I chatted with an antique business owner recently and he said something that really struck me -- he said while he likes putting old rugs in his windows for display, he would never choose a traditional motif rug -- like a Sarouk or Kashan. He looked physically ill even talking about these types, for him it was tribal all the way. We each have our own tastes and preferences but I really and truly do believe that "traditional design" Persian rugs are very underrated. They can feel grandma-esque if you have the plastic covering over your couch to match but if you pair your traditional rug with modern or eclectic decor, it no longer looks so traditional or old lady but actually takes on a very cool and playful presence. A handmade rug is a work of art so it has to mix and match well with your style and other art but just as you would pick out pillows to have pops of color or interesting lines and shapes, your rug can be the perfect inspiration for a multifaceted kind of room. I read an article where they compared a classic oriental carpet to a classic Chanel suit -- they both truly never go out of style!

 

Here are my picks for awesome pairings of traditional rugs with hip and/or non super traditional decor.

 

 

\

 

Now off to decorating my own house!

 

xoxo,

Melissa

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. 

 

1. 

 

 

2.

 

 4. 

5.

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

1. Light throw rugs. Whether you are into the tribal rug or just lightly colored rug look, a little minimalistic type of carpet can truly make a space feel welcoming and comfortable. Worn rugs, blanched in color, or simple in design rugs, we have many to choose from but these little Turkish rugs are my favorite for this type of neutral look.

2. Pillows and more pillows! Tribal and neutral would be my pick to match this look!

3. Sketch art next to colorful art. Love it! A light simple drawing next to something that packs a punch of color.

4. Child's chair with character. Just kind of fun in any kind of space is an antique or vintage child's chair. It is small enough that you don't have to commit to it and a big enough of a decor staple that you can put something on it or have it be a focal point of the room.

xoxo, Melissa

Carpets never cease to amaze me. Isolating a single square foot, each section of a rug conveys a completely different palette and pattern. As a rug enthusiast I find myself relating to single areas or patterns as much as I do the overall aesthetic of an entire rug. Here are a few rugs from our antiques section I thought I would shed a bit more light on.

Antique Persian Tabriz Rug: This older Tabriz features a stunning ivory center medallion, rust field and beige/sand corner spandrels. My eye is always particularly drawn to the beautiful, yet sparse, shades of deep jewel teal and blue.  The border is also quite admirable - a very softly seasoned tone-on-tone medallion and field is confidently wrapped with a palmetto + serrated leaf motif woven with handsome and harnessed strength in design and contrast. Harmonious and powerful!

 

Antique Persian Farahan Sarouk Rug :  Exceptionally detailed carpet with excellent weave and wool. Such a fantastic design in this little antique Sarouk Farahan. The allover vertical meandering leaf field design is so simple in so many ways, yet the dynamic really lends to the feeling of movement in this rug. True to its way, this certainly does feel like the running channels of water design as it is known!

Antique Persian Bijar :  A rare and early wool weft antique Persian Halvaie Bijar. Fantastic execution of design with phenomenal range of colors with deep saturation in all shades! 

 

Thanks for checking in, stay tuned for new arrivals & enjoy your next rug from our great selection of antique and vintage rugs

 

Melissa + Dave

Old New House

oldnewhouse.com

Decorating a bathroom can definitely be a challenge because less is really more in most cases so items need to be very carefully picked and placed. One concept I absolutely love for a bathroom is use of a vintage rug. If you have a small bathroom, a cotton rag rug would be great instead of a bath mat because you can wash it and if you have a larger bathroom or a guest bathroom that lends itself to feeling more like an actual room, I highly recommend giving a vintage or antique Persian rug a consideration. The photo below from a Domino magazine featured a modern meets vintage bathroom is the perfect example of an airy, clean and dynamic bathroom that feels like somewhere you'd want to hang out after a long day's work, and guess what, you guessed it -- it has an antique Persian rug. Unique and interesting, love it! 

 1. Vintage or Antique Oriental Rug. Okay, so I can't completely tell from the super small portion of it in the frame if it is indeed my favorite type of Persian rug -- Kerman -- but it certainly reminds me of the type and we happen to have two very close matches in our shop. And my love affair with Kerman rugs will certainly live on -- now to hoping that one day we have a spacious enough bathroom to put one in because if it were up to me we would have one in every room!

2. Beveled Glass Mirror. Whether new or old, mirrors are pretty much the norm in a bathroom but having a round mirror that is beveled glass adds a little something special to the look if you ask me -- an old world charm. A lot of mirrors made today are not beveled and so that extra dimension that pretty much all old mirrors have is just lost. This mirror we have in the shop is one I have always thought would look fantastic hanging up instead of being used as a stand and check out that bevel....ooh la la!

 

3. A lovely plant in a vase. It seems a bit unlikely to find a plant in the bathroom but I love the concept. Nature is soothing and it is such a lovely way to spruce up any kind of room. And of course when you are sitting in your bubble bath, you can look over to see something else thriving. It has positive energy! While we don't carry plants in our shop, we do carry some vases. I always find milk glass to be incredibly timeless and think the ultra white vase would look just beautiful in a bathroom.

That's it for this sourcing series but stay tuned for our next one which will focus on home offices! I hope everyone has a peaceful and wonderful weekend! xoxo, Melissa

We love rugs.  There is always at least one or two spots for a special antique or vintage rug in your room: and it does not always have to be on the floor.  A rug can be displayed on the wall, atop the ottoman, slung over the side of a couch.  So with all these different ways of decorating with rugs, lets talk about what we consider rugs:  Technically a rug is an area rug measuring approximately 5'x8' and smaller in size.  The word 'rug' and 'carpet' are for the most part used interchangeably.  In the Old New House shop, our featured rugs are exclusively hand knotted or hand woven - which is the more intimate of many types of processes in making rugs*.  This is one important aspect of what we provide to the customers: Authenticity and genuine hand made rugs.  So while one part of authenticity is hand made nature, another important factor is true age.

So how do we date our rugs?

In the Old New House shop, an antique rug is one we place an estimated age of 100 old or greater.  This is somewhat of a conservative approach to calling a rug antique (some say 60 or 80 years).  Why do we not call an 60 or 80 year old rug antique?  Many years ago, old customs import/export laws would only consider a rug to be antique if it exceeded 100 years old.  Many museums and collectors still consider this to be true.  In the ONH shop, if you see us calling a rug an antique, it's more or less pre-1915.  Here are a few of our antique rugs:

 

An antique Mohtashem Kashan rug

An antique Belouch rug

An antique Kerman rug

What is a vintage rug?  We consider a vintage rug to be one with a weaving date of +/- 40 to 99 +/- years old. Due to a high level of commercialization in the rug industry, we select the best of the best vintage rugs to offer in our shop - great quality wool and weave, awesome contrast or tone on tone. Here are a few examples of Old New House vintage rugs:

A gorgeous vintage Sarouk runner

A hard-to-find size rug - a happy vintage Hamadan

A vintage Kerman rug

*  Loose paraphrasing of industry wording - an Oriental rug is a hand made weaving created with or without pile comprised of a warp and weft made in the Near, Mid or Far East. Technically, this includes many types of rugs - Kilim rugs, hand knotted rugs, soumak rugs, even hand tufted rugs.  The rugs we feature in the shop are exclusively hand made, and most all of the rugs are hand knotted. While qualities in all types of rugs may vary, the process of hand knotting rugs is considered among the more intimate of processes to create a floor covering.

 

Melissa + Dave

Old New House