Top 4 Things You Need for Rug Shopping

We’ve been selling rugs for a loooooong time. In that time, we have encountered some of the most organized customers and designers you have ever met, and we’ve also encountered folks who have no idea what they are doing. So, in order to help you help us to find you the best rug, I’ve devised a simple list of what you should try to bring with you when you go rug shopping:

1. Measurements/Floorplans

This probably seems like a given, but you’d be surprised how often people come rug shopping, eyeball a rug we have, buy it and then take it home only to find out that they need a rug four times the size they thought. Eyeballing doesn’t work, and I’ll tell you why. Our shop is much much larger than your living room. So, a rug on the floor of our shop is going to seem much smaller than a rug on the floor of your house. Also, as if that trickery wasn’t enough, rugs hanging on a rack look significantly larger, so if you buy one off the rack, you may take it home to find it is way too small.

Also, when I say measurements, I mean measure everything, not just the rug you want to replace. If you have an old 8×10 that you want to replace, but when you come into our shop to look for an 8×10 you fall in love with a 7×10 or an 8.5×11.5, you’re going to want to know without having to drive back home if that is even a possibility. So, know the dimensions of your room. Know the biggest size rug you can use, the smallest rug you can use, and take note of anything that might be in the way such as a fireplace hearth or an HVAC vent.

2. Swatches

In a perfect world, you would have no swatches because you’d be starting with a clean slate and picking the rug out first, but when is anything perfect? (Helpful Hint: Picking out the rug first is always a good choice because the lifespan of the rug will be longer than anything else in your room.) If you are trying to match your rug to anything, please bring that thing rug shopping with you. Fabric and paint swatches are a great help, but if you don’t have those, then bringing in a pillow or arm chair cover will work just as well. We once had a customer bring in a baby onesie because it was the same color as her wall. That was quite clever. Either way, don’t come empty handed, and you will be more certain in your decisions.

3. Photos

If you already have rugs in your home, or you’ve been perusing magazine articles and have a sense of what you already like, please bring the photos with you (or your cell phone)! This will narrow down the field quite a bit and help us help you to find something that you really like and something that will coordinate with what you already have.

4. Your Spouse (if necessary)

I know today your spouse has told you they don’t care about what rug you pick out, but let me tell you, they actually do. That’s about all I have to say about that.

So, in closing, rug shopping doesn’t have to be daunting. If you completely hate shopping entirely, you could just give us items 1-3 in advance and then come back to the shop one day with item 4, and pick out a rug from a narrowed down selection. We’re happy to help you!