If you are searching for ideas and ways to decorate your property, the humble western rug could become your best friend. Steeped in tradition, it is a design icon that can be utilized imaginatively to lift and bring to life any living space it adorns.
Although traditional in design, its unique nature immediately draws you to it, making it a popular seller. This popularity unfortunately, can lead to problems with quality and provenance as fakes flood the market. Below we find out how you can decorate your home in style with a real western rug.
What are Western Rugs
A western rug is a traditionally designed rug produced with earthy brown and red pallets and splashes of color, which create fantastic imagery such as stunning turquoise rustic Western rug patterns.
Constructed from the finest materials, the best rugs have the highest durability ratings and are manufactured to last a lifetime, being chemically treated to ensure minimal fading over time. It is also good to know despite their traditional nature, they are made to the latest standards. They are manufactured to follow the most up-to-date safety and fire regulations, providing you peace of mind..
How Can You Incorporate them Into Your Home Design?
There are many styles and types of rugs you can choose, and as a design piece, rugs can add class and character to your home, elevating plain decor into something quite spectacular, whether used on the floor or on the wall.
Western rugs take this one step further by adding in history and traditions from the original expansion west. By choosing to use a western rug, you marry yourself and your property with this history, almost bringing the past to life in the room that it adorns.
Western Rugs as a Design Feature
Besides the ubiquitous rug in front of the fire, rugs can be used in many different ways. They do not even have to remain on the floor as they make fantastic wall hangings, or be used to create barriers in open-plan spaces.
In addition, they can act as design statements, acting as focal points to bring different elements of a room together. With walls, they can be used as a flat backdrop, as a tapestry, or placed on a stand with the wall as the rug’s backdrop.
A rug can also act as a table covering for a coffee table or, if large enough, for dining tables.
A Rug Is Not Just Confined to The Indoors
Rugs do not need to be confined to just indoor scenarios. A well-made, quality rug will be able to adapt to external conditions, bring style to the outside of your house and garden.
They make the perfect accompaniment for a rocking chair on your veranda and comfort your feet. They can be used as statement pieces placed in windows and adorn exterior walls, as they have the flexibility to be taken down and stored if the weather turns.
Finally, they can bring luxury to an outdoor barbeque or party. Spread across a carefully manicured lawn with blankets and pillows, they offer the perfect refuge for your guests to chill.
Choosing the Right Source
Western rugs can be sourced from just about anywhere online but in reality, most are fake Chinese or Indian subcontinent ‘knock offs .’To know that you have a true western rug, it has to have several facets.
First and foremost, it clearly has to follow the conventional design and color pallet found in traditional western rugs. Secondly, and almost as importantly, the rug needs to be made in the US. Finally environmental considerations should be to the fore, as should the ethical nature of the manufacture
Made in the USA:
If you want to invest in a high-quality authentic western rug then you should ensure that the provenance of manufacture is the USA. There are a number of cheap imitations in the style of a western rug that emanate out of India and Southeast Asia.
Price is likely to be the biggest giveaway, but you should still be careful as these can sometimes be passed off as US made. Look for signs of provenance from the supplier, and always ensure the rug comes with a guarantee.
Ethically Made
Although provenance is the most critical factor you should also be aware of the ethical issues that can surround the making of the rug.
A huge concern should be material sourcing. Not only should the rugs be US made, but they should also use materials, where possible, that are produced there. It is all too easy to import cheap materials from the far east that are unlikely to have been ethically sourced.
The production conditions are also important with the very best rugs hand woven. By buying a rug sourced from a third-world country you could be supporting sweat-shop labor.
Environmentally-Friendly
The final factor in sourcing your genuine western rug is the environmental impact the making of the product has had. By bringing in rugs and materials from the other side of the world. The carbon footprint of the rug will be much higher as carbon miles pile up.
The second environmental factor is the impact the materials have on resources. Not only should materials be ethically obtained, but they should also come from sustainable resources so that no environmental damage is caused.
Conclusion
A beautiful item constructed from the finest materials, an authentic western rug will proudly adorn any property that it lies within. Their traditional color and patterns make them an ideal furnishing for any home, where they can be used as a focal point, whether on the floor or a wall.
Indeed, the western rug doesn’t have to remain on the inside, it can be used on verandas and is the perfect chilling zone for outside parties and barbecues.
