Top 5 Tips on how to choose a perfect rug

Do you remember my trip to visit Tisca Rugs factory a few months ago? Apart from witnessing talented weavers at work in the beautiful region of Transylvania, I had a chance to pick my favourite rug! I chose the Olbia Polar design and today I’m very happy to show you how it looks in our living room and share my top 5 tips on choosing ‘the one’.

A woolen rug in natural shade is a perfect choice to add warmth and define the space. It can be surprisingly hard to find simple, natural rugs which are not only beautiful but also functional.  When when I first came across Tisca I knew it would be my-kind of brand! Another thing which isn’t as simple as it seems is choosing the right rug for your space and trying to avoid common mistakes. No worries, we are not here to judge! We’ve all made them, it’s good to learn and try to avoid them in the future so let’s have a look at what we should consider before we buy a rug.

Here are my top 5 tips to choose the rug for your space:

1/ Rug connects all the design dots in the room 

If you are like me – a minimalist who tends to enjoy ‘minimal color, maximum style’ as my friend Desiree says, the woolen rugs are your best option. They simple blend into the room, adding warmth and making a space feel inviting without screaming for attention. Tisca offers a wide range of different shapes, so we can choose the size of the loops. Most of them will give your feet a daily massage by just walking on it. The texture depends on your preference but there is one thing to consider which brings me to my next point.

2/ Rug texture 

Rug texture, in my opinion depends on your room size. The more textured rugs with bigger loops,  tend to look better in bigger spaces, in smaller areas they can be a little intimidating. Since our living room is rather small, I decided to go for the Olbia Polar design. Polar has beautiful, visible texture but it’s not the first thing you notice when you enter. I believe that the rug should be in harmony with the room, rather then dominating it. It should feel nice, cosy and blend in beautifully!

3/ Rug size

Ah! Speaking of rug mistakes, this one is probably most common. It’s the one I am guilty of too, years back I had a rug which was way to small for the space. So how small is too small? 

Try to think of the rug as a foundation of the room, with all the furniture being grounded by it. Rug should define the rooms layout, rather than being an accessory. It doesn’t look good if it’s randomly floating in the middle.  If you are getting it for the sofa area, it should be wider than the sofa, covering the coffee table and armchairs on the other side. If you need a rug for the dining room, I think it’s safe to say that chairs on all sides should be standing on it.

4/ Rug quality

Usually the biggest difference in the rug makes the material used. Natural sheep’s wool is my top choice. It keeps dust out of the room and it can absorb and release a large amount of humidity. On top of that it makes the room look homey all year round. Tisca has a long history in craftsmanship, uses new Zealand wool and guarantees durability. One of my favourite features of our new rug is the fact that it is reversible – the rugs are woven in linen weave and therefore equally beautiful on both sides! You can read my post from the visit to Tisca factory to get more information.

How to tell if a rug is made from a real or synthetic wool?

• One of the most obvious indications that a rug is made from synthetic materials is the price. Low price usually means your rug is made from polyester on huge automated machines. Real wool rugs have higher prices not only because they use real wool, but because they are handmade talented weavers.
• Look under the rug – wool rugs are soft on both sides, no hard structures underneath.
• As mentioned above, real wool absorbs humidaty. To check if your rug is made from a real wool, put a small drop of water on top and see what happens. Synthetic fibre won’t absorb any liquid.
• Check the label. Apart from finding the information about your rug, the position of the label is an indicator too! Real woolen rugs don’t have a sticker labels underneath, they will most likely have a label attached on a string to one of the sides.

5/ Rug Care 

Is it reasonable to have a quality woolen rug when you live with small children or pets? Yes it is! Wool is known for having the ‘self-cleaning’ effect. That of course doesn’t mean that if we spill a cup of coffee on it, it will magically disappear (I wish though!). It it scientifically proven that real wool doesn’t need the same frequent washing as cottons, and synthetic materials, and can simply be air out in humid weather with great results. Also reversing the rug few times a year we will ensure that the water vapor passing through it will remove almost all soil particles and odours. In other words, high-quality wool is a winner in all the categories.

Here you can see how my Tisca rug looks in our living room, it arrived right in time for the cosy Autumn season and I couldn’t be happier with it. It is one of those rugs that inspires rolling with my dog on top of it 🙂 Not sure who enjoys it more, possibly me!

Have a wonderful day!

This post has been written in collaboration with Tisca. Styling and Photography : Agata Dimmich for Tisca.