After a couple weeks of traveling all over Tennessee, Kentucky and Alabama to see family, photograph a wedding, and shop for some ONH additions of course, I cannot even begin to express how good it feels to finally be home! Even though we journeyed high and low and made tons of new connections, we wound up acquiring only one new piece for the shop. But what a piece it is! While it awaits being photographed, I find myself daydreaming about it constantly. It is a unique size vintage light red Lilihan rug that is just so incredibly sweet and stunning at the same time. If we had a space for it in our home, naturally it would be belong to me but alas, it does not have a perfect spot in our dwelling and it awaits someone else falling in love with it! But needless to say this rug has gotten me thinking about the types of carpets and designs in general I am consistently attracted to. Oddly enough I like the traditional type of designs -- that of the Kerman and Sarouk rugs. I like geometric and tribal as well but I am always oohing and aahing over those dainty and feminine more traditional varieties. And red, always with the red. A good blue is always nice but man, does that red speak to me in the home. I don't if it is the bold or if all of my other decor is light and so I yearn that pop of color, but I simply cannot get enough. Seems I am not alone either as many people are drawn to adding the vibrant red to their home decor. Here's a look at some great interiors with red rugs + accents as well as my pile up of some awesome rugs with red of our own. 

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1. Photo from noctomic.com 2. Photo from RugRag.com 3. Photo from lonny.com 4. Photo from noctomic.com 5. Photo from lonny.com

I especially love how red can fit in with so many different home styles. It is versatile yet bold. Here's to a colorful week with lots of cozy time in your homes!

xoxo,

Melissa

Websites / Blogs / Forums

Forum.RugRag.com - An active Oriental rug forum for novices to connect with collectors and dealers for purposes of Oriental rug identification and general information.

PersianCarpetGuide.com - An resource for information on Oriental rugs especially useful for identification based on region and technical characteristics/breakdown.

RugRag.com - An informational website featuring an archive of information on how to make informed Oriental rug purchases, what to look for when buying, and general tips to bring a novice into the collector world of antique rugs and fine Oriental rugs.

SpongoBongo.com - An information rug resource including photographic reference plates from auction houses around the world and identification of Oriental rug separated by regions and people made.

TurkoTek.com - A comprehensive website geared for the collector with emphasis on village, tribal/nomadic weavings pre-1900.  An active forum and many knowledgeable and known scholars.

Museums and Direct Collection Links

Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History, Carpets of the Islamic World, 1600-1800: "They were traded to Europe and the Far East where, too precious to be placed on the ground, they were used to cover furniture or hung on walls. Within the Islamic world, especially fine specimens were collected in royal households."

Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), Boston Collection of Oriental Rugs and Textiles

Brooklyn Museum Collection of Rugs

Carpet Museum of Iran

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) - Featuring one of the twin Ardabil Carpets

Metropolitan Museum of Art - A retrospective look at displaying Islamic art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  More from their collection of rugs and textiles.

Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), London - Housing one of the twin Ardabil Carpets.  Great reads including a new perspective on the Ardabil Carpets, and the history of the Ardabil Carpets.

State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg Russia - Museum housing the oldest known example of an Oriental rug dating back to 2500 B.C.

Textile Museum in Washington D.C.