Our Favorite Vintage Rugs & Buying Tips

We used a Persian Heriz in our Newport Pavilion project.

We used a Persian Heriz in our Newport Pavilion project.

It’s no secret that vintage rugs are a key component to creating the layered interiors you’ve come to expect from Moore House! We believe that the beautiful pieces in homes should feel collected and emotionally significant—objects that you’ve gathered during travels or items that spark a memory, or evoke a vibe. Rugs are one of the many ways we achieve that feeling in a room.

Vintage rugs have so many benefits that an eco-conscious consumer should get behind too. Not only do they support artisans and their craft, but their motifs and designs have been passed down from generation to generation—they’re true heirloom pieces. Because of the nature of their colors and patterns they work incredibly well for families by hiding spills/stains; and the more wear they get the better they are! They’re usually made with natural vegetable dyes and natural fibers like wool, camel, and/or cotton. All things that help in our quest to have less toxic materials in our homes. 

Buying vintage 

There are two ways to purchase a vintage rug, one way is finding them in a flea market or a vintage shop where you can see them in person. Normally, you’re going to find smaller scale vintage rugs, most commonly a 3x5s, 6x9s, or runners. You’ll also mostly find tribal rugs there, but sometimes you’ll get lucky and find a Persian rug. While we love tribal rugs, they usually don’t offer the scale we need and the pattern tends to be a little more intense. We used smaller scale but layered tribal rugs in our Quonset Hut!

Our favorite way of sourcing rugs is through vintage rug vendors. We can’t share all of our secrets, you can find a lot of great vendors on Etsy. A good vendor will be able to help you train your eye and teach you all about the stories of these incredible rugs. Our favorite style to source for our clients are village rugs. While there are many types, our girl Georgia from Passerine, likes to categorize them by origin. There are essentially three rug origins: city rugs (crafted by a team of people, they tend to look more formal in design), village rugs (usually crafted by one person in their home and tend to have more muted tones and imperfections), and tribal rugs (usually smaller in size and primitive in style, they’re made by nomadic tribes). Some of our favorite village rugs: a Heriz, a Malayer, or a Mahal. The dyes are more muted and they generally have calmer patterns and muddier colors. We don’t usually use bright rugs in a space because we like the rug to feel muddy and tonal, that way all of the imperfections blend and it offers more longevity within your space. 

Think About Size

 You never want to buy a rug that’s too small, always buy the biggest rug you can for the space. In a small room we like to have the rug sit 10 to 12 inches off the wall, in larger spaces it should sit 15 to 20 inches off the wall. The front feet of the main furniture pieces should always sit on the area rug. If we’re designing an oddly long room, we have been known to join two rugs down the center with a fun decorative stitch.

 Choosing a Color

Sometimes we start with a rug and pull colors from the pattern to inform the design choices in the rest of the room. If you’re just shopping for a new rug, make sure that you choose one with at least two of your colors that already exist in the space. It’s always about the color, not necessarily the pattern. When choosing a pattern, we tend to gravitate toward small-scale options like a Mahal or Malayer.

how much should I spend?

A good vintage rug should be an investment. Remember this is usually largest scaled piece of decor in your space, and this piece will set the tone for everything else! A good vintage rug can range anywhere between 3K to 10K and can even get up into the 20’s depending on size. The rug is where we spend our money always. If you like vintage rugs and it’s coming in over your budget, try a vintage Kilim instead, they can usually range from 1K to 3K for much larger sizes. They’re more affordable and some versions can get tossed in the washing machine! Since we’re crazy for rugs, we includes some amazingly priced look-a-like rugs that are only $300 to $1500 for you below!

The stair runner in our Minimalist Retreat is a Persian Kurdish.

The stair runner in our Minimalist Retreat is a Persian Kurdish.

We laid a tribal rug down in the living room of our farmhouse.

We laid a tribal rug down in the living room of our farmhouse.

A vintage kilim was perfect for the Newport Pavilion bedroom.

A vintage kilim was perfect for the Newport Pavilion bedroom.

Vintage Malayer

Vintage Malayer

Bromley really has all the rug flipping skills

Bromley really has all the rug flipping skills

 Images: Erin McGinn & Zack DeZon

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