These are machine made rugs and often have handmade rug designs . If you look at the back of the rug you will see that the design of the front is not clearly replicated as on a handmade. There will often be white lines running the length of the rug – on a handmade rug these will be running width wise and are the locking wefts. Belgian ‘Kashans’ and English Wilton and Axminster are the best known examples of power loomed rugs.

There are ‘purists’ who like to think so but in reality modern chrome dyes are so advanced that very little arduously made and expensive vegetal ( vegetable and mineral ) dyes are made in the 21st Century. Vegetal dyes are most often used in Turkey where the production largely goes to North America where the consumer will pay more. The colours start life as intense tones which have a lovely depth and luminosity but which take quite some to mellow. Once this happens through the process of footfall and UV light the colours are wonderful. The best modern weaving using expensive chrome dyes will give this faded look immediately.

There are handmade rugs sold as ‘mouse pads’ and there is one covering the floor of a mosque in Saudi Arabia almost the size of a football pitch! Rug sizes generally follow a mathematical formula of length in relation to width. It is the width of the loom that is restrictive – handmade rugs can be very long indeed ,especially when commissioned for a Palace corridor. The majority of handmade rugs are rectangular so sizes are as follows.

5’x3′ / 1.52x.91
6’x4′ / 1.83×1.22
7’x5′ / 2.13×1.52
8’x5’6” / 2.44×1.68
9’x6′ / 2.74×1.83
10’x8′ / 3.05×2.44
12’x9′ / 3.66×2.74
13’x10′ / 3.96×3.05
14’x10′ / 4.27×3.66
15’x12′ / 4.57×3.66
18’x12′ / 5.49×3.66

Sizes larger than this are readily available but there is an up charge per square metre due to the larger loom set up and handling difficulties.

There are round rugs made in all qualities but the majority will not be handmade. In the UK round handmade rugs are hard to source but when available will either be finer Persian such as ‘Nain’ or Afghan ‘Ziegler’ and in 6’/1.83 ,8′ / 2.44 and 10’/3.05 diameters. Oval rugs are available also but generally in lower quality handmade and hand tufted. Square rugs are made but are highly unusual in handmade.

There a plenty of long narrow hall runners to buy in the UK with widths being from 1’10” to 3’6” / .56 to 1.07 and lengths from 6′ / 1.83 to 16′ / 4.88. There are longer ones available but in smaller amounts. AS they age they can start to bend, especially if woven on a wool base.

Gallery (Kellye or Kelleghi ) rugs are made in hand knotted quality and are generally twice as long as wide.

Not necessarily but most rug specialists recommend one. If your handmade rug is small and light and sitting on top of a wall to wall carpet then it will move ,which is annoying. We would recommend a thin slightly sticky pad cut to size to help anchor it. For larger rugs that are heavy enough to stay in one place, generally because they are anchored with furniture, you can use a pad to provide more bounce and comfort. This also helps protect the back of the knot from wear, especially on stone floors, and will allow the dirt to fall through to the floor below, therefore reducing the amount of abrasive particles at the base of the knot. This will help the longevity of your oriental carpets and rugs.

Not very often! You should vacuum the rug once a week using suction only, unless your pet or a child has brought inside surface dirt which has dried and needs the revolving brush to shift it. Powerful brush motion strips your rug and is not necessary as they are remarkably resilient to dirt because the wool is still naturally quite oily . These oils, lanolin, act like a natural protective treatment.

Rugs are NOT self cleaning but a heavily patterned handmade Persian rug will hide a multitude of sins! We recommend having your rugs washed or if silk or cotton, dry cleaned, once every five years. Please ask a rug specialist to do this for you as very often your local carpet cleaner will be clueless as to what they are dealing with. If you MUST do it yourself then vacuum it intensely , front and back, until no more loose dirt is in the pile, and scrub using pure soap flakes in cold water. Depending on the provenance of rug you may still experience colour bleeding, especially with a chrome red into cream. Consider this a warning!

DO NOT USE A RENTED ‘ALL PURPOSE’ MACHINE AS THE SOLUTION SUPPLIED WITH THEM IS TOO HARSH FOR RUGS OF ANY QUALITY.

Once finished brush the pile back down so it lies flat in the correct direction. Allow to dry naturally in sunshine, preferably on concrete or tarmac and raise up to allow air to circulate. If small enough hang it up to air dry in the wind.

However if you have spilled red wine, tea, coffee or children’ drinks (especially that very purple one ! ) call an expert immediately. This also goes for any kind of urine staining.

Another old wives tale. You can gently tap the back of a rug to loosen the dirt trapped at the base of the knot and of course any particles falling out show up very satisfyingly on virgin white snow. The snow is not a help at all in drawing out the dirt.

Please do not try and clean these yourself as you should NOT make them wet at all. Have them dry cleaned by a specialist and if the price is too high throw it out and buy another!

Your local carpet cleaner should be able to manage these without charging too much. Do not pay more than £1Ft2 as it is no different from cleaning regular wall to wall carpet. The dyes are generally well fixed BUT make sure it is returned with the direction of the pile all lying in the same direction. Make sure they are fully insured for any mistakes and YOU take an image of the rug before they take it away.

At Larsen we always try and help our clients! Mostly we cannot part exchange as we carry no stock ourselves but will offer to place it in the best market for you. This may be your local auction house, e-Bay or the SALE section of our website.

These are what we call ‘flat weaves’ and have no pile – hence the name. A kilim is made from wool and a dhurrie from cotton. The wefts running across the rug are what makes the pattern so it is simply a warp and weft rug. No soft pile. These are now made in vast quantities and can be purchase very cheaply through places like IKEA. Do not try and use them on wall to wall carpet as they will move like crazy. On hard floors you will need a rug pad. There are some beautiful kilims on the market and they look fabulous on the wall, over the back of a sofa, as a decorative table cloth etc…….. Dhurries are more fragile, harder to clean and not generally as good looking or useful as kilims.