Area Rugs & Flooring (03)

Flooring Basics - Tips and Resources
A wonderful collection of helpful and informative articles on a wide range of flooring, carpeting, and rug styles and their proper uses. Start with tips on how to choose the proper carpet for the right room, complete with a wonderfully helpful section entitled Before You Buy. Continue with an informative page of tips, illustrations, and sources for a variety of flooring types—from tile to carpet and hardwood. Don't stop there. The next article covers tips on carpet fibers, installation guidelines, and technical info. Click the "Residential" button under Selecting Carpet and Rugs for the best tips. There are articles on carpet scams and how to avoide being overcharged. There are articles on carpet stains and how to deal with everything from mildew, to fading, to color change, to smoke damage, and much more. There are a lot of addition articles, covering virtually every aspect of carpet, area rug and floor care, purchase and installation.

Decorating With Area Rugs
According to this site there is a trend away from wall-to-wall carpeting and toward area rugs of different shapes and sizes. How, then, do you go about buying an area rug that's right for your space and right for your sense of style? This site offers 8 expellent tips for purchasing area rugs. First, measure the space that needs to be covered and do not purchase an area rug, no matter how wonderful the rug might be, that does not cover the space needed. Know whether your area rug will be in a high-traffic or low-traffic area and keep in mind the kind and amount of light that your rug will receive. Examine the rug for imperfections before buying it. Bear in mind that certain small imperfections are a trademark of a weaver and are not necessarily bad. Look for tight, even knotting on the back of the rug and look for a soft pile on the face of the rug. Buying from a liquidation sale or an auction may not be a good idea since you may not be able to return the rug if it turns out not to be what you needed. Area rugs should not be placed in direct sunlight (color fading) or in damp places which invite mildew. There is a great deal of additional information and helpful ideas for purchasing and caring for a wide variety of area rugs.

Rug Cleaning Tips and Advice
This site gives a brief tips section about how to care for your rug by cleaning it. Home cleaning, vacuuming, repairing and professional cleaning - recommended every six to 12 months - are discussed. Before you need to have your rug deep cleaned, the site says that vacuuming is a good defense to keep your rugs in tip-top shape.

The Top Contemporary Resources for Rugs on the Net
If you're in the market for a rug, any kind of rug, this site is a resource you simply can't afford to pass up. This site can lead you to the best sources for hand made rugs, area rugs of all sizes, shapes and styles, custom rugs, economy rugs, discount rugs, stair runners, rug runners, round rugs, oval rugs, contemporaty rugs, southwest rugs, Oriental and Persian rugs, Seagrass, sisal, shag, Flotaki, Tibetan, wool, braided, hooked, tufted, throw, rag rugs, rugs for kid's rooms and rugs for baby's room, rugs for the kitchen, for the bathroom, for the nursery, and for the hearth. This site has incredible links to outdoor carpeting, Capel, Karastan, Masland, Nourison, Shaw, Sphinx and more.