Decorating with Oriental Rugs

Decorating with Oriental Rugs

Once we have settled the problem of the kind of floor we desire, the next problem is to settle the sort of covering to go over it. Only in the rarest instances is the bare floor either desired or possible. We have then to consider the question of rugs and carpets. The Orientals will come first.

There is a tradition that Oriental rugs are always good in all rooms, the mere fact of their being Oriental making them sans reproche. Never did more fallacious tradition exist They are often of a character totally unsuited to our modern decoration.

Modern Oriental rugs are often garish and crude in color and will quickly destroy an otherwise good interior scheme. It is just as impossible to use Orientals indiscriminately, irrespective of adjacent furnishings, as it is to use a figured wall paper in every room of the house. True, there is nothing more lovely than an antioue Oriental of beautiful design and splendid color, but such a rug, if brilliant of color, should be used as the main factor in the room; other furnishings should be made subordinate to it, built around it, taking into consideration every color. An Oriental with subdued coloring will take its place naturally as part of the general scheme. If the colors are crude and shriekingas is so often the case the room must be keyed up in color scale to go with the rug.

There is always a way to subdue the loud colors of a rug: a dyer will dip the rug in a neutral wash, thus bringing all the colors into closer key. The rug will not be injured and the soft general tone so necessary for our modern decorative schemes will be acquired.

The Oriental rugs procurable to-day come from Persia, Turkey, the Caucasus, India and China. The names by which they are known are the names of the town, district or province where they are made. Designs and colorings of many rugs are now drawn up in America and sent to Bulgaria and Persia to be woven. In that way the colors are more apt to be suited to the room, than if the rug is purchased of Orientals here which generally results in brilliant colors that require brilliant surroundings.

Chinese rugs are now made in beautiful blues, grays and taupes. These are most suitable for dining-rooms, as, being figured, they do not show crumbs and spots, and the blue is just the color for dining-rooms since so much china is of blue Chinese design. Jute rugs of Chinese colors and design are quite inexpensive and really possess artistic merit. While the fibre has not the softness of wool, they are sufficient for the porch or the country house.

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