We both love textiles: African Kuba cloths, Japanese ikats, Paisley shawls, Chinese emboideries, Lao scarves — and especially antique Persian rugs. We dreamed of someday being able to add beautiful rugs as accents on top of our new wool carpet. The weekend before Thanksgiving Mark suggested we visit David Ward at Stony Hill Antiques in Madison. Over the years we've found a wonderful Kuba at David's along with African masks, jewelry, books and paintings. The shop is eclectic and an afternoon digging around while we gab with David is always fun.
I didn't really expect that we would find a rug to our liking since David generally stocks contemporary Iranian rugs. U.S. trade barriers have kept the supply of rugs coming into this country an on-again-off-again situation. When the last embargo ended, rugs poured into the U.S., meaning there were lots of rugs at reasonable prices for consumers, if not as profitable as the dealers might wish. A new barrier on rug imports from Iran by the Obama administration went into effect at the end of September, so prices are likely to rise again. We started flipping through David's rugs, took six home to see if they would work in our rooms — and kept five of them!
This pair of pictures shows before and after of the front entrance hall. The ceiling was torn out of this space so we could insulate it and change the heat vent and lights. We also swapped out old linoleum flooring for ceramic tile. Luckily neither the old floor nor its adhesive contained asbestos. We had to send samples to the state lab for tests, and asbestos would have meant major abatement issues and costs.
Another view of the space showing the paint colors: the walls are "Coastal Fog" like the stairwell walls while the doors are "Woodcut" like the display wall in the strairwell. The rug adds the punch the area was lacking and also helps to tie the wood tones of the stairs themselves to the rest of the design.
We brought home a couple of rugs that were very similar in color and style, hoping we might be able to use them together in one room. We love the look of overlapping rugs that we've seen in books and magazines and were hot to try it ourselves. That idea worked but not with the pair of rugs we anticipated.
We realized that two rugs in this space worked only if they contrasted in style and scale, as this pair do.
The rugs really tied the whole look together, giving it a polished aura that the room lacked before — something that was not apparent to us until we brought in the rugs and put them down. We also brought in an antique English Windsor chair and a Thai rain drum to finish it off.
The pair of pictures above shows the corner bookcase wall before and after. The ceramics on top of the new bookcase are all by Bill Farrell of Galena, Illinois; one of our favorite potters.
So two rugs in the library and one in the front hall. Where, you ask, did the other two rugs go? They went into other rooms that were not part of the remodeling, but felt like completely new spaces with the addition of these delightful rugs. You can see one in front of the couch in the living room and the other in the red sitting room. As a final note I should mention that these five newer rugs cost about the same as the pair of small antique Kurdish kilims we bought elsewhere a few years ago. David Ward's rugs turned out to be a very big bang for the bucks!
500 paint colors here.
We pick the wall paint colors here.
We begin teardown and construction here.
Putting it all back together here.
What gorgeous rugs! You seem to have a knack for finding wonderful local sources for things. I agree that they really complete the room. Your paperwhites are looking so pretty too.
As an aside I love the fabric on your living room couch.
You must be so pleased with how things turned out.
Posted by: Erin | Friday, January 28, 2011 at 03:19 PM
Thanks Erin — We are very happy with how things turned out.
That gray damask fabric is from a company called Romo. That couch is a garage sale find that I bought in the early 1980s for $35. It had this indestructible 1950s fabric on it and it was years before I could ever figure out a new fabric. I liked too many different things. The couch was a custom made item by a local company and a friend who does upholstery told me to hang onto it and recover it. He said it was made better than almost anything around today!
Of course, by the time we actually re-covered it, the cost was similar to buying a new one.
Posted by: LINDA from EACH LITTLE WORLD | Friday, January 28, 2011 at 03:26 PM
Wonderful wonderful! I love the rug in the front hallway, just love it. It all looks so beautiful and comfortable.
Posted by: Altoon | Friday, January 28, 2011 at 05:27 PM
Gorgeous rugs!!! And I love the couch fabric too. :) So beautiful...
We've just started to settle into our new home, and haven't yet managed to get round to filling our space with proper rugs or more of the artwork we'd wanted (the basics began to cost a bit more than we'd anticipated), but it's so much fun to plan and dream for future acquisitions. Your rugs and pottery choices are inspiring! :)
Posted by: Inkslinger | Sunday, January 30, 2011 at 08:33 PM
Oh, joy! I just realized the My Yahoo reader wasn't loading your blog and skedaddled onto Google to catch up. I see there's lots to read. I, too, love the rug in the entry way. All the rugs are really, really lovely but that one really speaks to me. Perhaps because I saw it first...
It's always amazing how one or two changes to a well established room just brings everything together in ways we didn't anticipate.
Posted by: Barbara H. | Wednesday, February 02, 2011 at 01:01 AM