A new rug the perfect way to warm up chilly winter evenings
It’s the time of year when wooden and tiled floors, which are so practical when it comes to cleaning and maintenance, are just a little too chilly for winter evenings — especially when you want to pad around in your socks.
In the absence of under-floor heating, rugs are the easy solution to warm everything up and add some cosy comfort.
Happily there are rugs to suit every budget and space but with so much choice of materials, size and design on offer it’s hard to know where to start — make the right investment, however and its one that will meet your needs now and long term.
What’s certain is a new rug can have the power to transform a room, but there are a few items to be ticked before you commission one or buy off the peg.
Denis Kenny of Ceadogán, a bespoke rug-making business based in Wellington Bridge, Wexford, says:
“Consider if the rug will be purely decorative or will it be in a high traffic area, and that will dictate the colours you choose.
“Lighter colours may not wear as well if there is a lot of footfall. Rugs with a lot of pattern are a good choice for frequently used rooms, since they camouflage traffic patterns and the occasional muddy paw print.”
Aesthetics are also on the check list so you don’t end up with a pattern screaming at other patterns in your upholstery and curtains. But positioning of the rug is critical according to Denis, suggestion you use a piece to carve a large space into a particular area, making it more dynamic.
“It can really bring a room together, uniting different elements and defining space,” he says. “A large rug can create a cosy, intimate feel, but be sure to leave at least one foot around the perimeter of the room to create contrast between floor and rug.”
When he looks at a rug he admits the first thing he does is dig his fingers into the pile to check for resistance and a sumptuous feel as “cheaper wools tend to be flat and not have resilience and shed continuously,” he says.
But before getting that far ahead — and falling in love with a rug that may be too big for the space — or be so small it will look like a postage stamp between your furniture — measure up.
“Mark off with masking tape the size you think you want,” Denis advises. “If you’re thinking of having a strong vibrant rug, you need space around it so it doesn’t become ‘migraine-ish’.“
Look at the size of your room and furniture if you want the rug to sit between sofas and armchairs or to extend beneath it.”
If you opt for the latter, he says to make sure all the legs of the furniture are sitting on the rug.
“This is very important especially under a dining table. The rug should extend far enough from the table that when chairs are pushed back they’re not half on, half off the rug.”
Laura-Leigh Murphy, Flooring Manager at Casey’s of Cork and Limerick, agrees the first consideration is scale, and also sees the value of having the rug extend under furniture if space allows.
“People are sometimes afraid of the large size,” she says. “But go with it, otherwise a rug can look fragmented if it’s positioned between a three- and two-seater sofa.”
She also advises to think about who will use the room.
“If it’s a playroom then a large cream rug won’t do. If the room is used an awful lot and the rug needs replacing maybe every year, a synthetic might be the best option, but if it’s something you want to have for a long time, wool will wear better.”
It also seems that wool is the better option when it comes to maintenance.
“Spot cleaners work very well on wool,” she says. “They’re easier to clean than synthetic.”
But lovely as rugs are, they have other maintenance and safety issues.
“A fireplace will spit out hot coals which will melt synthetic fibres and leave a black mark,” she warns. “If this happens with wool you can trim back the burn if the pile is deep enough, but avoid a deep pile with small kids or the elderly who might tripover the edge.”
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