a little bit to get the wool right, the color right, the knots right. To be a good restorer, you have to be in tune with the rug,” Gonsenhauser said. “You’re always learning another trick. It’s ultimately in the eye and hands. Anybody can make wine, but certain people make great wines. It’s the same thing here.”


The cost of minor repairs can be small compared to the original cost of a rug.


Gonsenhauser pulled a machine-made Karastan out of a storage bin. A 1-inch-diameter hole had to be rewoven. It would cost the owner $120 to re-pile the spot and $99 to clean the 6-by-9-foot Karastan, a small investment for a rug that once sold for $1,800.


Some damage can’t be pinned on a single incident. It can come from a lack of regular care and can be prevented at home.


People think rugs wear out from frequent walking on them.
“In reality what goes wrong is that sand gets into the pile and acts as an emery board, cutting off the wool,” Gonsenhauser said.


He recommends that, besides regular vacuuming, every six months or so rug owners employ a simple trick. Flip the rug and vacuum the back. Dust and sand will fall out onto the floor, where it can be swept up and the rug’s pile freed of abrading debris.

Mark Gonsenhauser's Rug and Carpet Superstore 
4153 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
757-486-6600 


Website: http://www.igotyourrug.com/ 




Proudly providing you Professional, Expert Rug Repair and Restoration for the Hampton Roads cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News. Northeastern North Carolina and the Eastern shore.

How to Maintain Antique and Semi-Antique Rugs

In the rug and carpet industry a rug that is over 100 years old is considered an antique. At 50 years a rug is considered semi-antique. It may seem that rugs of that age are not desirable, but in fact they are very much in demand. Whether a hand made Oriental from Iran or a hand hooked piece of Americana, old rugs have a unique appeal. For example Interior Designers use old rugs to create ambiance in a space. Think of “Mediterranean Tuscan” décor with a beautiful Old Persian rug, or a “Shabby Chic” bedroom with a vintage hooked wool floral rug.

You may want to have a look in your attic for hidden treasure of an old rug and consider having it restored. And what about that old heirloom rug your grandmother gave you? You may be surprised at how beautiful it looks after a restoration.

The types of issues usually found in old rugs are stains, holes and missing, damaged or discolored fringes. All of these damages can be restored if the damage is not too far gone. Old fringes can be removed and new fringe added. Discoloration and fading of colors may also be corrected, depending on the extent of the problem. Even dry rot can be stopped and repaired on some rugs if it is done properly and the area is not too large. And of course a good cleaning by a certified professional rug cleaning facility is a good place to start to restore your old rug.

After you have your rug restored you will want to maintain it by doing the following:

-Use a rug pad under your rug. This will help protect the rug from wear.
-Be very careful in vacuuming your rug. It is recommended to avoid vacuums with a beater bar.
-Have your rug cleaned every 3 years or so by a certified professional rug cleaning facility. We recommend visiting the Carpet and Rug Institute website (www.carpet-rug.org) to find a certified professional rug cleaning facility in your area. Dry Cleaning may be necessary.
-You may want to get an appraisal to determine the value of your rug. Once appraised you can check with your insurance carrier as to the level of coverage you may want to carry.

If you are in the Hampton Roads, Virginia area and have an old rug that you want restored, please contact us and we will be happy to advise you about the restoration of your treasured old rug.

Mark Gonsenhauser's Rug and Carpet Superstore
4153 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
757-486-6600

Website: http://www.igotyourrug.com/

Proudly providing you Antique Rug Restoration for the Hampton Roads cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News. 

Rug Repair in Virginia Beach

Our trained rug repair artisans will make your rug look like new!

Mark Gonsenhauser's rug repair department handles all kinds of damaged rugs. Believe me when I say, we have seen it all. Chew holes from teething puppies, loose and worn binding, rips and tears and of course our favorite, the disappearing fringe syndrome thanks to a ravenous vacuum cleaner!

When your fine Oriental rug is in need of some TLC, be sure to bring it in to Mark Gonsenhauser's  where we professionally repair all types of rugs. Orientals, Persians, Machine made rugs, Antique rugs, Wool rugs, Hand Tufted rugs, Silk rugs and much more.

We offer a full range of rug repair and restoration services and our trained rug repair artisans are gifted and adept at performing all types of complex repairs. We do modifications such as adding false fringes or removing fringes. We re-bind by hand and machine the worn edges of your rug. We have a vast collection of wool in order to be able to match your rug's color!

Some of our rug repair wool.

The following types of repairs and modifications are available: 

Fringes:
Re-Fringing
Fringe removal by two methods:
Permanently removed and over sewn so that the rug does not fray
OR
Folded under and secured which can eventually be restored to the original state at any time
Addition of false fringe of various types and colors

Sides and Ends:
Rebind sides by hand and carefully match colors
Repair, straighten, and over sew worn edges
Reweaving
Patching
Re-latex tufted backing
Specialty Repairs such rug painting.


Here are some examples of rug repair projects we have just completed for our customers.


The rug below had the fringe completely removed and has been hand serged.
(Also known as rebinding of the sides and/or ends.)








This rug is being hand bound. The next picture is the completed look.
We matched the original binding colors.







The rug below had damaged ends. The end was transformed to
have a nice neat hand bound finished look. 




The rug below had loose, uneven and frayed fringes. We hand over-sewed the fringes and trimmed where they were uneven. It now looks like new!







Watch our Rug Repair Video below for more examples of the types of restoration techniques our rug repair experts can do to rejuvenate your rug!




Mark Gonsenhauser's Rug and Carpet Superstore
4153 Virginia Beach Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
757-486-6600


Website: http://www.igotyourrug.com/




Proudly providing you Expert Rug Repair and Restoration for the Hampton Roads cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News, Williamsburg, Northeastern North Carolina and the Eastern shore.

How to Choose an Oriental Rug

Believe it or not, handmade Oriental rugs fall into the category of art work. Unlike paintings and sculpture, Oriental rugs can be used throughout their lifetime and represent one of the best investments you can make. They can be enjoyed as an art form, useful in their utility as a floor covering and represent an investment that may appreciate in value over time. They can also be passed down from generation to generation as it is not uncommon to find hand knotted rugs over 100 years old that remain in usable condition.

At 50 years an Oriental rug is considered semi-antique.

At 100 years an Oriental rug is considered an antique.




The 3 fundamentals of an authentic Oriental rug are:



• It must be made of natural fibers. (Wool, cotton or silk).

• It must be woven or knotted completely by hand.

• It must be of "Asiatic" origin such as Iran, India, Russia, China, Tibet, Nepal, Morocco; hence the term, “Oriental rug”.

Machine made Oriental design rugs lack at least one of these requirements and usually only last about 15-20 years. Where-as a high quality hand made rug, if properly maintained, can last 3 or 4 generations. 


An Oriental rug may be genuinely hand made, but still not be of fine quality. The quality of an Oriental rug is dependent upon the use of the finest wools, the truest of color-fast dyes, and the most skillful hand-weaving techniques.


Some factors that determine the quality of Oriental rugs are:



• Consistent weave; are there flaws in the weave? Look on the back side of the rug to detect irregular weaving.
• The rug should lie smoothly on the floor; does it ripple, pucker or wrinkle?
• Consistent dyes; is the dye colorfast? Compare the colors on the front and back of the rug to determine if the rug has faded.
• Straight edges and ends; the selvedges or the sides of the rug should be straight and properly secured.
• Width dimensions should be the same at both ends.
• Well finished ends; is the fringe straight and neatly cut? Rugs with-out fringe should have ends that are finished in a neat and secure manner.
• Good long-staple, high elevation wool.
• High knot count; the tighter the knot, the higher the knot count and therefore the rug tends to be more valuable. 

• Has the carpet been washed; this should have been a light soap and water wash. (Once you have purchased your rug it is best to let a professional rug dealer clean it for you).






Mark Gonsenhauser's Rug and Carpet Superstore
4153 Virginia Beach Blvd. 
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
Cleaning Dept: 757-333-1010
Store: 757-486-6600


Website: http://www.igotyourrug.com/




Proudly providing you Decorative Oriental rugs for the Hampton Roads cities of Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Hampton, Newport News.